Saturday, March 31, 2012

Security Camera Warehouse Adds Vivotek Cameras to its IP Camera Line

Security Camera Warehouse, a leading retailer of security cameras, adds Vivotek Cameras to its IP camera line. IP Cameras are digital surveillance cameras that use IP addresses over a network to record surveillance video. IP cameras are sometimes known as network cameras."Vivotek cameras allow us to further our offerings to professional video surveillance system integrators" said Justin Bowman, CEO of SCW, LLC. "Vivotek cameras are one of the best brands of surveillance products, and being out of Tawain means that they are of much better quality than many other security camera manufacturers."Panasonic i-PRO Cameras Offer Greater Capabilities With New Enhanced UniPhier(R) LSI Processor.

Security Camera Warehouse, who recently completed its CCR registration, is expanding into the government, educational, and large commercial CCTV markets. Security Camera Warehouse is an online retailer of CCTV systems, security cameras, and video surveillance equipment and bases its business model around low-cost high-quality video surveillance products and great customer service.

"Vivotek camera are a great solution for CCTV systems whose buyers are price conscious but not willing to give up quality." said Matthew Nederlanden, President of Security Camera Warehouse. "They have a great history of quality without being priced out of the market. We are excited about including Vivotek products on our website."Security Camera Warehouse is an online retailer and integrator wholesaler of CCTV cameras, video surveillance DVRs, and security camera systems. It is based in Waynesville, North Carolina, and all of its staff speaks English and is located in the United States.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Panasonic i-PRO Cameras Offer Greater Capabilities With New Enhanced UniPhier(R) LSI Processor

The Enhanced UniPhier(R) LSI Processor used inside Panasonic's new "5-series" i-PRO SmartHD full 1080p cameras provides H.264 (high profile) video streams that require half the bandwidth and storage while enabling new levels of performance, image quality and a range of smart features to enhance system solutions. Enhanced UniPhier enables dual streaming to simultaneously supply 1080p full-HD and 360p video streams, both at 30 frames per second (fps), for real-time monitoring and high-resolution recording.

Enhanced UniPhier's cropping sequence function provides a clear picture of both the whole image and a specified smaller area. A 640 x 360 cropped area of an overall image can be transmitted as the second video stream, and four cropped areas can be transmitted sequentially and/or rotated, moved or zoomed in using Common Gateway Interface (CGI) commands. CGI commands can also specify coordinates to select any area for cropping. Using the camera's video motion detection (VMS) function as an event trigger can initiate cropping based on an alarm.

Another new feature of the Enhanced UniPhier LSI Processor is two-area Variable Image Quality on Specified Area (VIQS), which enables up to two areas of an image to be encoded at lower quality to save bandwidth while maintaining maximum quality in critical areas of the field of view. VIQS areas can be selected as up to 40 percent of a total image. Enhanced UniPhier also uses new, more efficient H.264 encoding to reduce bandwidth and storage by 22 percent compared to the previous version. Two-area VIQS enables an additional 22 percent decrease in the bandwidth of a video stream. Overall, Enhanced UniPhier produces video that requires half as much bandwidth and storage.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Mod Gives Your Rooted HTC Sensation A High Quality Camera

So you've managed to get Android's Ice Cream Sandwich running on your HTC Sensation, but now you want another mod to tackle.Infrared camera helps arrest 4 robbery suspects at Santa Ana marijuana dispensary. If you happen to be particularly interested in the camera side of a phone, this hack to boost the quality of the Sensation's 8 megapixel camera may be just what you need.

The mod by XDA Developer Nodar Svanidze ("NODO-GT" on the forum) will basically rebuild the phone's current camera app, if you are using a 4.0 ROM, to deliver high quality videos and photos. You can now enjoy 1080p video recording at 20mbps and higher quality images with no compression, plus an experimental 1250 ISO mode if you like to tinker with light sensitivity. For even better images, Nodar recommends turning off auto-enhance and altering the sharpness to -1.

Remember that the hack is not capable of altering the camera's hardware itself. Therefore, in order to have such high quality images, this means the overall file size will be bigger, which is worth bearing in mind if you're hoping to keep space on your phone saved. Also, while the hack works with 3.32 based ROMs, it will not work if you happen to be one of the select few with an official version of Ice Cream Sandwich.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Infrared camera helps arrest 4 robbery suspects at Santa Ana marijuana dispensary

Three teens and a man were arrested early Wednesday with the help of an infrared camera during a botched break-in at a Santa Ana marijuana dispensary.Santa Ana police were sent to Patients Healing Group in the 700 block of West 17st Street around 2:15 a.m. after the business owner's security system alerted him of a break-in. Also sent to check out the scene was "Duke," an Orange County Sheriff's Department helicopter with a camera that shoots infrared video.

