I believe it is a valid argument. First off you are correct to question it but for a different reason: the exhaust regulation is fairly new, thus the main pressure comes from taxes. The point I was making is that this system reinforces the need to keep your vehicle current. But if you would like me to elaborate on the topic of age pressure I can.
First there is TÜV, the German street-ready tests. The older the car gets the more expensive the upkeep to pass the inspection. This isn't always a deterent in itself, since older cars can pass the inspection without too much hassle, it adds to the overall cost as a vehicle ages.
Second, fuel efficiency is a serious issue in Germany where normal gas costs 2-4 times what it does in some areas of the US. Thus newer cars, especially those German vehicles which are very efficient, so far as to shut off when they stop a red light, save money. Or said in another way, older cars can cost significantly more per Km to keep running.
Lastly, if you look at your map, and tracked inhabitants under those "few" dots, you would see that a significant portion of German population lives or works in those listed areas. And the areas are growing fast with plans to reduce exhaust levels across the country over the next years. Thus if you are not a farmer, you have a good chance of living, working, or needing to pass through one of these areas. You don't need to pass regulations for the Autobahn, but if you wish to exit in Munich, Berlin, Stuttgart, Bremen, Dusseldorf etc. you need to pass the inspection.
I live in Germany and I completely agree with the above statement "and I find 160 km/h (100 mph) a very decent cruising speed.". But in Germany the older your car is the more expensive the taxes are. In some major cities they have made older, higher poluting, cars completely illegal to drive. The result is that a large amount of cars on the road are 3 years or less old. And of these, a majority are German made and German engineered. And in Germany it costs upwards of 1K Euro to earn a driving license, which can be revoked or mandatory additional driving lessons can be applied, costing significant additional cash.
The final result: attentive drivers, and very well maintained high end vehicles. Add in the high quality of most German roads, including signs, water drainage, and careful maintenance. All of this (in addition to the "German" quality of placing attention to the task at hand) and you have the conditions for safely driving at 100 mph or faster. I feel safe in Germany at this speed, I would not feel safe on any suburban US Freeway, or most rural ones which are fairly well driven.
The states simply doesn't have the road quality, the attentive drivers who adhere to the rules, and the high average quality of vehicles. It wouldn't work and would be dangerous, It wouldn't work in Sweden either, so don't feel bad.
ok, Multiplexers don't usually have a VGA output, so you are probably working with BNC input CRT monitors, correct? Either way, if you are using a combination of live viewing and playback, then you'll need some sort of software package to perform this.
I did mean Internet Explorer when I used IE, because I was trying to understand if you needed a dedicated box. It seems like you might. Any security system you actually use somewhat frequently should probably have its own dedicated client/workstation.
I hate to tell you, but your software client options will be limited to the vendor you purhcased your DVR from. If its a upper market device, you might be able to purchase a separate management software piece from another vendor which has written drivers to control the device. Otherwise you're stuck with the client available from the manufacturer.
What box do you have? I would need the actual manufacturer and model to help you with any specifics.
Good question. The answer is simple, but not nice to hear. Each codec requires a decompression part to play the video, and each vendor typically has a slightly altered version of any or all of the codecs used. For example, MPEG4 could be used for compression, but what does that really mean? Apple, Windows, Real Media, Adobe all have their own CODEC of MPEG4. So in short, if you use VLC or Windows Media player to play back video, these have installed codecs from these major media vendors. But the DVR manufacturer can't have access to these without paying royalties, which for security video makes no business sense. Plus, less then 20% of systems use audio, and so they drop that part to reduce bandwidth. So in reality Mpeg isn't always Mpeg, even when it is. Make sense? The DVR vendor should offer just the codec in a form that could be loaded on a different system, instead of a full binary.
The second point is your avi. The problem is two-fold. You can't record in uncompressed avi format. You'd get only a few hours on a Tb hard drive, and security applications require days or weeks of recording. Once you have your video in MPEG4, for example, and you have a vandalism you want to export, if you transcode it to avi you lose all evidentiary value, since the video was altered in the transcoding. Plus you might need 15 minutes of video, and uncompressed avi then would have trouble fitting on a DVD. That all said, most credible DVR vendors allow for avi export as a fall back.
