IP vs. Analog Video Surveillance Leave a comment

You may be considering upgrading your analog video surveillance to an IP system. There are some factors to think about when doing upgrading your system. The price gap between the two different types of cameras is going down. There are advantages and disadvantages to both types of cameras. What you decide in the end depends on your business or home needs. Currently, IP cameras are more popular in the market.

Benefits of Analog Cameras

The most popular reason to keep your analog system is the prices of the cameras. Analog cameras are cheaper, especially when you start to buy more cameras. Analog cameras have been around longer and are easier to install, you will have an easier time finding someone to install them. Vendors are also more likely to sell analog cameras. They are also easier to run. They send surveillance footage recordings to a DVR. The DVR converts the analog surveillance footage to digital footage and stores it. DVRs are easy to set up and run. The picture quality in HD analog has increased greatly, and resolution has also gotten better recently. Impressively, you can get four or five-megapixel cameras that are HD analog. However, if you compare this to IP cameras, they are a lot more benefits to IP cameras.

Disadvantages of Analog Cameras

The frame rate in analog cameras is a lot lower than IP cameras. They are not great for motion detection or that seeing anything in great detail. Images are not as sharp as in IP cameras, and images can appear blurry or grainy. In analog cameras, you cannot use digital zoom like you can in IP cameras. Although sometimes image quality isn’t a big deal and you can let it slide. It can also take more analog cameras to cover an area compared to IP cameras. Analog cameras require multiple cables for power, audio, and video, whereas IP cameras only take one for all of them. There is no encryption on the footage for analog cameras, which means your footage isn’t safe. This means a hacker or vandal could easily get to your information and view your footage and replace your signal with theirs.

Benefits of IP Cameras

IP cameras contain three or four cameras in one. They are typically covering areas that would normally take multiple cameras to cover. The cost of IP cameras has gone down over the years. Also, you don’t need as many IP cameras in your system as analog cameras. This will save you money eventually. An analog camera takes two wires, but an IP camera only takes one for both power, video, and audio that connects to a network switch. You do not need power near the camera when setting up your camera. Also, you can zoom and focus remotely on an app or computer software. The resolution in the cameras has improved greatly over the years. IP cameras have a better image quality than analog cameras. IP cameras are basically small computers that can store videos and compress data. Their video is authenticated and encrypted. This makes the transmission secure. You don’t need an encoder and decoder with IP cameras.

Disadvantages of IP Cameras

IP cameras can cost a lot to set up initially. It is easy to tailor and upgrade from there, though. IP camera files are bigger than analog files, so you need more storage. You should adjust your storage space accordingly. Some people find it difficult to learn the software and how to use the cameras sometimes.

Tips for Making the Switch

Bringing in an installer who is confident in what they are doing is important. You need someone to look at your system impartially to see what goals are realistic and determine what parts are a must. If you don’t have a cost in mind and can afford anything, you can switch all your analog cameras to IP straight away. It is more likely that you have a budget in mind, though. Consider only replacing a few cameras at first and then upgrading the rest later. A hybrid system can help with this. Find someone who typically installs IP systems to help you with this. You need someone who understands networking and technology. Have clear policies in mind and know what you want when they get there so they can best help you.