Do You Really Need Surveillance Equipment?

Dangnammit! Thats the third time this month that weve come up missing inventory.

Bob was clearly frustrated. His small electronics business couldnt afford to keep losing money on missing inventory. He knew it had to be one of his employees that was stealing from him, but which one? John had been with him for 6 years, Carrie had been here three years, and Jessie had been here for 6 months without incident.

The answer seemed obvious; Bob had to get one of those Hidden Cameras that he read about on the internet. His store already had two Security Cameras, but the thief was avoiding them and not showing up on any of the surveillance tapes.

That night, Bob went on line and ordered a hidden camera that was disguised as a wall clock. No one would ever know to avoid this little piece of surveillance equipment because it was an actual working clock with the hidden camera built right in.

A week later when the clock arrived, Bob set it to the correct time, put it on the wall, and waited. It only took two days for him to get his answer. It wasnt an employee at all, it was his own teenage son stealing video recorders and CD players, and selling them to his friends for extra spending money. Bob thought to himself I dont know what that kid is doing with money I pay him for cleaning up around here, but hes going to be working for free for the next six months.

Hidden cameras have become very popular in recent years. Business owners often use surveillance equipment to keep an eye on employees or their store; they can help to protect the business from theft, vandalism, or just for keeping an eye on things. Parents can use nanny cams to make sure their children are being properly treated while theyre away.

Hidden cameras can come wireless or wired. wireless hidden cameras use batteries for power, and transmit the images to a wireless receiver that can be set up to view what the hidden camera sees from up to mile away or more.

wired cameras will have a physical wire running from the hidden camera to a Monitor, VCR or PC. The wired cameras are not limited by how long they can record for, but the length of the wires limits them to some degree as to where they can be placed.

To determine if you need a wireless or wired hidden camera, consider the length of time you will need to record. Will the batteries hold up long enough? Hidden cameras come in a variety of shapes and disguises. Choose a camera that goes well with the environment around so it will be unnoticeable. If its easily noticed, it cant really be considered a hidden camera.

There are many types of hidden cameras and surveillance equipment for all types of situations.

Nanny cams are just another name for hidden cameras. Even if you have a nanny that you feel you can trust, it doesn't hurt to have a nanny cam just to be sure that your children and home are safe. Their popularity grows with every news story about an abusive nanny or baby sitter. Hence the name Nanny Cam

The camera might be embedded in children's items such as teddy bears, baby wipe containers, dolls, etc. These items can be placed in the child's room next to other toys. There are also nanny cams for other rooms of the home, including clocks, radios, table lamps, picture frames, mirrors, VCR and dvd players, etc. Every room can have a nanny cam if needed. just be warned that if your purpose of a hidden camera is to bring out the voyeur in you and spy on someone, you may be breaking a law depending on where you live.

Surveillance systems enable you to observe multiple locations through one localized system. If you need more than a few security cameras, consider a complete surveillance system. With a digital video recording system, your security cameras are set up in different locations and interconnected so you can view all the areas at the same time. You can expand your surveillance system as your business grows. There are also portable DVR surveillance systems for covert operations.

Dummy Cameras look like real security cameras and give an appearance that the area is under surveillance. Dummy cameras are not real security cameras but the thieves won't know if the camera is real or not. Many business owners often use dummy cameras as a deterrent to criminal activity.

Professional cameras are often used to survey large businesses or offices. They can be used inside or outside. Professional cameras can be mounted on wall brackets or ceiling brackets. Some are waterproof for outdoor surveillance, and some are even capable of viewing up to 40 or 50 in almost complete darkness.

Hidden cameras and security cameras are great for protecting your children, home, or business property.

You dont need to be paranoid to see how useful one of these security cameras or surveillance systems can be.

Steven Rubin is the owner of North American Security Products, LLC. A company dedicated to providing you with the means to protect and defend yourself against crime.

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How to Troubleshoot Video Problems

Few things can be as frustrating as picture problems. You get your system all ready to go, flip the switch, and WHAM! One or more channels look terrible. The good news is that the majority of video problems can be traced to just a few causes. Most problems are comprised of the following:

Snow

Horizontal bars rolling though the picture

Vertical bars rolling through the picture

Ghosting

Herringbone pattern (diagonal lines through picture)

Lower channels look fine, upper channels are not

These six are the main symptoms youll find when seeing video problems. Thankfully, most are fairly easy to fix.

Snow -

Snow is caused by inadequate signal strength at the tuner. Its usually caused by:

1Splitting the signal too many times.

2A weak signal from the antenna or cable company

3A very long cable run

If the signal is snowy at all your tvs, especially if you have more than 4 tvs, you probably need an RF amplifier. Check the strength at the demark (service entrance). If it is fine there, add an amplifier before the splitter. Make sure to use a quality unit with good bandwidth (out to at least 1000MHz). If you have digital cable or a cable modem, get an amplifier with a bidirectional return path to allow for communication back to the cable company. If the picture looks bad at the demark, contact the cable company.

If it is bad at only one TV, you may have a bad cable between the splitter and the TV or a very long run of cable. You can amplify just that run.

Horizontal Rolling Bars

Horizontal rolling bars are caused by DC power getting into the cable system. To fix it, disconnect the TV from all other components in the system. If the bars disappear, add the other components back in until the bars return. When you find the offending component, use a DC blocker to eliminate the DC power path to the system.

Vertical Rolling Bars

Vertical rolling bars are caused by AC power getting on the cable line. The best fix for this is to use a ground breaker. A ground breaker eliminates the electrical connection between the TV and the cable system. A ground breaker is also the main fix for a hum on your audio systems speakers.

Ghosting

Ghosting is caused by the tuner receiving identical signals at slightly different times. It can be caused by your TV receiving a local station broadcasting over the air and via the cable system at the same time. Make sure you are using good quality RG-6 coax cable and good compression fittings. Replace any low quality cable splitters or combiners with high quality units. Make sure they are tight also. This will also cure another cause of ghosting, signal reflection inside a poor cable.

Ghosting can also be caused by multi-path interference on an antenna system. This is especially true in an urban environment with lots of hills and tall buildings. To combat this, use a very directional antenna aimed directly at the desired station.

Herringbone Pattern

A herringbone pattern is caused by radio frequency interference from other stations transmitting on the same channel or adjacent channels, powerful radio signals, computers, etc. Another common cause is being equidistant from two transmitters operating on the same channel.

In short, this can be caused by just about any sort of RF radiation at the correct frequency. Really great shielding found on high quality cables helps to combat this. If you are getting this interference while modulating an A/V source on a certain channel, try switching to a different channel.

Poor Upper Channel Reception

Poor Upper Channel Reception is caused by poor signal strength on the upper channels. Use an amplifier with a tilt compensator that allows adjustment of the upper channels relative to the lower channels. This will prevent overdriving the lower channels while providing the upper channels with enough gain. Also, check to see if all components in the RF system are rated to at least 1GHz and RG-6 or RG-6Quad shield cable is being used throughout.

Bio: Steve Faber has almost 15 years in the custom installation industry. He is a CEDIA certified designer and Installer 2 with certifications from both the ISF and THX. His experience spans many facets of the industry, from the trenches as an installer and control systems programmer, and system designer, to a business unit director for a specialty importer of high end audio video equipment, a sales rep for a large, regional consumer electronics distributor, and principal of a $1.5M+ custom installation firm. He currently is senior sales engineer for digital Cinema Design in Redmond, WA. For more on how to get the best video in your home or theater see Home Theater Video

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