Police review is an industry problem. Its not just your DVR. American Dynamics, and a few others, allow for a CD/DVD to playback in any windows system without having to install anything, and with having only user (nor super or admin) rights. This makes it easy. But because of the lack of this feature in many systems, Police in the UK now are requiring DVR manufactures to provide their codec to a independant software house which makes simple and universally compatible playback software.
Why do you believe you'll get better performance on the Mac? There are vendors which provide non activeX clients, such as Exacq or American Dynamics, but those won't work with the system you have now. If you have VGA monitors and splitters something isn't designed correctly. If you use mostly direct monitor viewing, then you probably don't need a client system, unless you need to review stored video. But then you don't need a dedicated system. If you have an IE client, use a normal workstation for the search functions only when you need it. Most DVRs have a spot/alarm monitor output, which can often be programmed to sequence between camera views. This might be enough for you. If not, you'll need someone to take a closer look at your system.
Because you dont know how zoneminder works. If it were to record everything 24/7 blindly.. yes you are right almost zero processor used.. Zoneminder looks at every frame doing motion zones and detection. It's 1000% better than the best commercial DVR you can buy. Really it is. I have tried all them including the high dollar ones, Zoneminder kicks their butts hard.
Sorry, but your completely wrong. The idea of motion detection on digital video recorders is over 10 years old. All DVRs of any value have motion detection built in, and the BT878 MJPEG cards mostly used with Zoneminder are garbage. The MJPEG codec is the wrong one to use for most applications because of the high storage requirements. Yes, you can process motion detection faster, but you loose out on bandwidth and storage. Zoneminder can use IP cameras, so that is a plus in its favor.
Also, your point about no CPU usage at full 24/7 is also incorrect. The BT878 cards require software compression, which means CPU overheard just to lay down the video. There are other cards, such as from Vidicon, which allow for hardware compression thus offloading the bulk of th CPU requirements.
Again this is nice, but very home-brew type of solution. If you are a professional or just a larger business who takes into account the man hours required to build, and most importantly to maintain this system, you should go to one of the "commercial DVR systems". These will give you the required reliability and low maintenance, in addition to a smooth interface usable by more then the IT guy.
As I have been commenting on this post, I have realized I should have said this years ago on/. There are well paid jobs in Security for the IT savvy. I'm talking more for network admins, and general IT skills then programming, but progamming is also needed. The whole multi-billion dollar Seucurity industry is moving quickly into software based, network infrastructure and away from stand alone systems. Its been happening for the last 10 years but it is now accellerating. There is a especially strong need for customer facing technical sales support. People who can design robust Video and Access Control systems which transport TB's of data across local and wide networks. Integration of building management and other sub and super systems is also key, but most of the integration is minimal programming, more like some scripts and good network know-how.
And don't, REPEAT don't try to fake security knowledge. They'll teach you. Tell them your IT background and tell them you want to learn.
I really suggest to everyone here looking for work to contact a large security Integrator or Manufacturer in your area. Tyco, UTI, Honeywell, March Networks, Pelco, Verint, Genetec, ONSSI, Bosch, Siemens, Panasonic, Sony and many others have locations close to you.
The flip side to this is that most physical security experts I know lack any grounding in how to properly manage a computer system. No, a 6-way RAID 0 array isn't a good place for your DVR to save, and yes, POE switch you need for your cameras is different from the switch in your data closet.
Agreed. But the problem is most IT people won't admit they know nothing about security, while almost all security people will admit they know little to nothing of IT.
In fact, over the years I've seen/. posts about how IT jobs are dwindling while security has been increasing. If more slashdotters moved over they would be welcomed into a well paid industry. But keep in mind, you need to start from scratch and learn the basics of Access Control, Video, Intruder and more. But that said, although its complex it is still easier for IT to learn physical security then the other way around.
Sorry, but you are wrong. Non-free software systems, which means just about all of a multi-billion dollar industry, don't all use ActiveX, and the ones that do almost universally don't need IE6 only. Those that do use web based clients are often Java based, but those that do use ActiveX usually have a full software package in addition to the web portal. Web interfaces are very limited in their flexibility and thus are usually only used as a stripped down client. Again another reason why I believe Zoneminder is nice, but not at the professional level. An example is on their own website. If you look at their use of zones for motion detection they show an image outdoors. Sorry, but motion detection does NOT work outside. You need complex analytics to accomplish this, and even then its very difficult.
