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Video Feed Setup
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Environmental Interference for Video Feeds
Preventive measures
Checking one’s installation for hard-to-predict situations includes spot-checking:
• Live video. Run a Live Session on a regular basis. Such spot checks offer confirmation that sites
have not been vandalized, rendered ineffective by the environment or tampered with by an
operator. See “physical compromise”, below.
• Recorded video. After a day or two, run a retrieval session to look for artifacts in recorded video,
at every half-hour or so, over a 24 hour period. The darkness of night or bright sunlight may
indicate the need for changes in camera position or lighting. For outdoor cameras, it can be
worthwhile to run such spot checks seasonally. See “physical compromise”, further down.
• After use of PTZ. A camera with the ability to pan-tilt and zoom can be set to respond in a
variety of ways after use and should be spot-checked. Run a retrieval to do so. See
Behavior of
PTZ After a Session Closes, on p. 93.
• Scheduling. The video archive can be spot-checked for recorded video when cameras are
scheduled to record it. For scheduling, see
Scheduling: Configuration, p. 105.
Physical Compromise
Even when cameras are set as recommended, changing environmental factors can compromise
video at the source. Obvious factors include:
• Direct sunlight at short times during the day. Daybreak can interfere with recording for cameras
aimed East, as can sundown for cameras pointing West.
• Dew, frost or kitchen grease. Check camera lenses, or windows between the camera and the
subject for transparency and cleanliness.
• Darkness. Without lighting or infrared cameras, indoor rooms and nighttime can make cameras
ineffective.
• Cameras at an outside window, in a room that remains lit during evenings. Reflection from the
window can hamper or block visibility outside.
• Opaque objects. Even small objects can obstruct a camera when near and hamper an
operator’s view of a site. Large mobile objects, such as a truck also can be used to
compromise video of an event. See also “vandalism”, below.
• Power outage. Even when plugged into a UPS, prolonged power outages can compromise the
recording of video.
• Vandalism. Tampering with cameras, Multi-Media units or other hardware. This can be done by
damaging hardware directly or indirectly interfering (by spraying paint, fog or moving objects in
the way), or even through reconfiguration, using View software.