Our last blog looked at the importance of video management software (VMS) for keeping valuable CCTV footage safe. In today’s article, we take a look at how VMS can help make your cameras smarter. Yes, smarter.

First, a quick recap of what VMS is. Video management software, or VMS,  collects video from cameras and other sources, records that video to a storage device, and provides an interface to both view the live video, and access recorded video. Think of it as adding some brain power to your cameras, and VMS systems will run on almost any CCTV camera types and brands.

But the most exciting part is, all this ‘brain power’ enables you to do some pretty cool stuff with your cameras. With VMS, you can ‘upspec’ your cameras for all sorts of uses, or simply get more out of them for their existing purpose.

Let’s take a look at what VMS can do for your cameras.

5 ways to up-spec your cameras with VMS

#1. De-warping

VMS will let you de-warp a fisheye camera feed into multiple scenes. This allows you to use one single discreet fisheye camera to do the job of multiple cameras.

For example, we have a fisheye camera set up in the foyer of a school. The VMS enables us to  pull individual scenes looking down each of the corridors leading off the foyer from the one camera.

In the image below you can see the fish-eye view of an office split into 7 views.

#2. Heat mapping

Using VMS, your cameras can be set up to map heat. So for example, if you own a store and you want to see how people track around your store, you could use cameras to do this. A heat map will show customer movement through the space.

#3. Temperature control

With the help of a good VMS system, cameras can be set-up with thermal imaging and they can measure to remarkably fine detail. For example, thermal imaging cameras can be used in a packhouse or temperature critical environment to ensure predetermined limits aren’t exceeded.

#4. Facial recognition

Cameras can be set up for facial recognition. Images of problematic people can be stored in the VMS system, and generate an alert when a match is made. The same for number plate recognition.

If you think this sounds like big brother is watching, check out this interesting clip on China’s surveillance system. It took just 7 minutes to track the exact location of the reporter and reach him!

#5. Counting, anti-loitering and more

Whether you want to count people, vehicles or dogs, security cameras with a good VMS system will do the job. You can also set your system up with anti-loitering alerts, and abandoned parcel alerts.

Could your business benefit from VMS?

The great thing about the VMS system we work with is that it can drop over about 99% of cameras and servers in use. The power of this technology is now within everyone’s reach. It’s not just big corporates with big budgets that get to play with it. If you have 2-4 cameras in operation then adding in some VMS capability could enable you to use that existing technology much more effectively.

Interested to find out more? Give me (Gavin) a call on 027 578 1298.

Industrial, retail or commercial, we know the challenges businesses face when it comes to loss prevention, cash handling, health and safety compliance, and making sure your people and premises are protected.