This is a solid recommendation, but I don't really agree. Zoneminder has nice features, and it a long way towards a real DVR, but it is still a home-grown solution. If you are a private home, or a very small business I would still recommend one of the very cheap embedded DVR systems available. You can find 4-8 camera systems for under $250 USD which are still quasi professional grade. You'll still need cameras, power supply, mounts and maybe housings. If you are wanting a bit of fun tinkering with your linux CCTV system then ZoneMinder is your solution. If you're serious about security, Zoneminder still needs a few years and probably a serious round of funding before you should choose it.
There are hundreds, no, thousands of security embedded linux based DVR systems on the market. But the reference to ZoneMinder leans the question into the area of windowing linux based DVRs. This is a shorter list, but still you find a few. A few quick examples of servers which use a Linux OS you find: VideoEdge (Tyco), March Networks, SeeTec (Germany). All of these offer a client which operates on a Window's workstation, but the recording is done on a Linux box. The Tyco version actually uses the non-journaling EXT2 as the database, so as to take full advantage of the speed and maximum hard drive size. Keep in mind that video systems record multiple TB of data in a normal 30 day record cycle. That is to say, most end-users require between 2-4 weeks of video, and a small number require 6+ months to be saved.
The fact is the most Linux systems are too complex for the majority of security applications. A lack of skills in maintenance of the OS, networking, and configuration mean that the vendor needs to provide a fully pre-configured kernal+apps which is then loaded on a server, and this means that most professional vendors offer Windows systems as the rule. SeeTec does allow for normal SuSe as the OS and then their application loads on top, but the reality is that 95% of end-users don't choose this because they are window's houses. This means SeeTec develop the Windows version as the priority.
There is also the politics to consider. The IT department and the Security dept. couldn't come from more disperate worlds. Generally speaking they don't like each other, and don't want to talk to each other, and no matter what the/. readers will flame at me, the IT dept doesn't have the first idea of what to purchase in a physical security system. I've seen this hundreds of times. The IT guy says "IP please", but this translates into a horrible final system purchase.
The take-away is that as an IP guy, don't look for a pure Linux system if you are serious about security. Integration into Intruder, Access Control, Fire and Building Management (almost all of which are also Windows based systems) will require you to most likely stay on a Windows platform. If you're from the IT department you'll need A) a professional Integrator/Installer to recommend the right system and B) you'll need to remember you're no longer an expert. Security is not IT even though it might be loaded onto a Windows or Linux box. So please don't tell the Integrator what you "need". First get at least 2 opinions and then start to shape your requirements.
Wikipedia is excellent at reporting events well, and historical events even better. Once the information is in the wild, it takes time to consolidate into a Wiki primarily because the contributors are not committed 100%, i.e. professionals, to their Wiki entry. Sure you might get a few that have little more to do then chat online entering up to date Wiki info, but is this who you want reporting breaking stories?
The issue here is timing. If you want events as they are unfolding to be reported accurately you can do it in an open source format, but if you want them to be in "CNN" realtime, you can't rely on a non-paid community to take the time whenever it is required. They will do it, but that evening, or the next day when they are online. Even with "always on" internet connections, your coverage of events will still have a time lag in most instances.
We need to pay people who will be both neutral, and available at a moment's notice, if we want a reliable news source. If we had a major news outlet, such as CNN or NYT online (or a new one), paying for up to date information with attached mobile phone photos, then we might be getting closer to a freelance/opportunistic approach to a paid open-source news outlet. But we would still have a problem with reliability and neutrality. That would be hard to solve without a large number of entries which you could "average" into a story.
We all like a good conspiracy theory, but it seems to me there are enough tech journalists at/. reading this thread that at least one might call and ask. It might even break into a bigger story, or maybe just be a few more minutes spent reading/. instead of working...
Jefferson (a founding father of the US) once said "The best way to eliminate a bad law is to enforce it". I think we make the owners of things such as viruses and genes responsible for their care and function. If I get a cold because of a virus (which is patented), I sue the owner for loss wages at work.
This would end the discussion about ownership of biological items.MFG
FTA "The entire genome of the hepatitis C virus is owned by a biotech company. Royalty costs now influence the direction of research in basic diseases, and often even the testing for diseases.
In the litigious society of the US, if a firm "Owns" and is "responsible for" the Hetpatitus virus, then I say let them have it. If I accidentially catch Hepatitus C then I will haul them into court: they are liable for the actions of their property. Also if they hinder the ability for society to discover or implement a cure, then I sue them for negligence, and possibly manslughter.