Pictures taken with the camera show two suspects apparently thinking they were hiding in the dark on the roof of the building. Duke spotted the suspects from two miles away and the crew was telling police on the ground where to look. Police said the two were helping a third suspect on the roof who appeared to be stuck in the opening of a rooftop air vent."The two guys that are hiding have to help him get out of the hole," said Santa Ana Police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna. "Apparently, he was falling down to the ground."

As officers surrounded the building, two suspects jumped to the neighboring rooftop to escape. Apparently knowing they had been caught, one of the suspects on the roof took the time to sit down, send text messages and make a phone call. Eventually, one-by-one the teenagers surrendered to police.A fourth suspect, 18-year-old Gustavo Penaloza of Anaheim, was suspected of being a lookout on the ground.According to an online list, the business offers a variety of marijuana. Police said none was stolen since the burglary was interrupted.However, the company itself may now be in trouble. Authorities said the pot dispensary violates city code. It's been cited in the past and was told in November 2011 to shut down.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

These cameras are better than smartphones

Many smartphones have impressive cameras, and Apple just made a big upgrade with the new iPad. All that raises a question: Do you still need a separate digital camera? For quick online snapshots, maybe not. Smartphones are convenient. You always have one with you. They make uploading pictures a snap, and apps like Instagram add beautiful effects. But there are four features that no smartphone — but most point-and-shoot cameras — can offer.

Optical zoom is the No.1 difference between a phone and a digital camera. Phone cameras have "digital zoom," but that just blows up a small portion of a picture into a lower-resolution image. A "real" camera's optical zoom lens — the kind that moves in and out — physically magnifies distant objects to capture them at full image quality.Speaking of quality, the size of the image sensor matters. And a smartphone's size is teeny-tiny compared to even a cheap digital camera's size. The result is grainy speckles that are particularly noticeable in solid-color areas of your photos — and everywhere when you shoot in low light.

Also on the low-light topic is flash power.Emanuel scales back speed-camera hours. The little LED lights on a cellphone can't hold a candle to the full-fledged flash on any point-and-shoot. The camera's flash is also positioned to make the dreaded red-eye effect less likely.A standard feature on most point-and-shoots, optical image stabilization moves lens components or the sensor to counteract jitters when the camera shakes. Stabilization makes it much easier to capture sharp images in low light or at high zoom.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Emanuel scales back speed-camera hours

Mayor Rahm Emanuel introduced a slightly modified version of his plan to pepper the city with speed cameras that included scaled-back hours as he sought Wednesday to win support from wary City Council members.Emanuel said he was open to compromise with aldermen, some of whom have portrayed the plan as a money grab by the city, but wouldn't change his goal of keeping kids safe near parks and schools."What I'm not open to, and what I won't compromise on, is whether we need to do this to have people abide by the law," the mayor said."This works as a deterrence," he said of speed cameras. "It's shown time and again to do that, and that's the goal."The city has provided no research on the effectiveness of speed cameras, instead relying on statistics that suggest its existing network of hundreds of red-light cameras have reduced accident deaths.

In response to City Council concerns, Emanuel's proposed ordinance would scale back the operating hours of the cameras, which could tag speeders for fines up to $100 after a 30-day grace period following installation.Under the proposed ordinance, the city could operate cameras near schools from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, although the state law Emanuel sought gives the city from 6 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. weekdays and until 9 p.m. Fridays.Aldermen said many local schools don't have programs later than 6 p.m.

The mayor's proposal would also shorten camera operations near parks. The cameras would operate only while parks are open instead of from one hour before opening until one hour after closing.Emanuel has also sought to ease concerns about the potentially wide reach of his proposal by casting it as a "safety zone" plan with a limited number of cameras.Both the state law and Emanuel's ordinance permit speed cameras within 1/8 mile of the city's roughly 1,800 parks and public and private schools, which would allow the administration to cover nearly half the city with speed cameras, based on a Tribune analysis.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Sony a57 DSLR Camera revealed and detailed

This week Sony have revealed the a57 A-mount camera with translucent mirror technology and a set of advanced features set to impress mainstream SLR users across the market. This camera brings pro-level performance to the masses with 12 fps shooting, Full HD (60p) Video Capture, and a lovely high-resolution Tru-Finder electronic viewfinder. This camera is meant to be the direct successor of the Sony a55 camera and is set to take on the DSLR user masses immediately upon release.

