Smart DVR play a major role in alarm verification

There are several key differences between DVRs and VCRs that result in significant advantages for DVR users. The most notable difference between the DVR and VCR is the medium used for recording the video images. VCRs record images on magnetic tapes, while digital systems use HD drives, DATs or DVDs. This differentiation has significant implications in terms of the video image quality, speed of information retrieval, image transmission speed, and remote monitoring capabilities. Digital video systems using DVRs can be accessed over LAN, intranets, and the Internet. This permits security personnel to monitor remote sites across the street, town, or locations hundreds or thousands miles away. Using an Internet browser or other application software on any PC or laptop allows security with personnel or corporate management to view recorded digital video images at a secure IP (Internet protocol) address from anywhere in the world.

Security systems using Smart DVR can play a major role in alarm verification. Having the ability to perform video assessment from remote locations means the system can be used to prevent false alarm responses by security and police personnel. The ability to remotely and instantly view the alarm site means that if a review of the video images indicates there are no intruders, a false alarm can be declared and no law enforcement personnel need be notified. The digital video images are stored on HD drives similar to those used in the PC industry and have storage capacities measured in hundreds of megabytes or gigabytes, providing a low cost storage media for the compressed video files. Small and medium-size systems use several HD drives, while large enterprise systems use a large number of HD drives. These HD drives are synchronized and shared to store images from many video cameras reliably, and available for rapid access by the user. The DVR has high reliability as compared to the VCR recorder. The DVD provides higher image quality as compared to its VCR predecessor. The rearview mirror camera images can be downloaded to an external medium. The Zip file/disk or an email over the Internet is the easiest for the DVR.

The technology difference between analog and digital recording is that the analog tape recorder incorporates a magnetic field to align the magnetic particles on the surface of the VHS tape to correspond to the video signal image. In contrast, the DVR converts the analog signal into a digital signal of ones and zeros, compresses this digital signal, and then stores it on the magnetic DVR HD drive, DVD, or DAT. The combination of affordable image compression technologies and large capacity HD drives has made the development of the DVR a reality. Although HD DVR recording like VHS still uses a magnetic recording medium, the digital nature of the data insures that all retrieved footage is an identical copy of the originally recorded signals. Standard DVRs have some shortcomings when used in mid-range and large size Enterprise systems. Since video inputs are local to the DVR, and a smart rearview mirror source has to be wired at the location of the DVR, this results in a significant investment in cable.