These ideas are to me, quite logical extensions of such absurdity.
The problem is actually a serious issue in Germany.
The transition occured in the early nineties in the USA, when the last of real manufacturing went tits up for IT/service jobs (Of course that's tits up too, but that's another issue). In the US, the last of the lifetime jobs went out in the 70's, in Germany, these transitions are just now arriving. And engineering and manufacturing is part of the German image of self-worth, so it hits home particularly hard.
The problem in German culture is that it is a change in the economy which no one wants to acknowledge, but are being forced to. The last 50 years of a boom economy after the war has now more or less come to a grinding halt. Germany is now evolving, but its eating into peoples morale. The whole country is bitching and moaning, and that in itself is pulling the economy down, not to mention an individual business as is mentioned in this report.
I know you can't regulate someone's mood but at least they are pointing to where the country should try to go (and if anyone would try to regulate someone's mood, it would be in Germany). I applaud the idea, and laugh at the fact they are trying to regulate instead of inspire. Typcal German (and now I'm starting to "meckern").
"To Meckern" means to bleat or baa like a goat. This is the term used to describe what Germans do when they bitch and moan. They "blaaaaa" (you need to skip on the gutoral to really get the effect). Anyway, it fits, and its a problem. Really...:-)
Actually, if you keep the normal ratio and just got plants to skip their night-time CO2 emmisions you'd get a Nobel (Krebs Cycle I believe). It would double their growth rates. No need to comment how dramaticly that would affect the whole planet.
People seem to think that the Ocean is some static body of water which is thoroughly mixed and just linearly increases density as it gets deeper. Ridiculous. Even this idiot PhD has forgotten that the ocean circulates. "New water" is formed and sinks in the north Atlantic, travels the length of the basin and moves through the Indian ocean bottom to the Pacific. There it circles the nothern part of the basin and slowly surfaces somewhere around Panama. No joke. Then the water returns more or less on the surface in the reverse order.
Dump anything into the deep water and reap the rewards when it surfaces again. I guess its good for everyone except the Panamanians, oh, and maybe Nicaragua, and of course, all of the rest of the Americas; and so on and so on.
Riduculous that someone with so much education can't forcast his great plan even a few years into the future.
QWATSCH! Those that think security is about perception should go into a secure building with a gun or bomb and see if they don't end up in jail or worse. Yes, its possible to sneak something nasty into most soft targets, but what makes you think that security measures are only cosmetic?
There are concrete methods, learned the hard way over many years, that increase the difficulty for someone to attack a target. Why do you think they call it a "soft target"? If you want to say the terrorist will go elsewhere, then you protect elsewhere. If I have to travel on public transportation I want a large disincentive to target my train/bus/subway. If I can shift a target away from a certain transportation then it becomes the perferred form of transport exactly because it is more secure. And what makes you think that you loose your personal rights because you're scanned on entrance? Give me a break. Its not a human right to ride a train. If the Government comes into my home, without a warrent, where I'm making a bomb, that is a violation of my rights (even though I'm an asshole- which sounds more appropriate then terrorist), but going out into public and using a public train is not my personal space and my being searched is in no way violating my privacy. My bag and person is subject to search because I want to partake in a public benifit. If they search it for drugs, then I have a problem, but its easy to limit their jurisdiction to items deemed hazardous to other passengers. If they find some other contraband, they can't do anything about it: like in Amsterdam.
These were not suicide bombers. If they were, it would be very difficult to stop them. But so long as they drop off a bomb and leave, they value their own skin and therefore are easier to dissuade. Use what is necessary to send them elsewhere. And if they go elsewhere, use it there to.
BUT, all this being said, we must eliminate the cause of the terrorism or else we will never have peace. This means negotiation, peace and love (no joke- and I agree with your last comment that for every act against us we increase our aid to the region which perpetrated the act). But if we think that we can not prevent or shift the targets of terrorism with effort, you should go back to school and take more history courses.
Young describes Mercury as an "elusive planet," noting most people, astrologers included, have never seen it.
I guess AstroLogers see Mercury on the Queen of Cups card all the time. But I would guess that most AstroNomers have seen Mercury at least once. Give me a break.
Piled Higher and Deeper. Completion of a Dissertation and publication is a rigorous process that is overseen by more then a handful of other PhD's. They're just pissed they were too stupid to catch it. Its that simple.