This new interchangeable lens camera will be out in April of this year complete with an 18-55mm kit zoom lens for a total of $800 USD (that’s model SLT-A57K) or just as a body without lens for “about $700″ as Sony notes (that being model SLT-A57). You’ll also have the option of adding on a brand new battery-powered LED video light starting with the release of this model for about $250 from Sony as well, this model being HVL-LE1 and recommended by Sony for this camera specifically.The best news about the new iPad's camera ?

The camera is built with a fabulous 16.1 effective megapixel Exmor APS HD CMOS sensor teamed up with the newest BIONZ engine on the market. This processor is the same one found in Sony’s flagship a77 and high-end a65 cameras, and promises you a sensitivity range of ISO 100-16,000. The camera also has 2x Clear Image Zoom for all your digital zoom needs, using Sony’s “By Pixel Super Resolution Technology” to retain full pixel resolution even after images are cropped and zoomed. It’s like magic!

Thursday, March 8, 2012

The best news about the new iPad's camera ?

The big news about Apple's new iPad, announced earlier today, was clearly the new high-definition retina display, with its quadrupling of display resolution to 2,048×1,536 pixels (i.e., 3.1 million pixels at 264 pixels per inch) and 44 percent improvement in color saturation. To take better advantage of the gorgeous display, the built-in backside camera has been upgraded from the measly 0.7-megapixel camera in the iPad 2, to a 5-megapixel model.Despite the big jump in resolution, though, it's hardly thrilling when you consider that the iPhone 4S has an 8-megapixel camera. While it remains to be seen how the image quality will compare to photos you snap with the iPhone (more megapixels on a tiny sensor isn't always a good thing), the new iPad's photo capabilities are plainly good enough.

The fact of the matter is that the iPad is just not designed to be a primary device for snapping lots of photos or videos. I rarely take photos with my iPad 2, and that's not because of the weak camera (I happily snapped a ton of photos with the lame little 2-megapixel camera in my first-generation iPhone) — it's just plain unwieldy and weird to shoot with an iPad.Nevertheless, the sweet display would only serve to highlight the camera's weaknesses, so an upgrade was certainly in order. The backside camera (now dubbed the "iSight" camera, vs. the front-facing "FaceTime" camera) not only sports a 5-megapixel backside illuminated sensor, but it also borrows the higher-end optic system of the iPhone 4S, with a five-element lens and hybrid IR filter.

To further entice you to snap more photos with the device, Apple also announced a new edition of iPhoto for the iPad (just $4.99 in the iTunes App Store), which is much more interesting than the camera itself. The new app does much of what the desktop version of iPhoto does, but is enhanced with a sweet new interface (albums look like they're sitting on glass shelves) that offers new ways to browse through your image collection, as well as slick image editing, both of which take full advantage of the multi-touch screen and use intuitive gestures.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

OptiTrack announces Flex 13 camera - 1.3 MP Mocap for Under $1k

Introducing the world's first megapixel motion capture camera for under $1k, the Flex 13. Boasting an impressive 1.3 million pixels of resolution, a 120 FPS sample rate, and an immense 56° field of view, the Flex 13 is an evolution of efficient motion capture technology.The combination of an expansive field of view and 1.3 MP sensor resolution enables the Flex 13 to track complex, multiple-actor scenes with an exceptional volume-to-setup ratio. When deployed with the stock 56° lens in a standard 20' x 20' arrangement, the camera can attain an active capture area that is among the largest in the industry, which allows for extensive capture volumes even in modest tracking environments.

"Mocap technicians asked for larger volumes, and we've built the perfect camera in response," says OptiTrack President Jim Richardson. "The Flex 13 addresses this need with the added benefit of a simpler setup and calibration process-and at 1.3 megapixels, it offers the cleanest data that $1k can buy."OptiTrack has long been a favorite for price-sensitive developers and previs studios. The Flex 13 marks a continuation of the technology's expansion into more rigorous production ecosystems.Reversing camera law gives 'false sense of security'.

"This new camera is actually a reflection of our roots," continues Richardson. "We turned the market on its head five years ago with a bold message-motion capture can and should be affordable. Then we made sure that it was. The Flex 13 is the next step in the democratization process-affordable mocap tuned for demanding capture applications."The OptiTrack product line includes motion capture software and high-speed tracking cameras, as well as contract engineering services.

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