There is so much B.S. and white lies that fly around a "scientific institution". I once got sick during data collection and missed a few sampling points. I had my boss come up and tell me to enter about what it should have been. When I wouldn't he got pissed and I got "benched". There is SO MUCH PRESSURE TO PERFORM its incredible. That pressure leads to status quo and researching only what really is an obvious hit to begin with. If you go out on a limb and come up blank with a grant, you're less likely to get another one. So you play it close to the vest, take very few chances, and fudge if you have to. Its just like ANY OTHER JOB. It doesn't take a PhD to figure that out!
I'm the damn guilty one. So are you! Yes you/.'ers. What are YOU doing to educate, instead of complain and blame? Enough groaning about why nobody understands the poor IT masses, or latest science theories. Get out there and educate. Don't blame the Parents/Teachers/Kids/TV/Food/Dieting/or men on mars.
Yes we can blame the US lifestyle, but you can move to Europe (and I have, so don't bitch to me). Yes you can blame TV, but you can unplug the damn thing. Just DO IT. Don't groan about it.
For that matter, what is to prevent in 200 years humans from looking back and calling this the "age of arrogance". I'm an post-grad educated scientest, and if there is ONE thing I'm convinced of is that WE DON'T HAVE A F-ING CLUE. You think we understand Genetics because we can draw a double helix? Good luck. You think we have a clue what causes the BASIC laws of physics? Good luck. You think we can explain emotion, or for that matter how to have a meaningful long-term relationship. Good luck. Yes we're learning, but don't get all bloated with arrogance. Arrogance makes it very difficult to "un-learn" a theory, and that makes it almost impossible to actually grow and learn.
So don't whine, act. And don't act like you know it all.
So many technically minded people screwed thier employers by jumping ship every 6 months (practically) that, in some sad irony, the situation is reversed. It wasn't one sided, of course, but the inflated environment has caused a pendulum reaction.
You'll never make as much money as you think you're worth. IT is not a profit center, its a cost center. Deal with it. Start you own company, work harder then you are now, and then maybe with a little luck you'll get the job you want. Until then, don't expect anyone to "give" it to you.
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I believe it is a valid argument. First off you are correct to question it but for a different reason: the exhaust regulation is fairly new, thus the main pressure comes from taxes. The point I was making is that this system reinforces the need to keep your vehicle current. But if you would like me to elaborate on the topic of age pressure I can.
First there is TÜV, the German street-ready tests. The older the car gets the more expensive the upkeep to pass the inspection. This isn't always a deterent in itself, since older cars can pass the inspection without too much hassle, it adds to the overall cost as a vehicle ages.
Second, fuel efficiency is a serious issue in Germany where normal gas costs 2-4 times what it does in some areas of the US. Thus newer cars, especially those German vehicles which are very efficient, so far as to shut off when they stop a red light, save money. Or said in another way, older cars can cost significantly more per Km to keep running.
Lastly, if you look at your map, and tracked inhabitants under those "few" dots, you would see that a significant portion of German population lives or works in those listed areas. And the areas are growing fast with plans to reduce exhaust levels across the country over the next years. Thus if you are not a farmer, you have a good chance of living, working, or needing to pass through one of these areas. You don't need to pass regulations for the Autobahn, but if you wish to exit in Munich, Berlin, Stuttgart, Bremen, Dusseldorf etc. you need to pass the inspection.
Insightfull? I rate this a Funny!
I live in Germany and I completely agree with the above statement "and I find 160 km/h (100 mph) a very decent cruising speed.". But in Germany the older your car is the more expensive the taxes are. In some major cities they have made older, higher poluting, cars completely illegal to drive. The result is that a large amount of cars on the road are 3 years or less old. And of these, a majority are German made and German engineered. And in Germany it costs upwards of 1K Euro to earn a driving license, which can be revoked or mandatory additional driving lessons can be applied, costing significant additional cash.
The final result: attentive drivers, and very well maintained high end vehicles. Add in the high quality of most German roads, including signs, water drainage, and careful maintenance. All of this (in addition to the "German" quality of placing attention to the task at hand) and you have the conditions for safely driving at 100 mph or faster. I feel safe in Germany at this speed, I would not feel safe on any suburban US Freeway, or most rural ones which are fairly well driven.
The states simply doesn't have the road quality, the attentive drivers who adhere to the rules, and the high average quality of vehicles. It wouldn't work and would be dangerous, It wouldn't work in Sweden either, so don't feel bad.
I think we agree on this one. And I think that most security staff would have trouble spelling interoperability.
ok, Multiplexers don't usually have a VGA output, so you are probably working with BNC input CRT monitors, correct? Either way, if you are using a combination of live viewing and playback, then you'll need some sort of software package to perform this.
I did mean Internet Explorer when I used IE, because I was trying to understand if you needed a dedicated box. It seems like you might. Any security system you actually use somewhat frequently should probably have its own dedicated client/workstation.
I hate to tell you, but your software client options will be limited to the vendor you purhcased your DVR from. If its a upper market device, you might be able to purchase a separate management software piece from another vendor which has written drivers to control the device. Otherwise you're stuck with the client available from the manufacturer.
What box do you have? I would need the actual manufacturer and model to help you with any specifics.
Good question. The answer is simple, but not nice to hear. Each codec requires a decompression part to play the video, and each vendor typically has a slightly altered version of any or all of the codecs used. For example, MPEG4 could be used for compression, but what does that really mean? Apple, Windows, Real Media, Adobe all have their own CODEC of MPEG4. So in short, if you use VLC or Windows Media player to play back video, these have installed codecs from these major media vendors. But the DVR manufacturer can't have access to these without paying royalties, which for security video makes no business sense. Plus, less then 20% of systems use audio, and so they drop that part to reduce bandwidth. So in reality Mpeg isn't always Mpeg, even when it is. Make sense? The DVR vendor should offer just the codec in a form that could be loaded on a different system, instead of a full binary.
The second point is your avi. The problem is two-fold. You can't record in uncompressed avi format. You'd get only a few hours on a Tb hard drive, and security applications require days or weeks of recording. Once you have your video in MPEG4, for example, and you have a vandalism you want to export, if you transcode it to avi you lose all evidentiary value, since the video was altered in the transcoding. Plus you might need 15 minutes of video, and uncompressed avi then would have trouble fitting on a DVD. That all said, most credible DVR vendors allow for avi export as a fall back.
Police review is an industry problem. Its not just your DVR. American Dynamics, and a few others, allow for a CD/DVD to playback in any windows system without having to install anything, and with having only user (nor super or admin) rights. This makes it easy. But because of the lack of this feature in many systems, Police in the UK now are requiring DVR manufactures to provide their codec to a independant software house which makes simple and universally compatible playback software.
Why do you believe you'll get better performance on the Mac? There are vendors which provide non activeX clients, such as Exacq or American Dynamics, but those won't work with the system you have now. If you have VGA monitors and splitters something isn't designed correctly. If you use mostly direct monitor viewing, then you probably don't need a client system, unless you need to review stored video. But then you don't need a dedicated system. If you have an IE client, use a normal workstation for the search functions only when you need it. Most DVRs have a spot/alarm monitor output, which can often be programmed to sequence between camera views. This might be enough for you. If not, you'll need someone to take a closer look at your system.
Because you dont know how zoneminder works. If it were to record everything 24/7 blindly.. yes you are right almost zero processor used.. Zoneminder looks at every frame doing motion zones and detection. It's 1000% better than the best commercial DVR you can buy. Really it is. I have tried all them including the high dollar ones, Zoneminder kicks their butts hard.
Sorry, but your completely wrong. The idea of motion detection on digital video recorders is over 10 years old. All DVRs of any value have motion detection built in, and the BT878 MJPEG cards mostly used with Zoneminder are garbage. The MJPEG codec is the wrong one to use for most applications because of the high storage requirements. Yes, you can process motion detection faster, but you loose out on bandwidth and storage. Zoneminder can use IP cameras, so that is a plus in its favor.
Also, your point about no CPU usage at full 24/7 is also incorrect. The BT878 cards require software compression, which means CPU overheard just to lay down the video. There are other cards, such as from Vidicon, which allow for hardware compression thus offloading the bulk of th CPU requirements.
Again this is nice, but very home-brew type of solution. If you are a professional or just a larger business who takes into account the man hours required to build, and most importantly to maintain this system, you should go to one of the "commercial DVR systems". These will give you the required reliability and low maintenance, in addition to a smooth interface usable by more then the IT guy.
As I have been commenting on this post, I have realized I should have said this years ago on /. There are well paid jobs in Security for the IT savvy. I'm talking more for network admins, and general IT skills then programming, but progamming is also needed. The whole multi-billion dollar Seucurity industry is moving quickly into software based, network infrastructure and away from stand alone systems. Its been happening for the last 10 years but it is now accellerating. There is a especially strong need for customer facing technical sales support. People who can design robust Video and Access Control systems which transport TB's of data across local and wide networks. Integration of building management and other sub and super systems is also key, but most of the integration is minimal programming, more like some scripts and good network know-how.
And don't, REPEAT don't try to fake security knowledge. They'll teach you. Tell them your IT background and tell them you want to learn.
I really suggest to everyone here looking for work to contact a large security Integrator or Manufacturer in your area. Tyco, UTI, Honeywell, March Networks, Pelco, Verint, Genetec, ONSSI, Bosch, Siemens, Panasonic, Sony and many others have locations close to you.
Good Luck!
The flip side to this is that most physical security experts I know lack any grounding in how to properly manage a computer system. No, a 6-way RAID 0 array isn't a good place for your DVR to save, and yes, POE switch you need for your cameras is different from the switch in your data closet.
Agreed. But the problem is most IT people won't admit they know nothing about security, while almost all security people will admit they know little to nothing of IT.
/. posts about how IT jobs are dwindling while security has been increasing. If more slashdotters moved over they would be welcomed into a well paid industry. But keep in mind, you need to start from scratch and learn the basics of Access Control, Video, Intruder and more. But that said, although its complex it is still easier for IT to learn physical security then the other way around.
In fact, over the years I've seen
Sorry, but you are wrong. Non-free software systems, which means just about all of a multi-billion dollar industry, don't all use ActiveX, and the ones that do almost universally don't need IE6 only. Those that do use web based clients are often Java based, but those that do use ActiveX usually have a full software package in addition to the web portal. Web interfaces are very limited in their flexibility and thus are usually only used as a stripped down client. Again another reason why I believe Zoneminder is nice, but not at the professional level. An example is on their own website. If you look at their use of zones for motion detection they show an image outdoors. Sorry, but motion detection does NOT work outside. You need complex analytics to accomplish this, and even then its very difficult.
This is a solid recommendation, but I don't really agree. Zoneminder has nice features, and it a long way towards a real DVR, but it is still a home-grown solution. If you are a private home, or a very small business I would still recommend one of the very cheap embedded DVR systems available. You can find 4-8 camera systems for under $250 USD which are still quasi professional grade. You'll still need cameras, power supply, mounts and maybe housings. If you are wanting a bit of fun tinkering with your linux CCTV system then ZoneMinder is your solution. If you're serious about security, Zoneminder still needs a few years and probably a serious round of funding before you should choose it.
There are hundreds, no, thousands of security embedded linux based DVR systems on the market. But the reference to ZoneMinder leans the question into the area of windowing linux based DVRs. This is a shorter list, but still you find a few. A few quick examples of servers which use a Linux OS you find: VideoEdge (Tyco), March Networks, SeeTec (Germany). All of these offer a client which operates on a Window's workstation, but the recording is done on a Linux box. The Tyco version actually uses the non-journaling EXT2 as the database, so as to take full advantage of the speed and maximum hard drive size. Keep in mind that video systems record multiple TB of data in a normal 30 day record cycle. That is to say, most end-users require between 2-4 weeks of video, and a small number require 6+ months to be saved.
/. readers will flame at me, the IT dept doesn't have the first idea of what to purchase in a physical security system. I've seen this hundreds of times. The IT guy says "IP please", but this translates into a horrible final system purchase.
The fact is the most Linux systems are too complex for the majority of security applications. A lack of skills in maintenance of the OS, networking, and configuration mean that the vendor needs to provide a fully pre-configured kernal+apps which is then loaded on a server, and this means that most professional vendors offer Windows systems as the rule. SeeTec does allow for normal SuSe as the OS and then their application loads on top, but the reality is that 95% of end-users don't choose this because they are window's houses. This means SeeTec develop the Windows version as the priority.
There is also the politics to consider. The IT department and the Security dept. couldn't come from more disperate worlds. Generally speaking they don't like each other, and don't want to talk to each other, and no matter what the
The take-away is that as an IP guy, don't look for a pure Linux system if you are serious about security. Integration into Intruder, Access Control, Fire and Building Management (almost all of which are also Windows based systems) will require you to most likely stay on a Windows platform. If you're from the IT department you'll need A) a professional Integrator/Installer to recommend the right system and B) you'll need to remember you're no longer an expert. Security is not IT even though it might be loaded onto a Windows or Linux box. So please don't tell the Integrator what you "need". First get at least 2 opinions and then start to shape your requirements.
Wikipedia is excellent at reporting events well, and historical events even better. Once the information is in the wild, it takes time to consolidate into a Wiki primarily because the contributors are not committed 100%, i.e. professionals, to their Wiki entry. Sure you might get a few that have little more to do then chat online entering up to date Wiki info, but is this who you want reporting breaking stories?
The issue here is timing. If you want events as they are unfolding to be reported accurately you can do it in an open source format, but if you want them to be in "CNN" realtime, you can't rely on a non-paid community to take the time whenever it is required. They will do it, but that evening, or the next day when they are online. Even with "always on" internet connections, your coverage of events will still have a time lag in most instances.
We need to pay people who will be both neutral, and available at a moment's notice, if we want a reliable news source. If we had a major news outlet, such as CNN or NYT online (or a new one), paying for up to date information with attached mobile phone photos, then we might be getting closer to a freelance/opportunistic approach to a paid open-source news outlet. But we would still have a problem with reliability and neutrality. That would be hard to solve without a large number of entries which you could "average" into a story.
We all like a good conspiracy theory, but it seems to me there are enough tech journalists at /. reading this thread that at least one might call and ask. It might even break into a bigger story, or maybe just be a few more minutes spent reading /. instead of working...
Absolut meine Meinung.
Jefferson (a founding father of the US) once said "The best way to eliminate a bad law is to enforce it". I think we make the owners of things such as viruses and genes responsible for their care and function. If I get a cold because of a virus (which is patented), I sue the owner for loss wages at work.
This would end the discussion about ownership of biological items.MFG
FTA
"The entire genome of the hepatitis C virus is owned by a biotech company. Royalty costs now influence the direction of research in basic diseases, and often even the testing for diseases.
In the litigious society of the US, if a firm "Owns" and is "responsible for" the Hetpatitus virus, then I say let them have it. If I accidentially catch Hepatitus C then I will haul them into court: they are liable for the actions of their property. Also if they hinder the ability for society to discover or implement a cure, then I sue them for negligence, and possibly manslughter.
These ideas are to me, quite logical extensions of such absurdity.
The problem is actually a serious issue in Germany.
:-)
The transition occured in the early nineties in the USA, when the last of real manufacturing went tits up for IT/service jobs (Of course that's tits up too, but that's another issue). In the US, the last of the lifetime jobs went out in the 70's, in Germany, these transitions are just now arriving. And engineering and manufacturing is part of the German image of self-worth, so it hits home particularly hard.
The problem in German culture is that it is a change in the economy which no one wants to acknowledge, but are being forced to. The last 50 years of a boom economy after the war has now more or less come to a grinding halt. Germany is now evolving, but its eating into peoples morale. The whole country is bitching and moaning, and that in itself is pulling the economy down, not to mention an individual business as is mentioned in this report.
I know you can't regulate someone's mood but at least they are pointing to where the country should try to go (and if anyone would try to regulate someone's mood, it would be in Germany). I applaud the idea, and laugh at the fact they are trying to regulate instead of inspire. Typcal German (and now I'm starting to "meckern").
"To Meckern" means to bleat or baa like a goat. This is the term used to describe what Germans do when they bitch and moan. They "blaaaaa" (you need to skip on the gutoral to really get the effect). Anyway, it fits, and its a problem. Really...
Actually, if you keep the normal ratio and just got plants to skip their night-time CO2 emmisions you'd get a Nobel (Krebs Cycle I believe). It would double their growth rates. No need to comment how dramaticly that would affect the whole planet.
People seem to think that the Ocean is some static body of water which is thoroughly mixed and just linearly increases density as it gets deeper. Ridiculous. Even this idiot PhD has forgotten that the ocean circulates. "New water" is formed and sinks in the north Atlantic, travels the length of the basin and moves through the Indian ocean bottom to the Pacific. There it circles the nothern part of the basin and slowly surfaces somewhere around Panama. No joke. Then the water returns more or less on the surface in the reverse order.
Dump anything into the deep water and reap the rewards when it surfaces again. I guess its good for everyone except the Panamanians, oh, and maybe Nicaragua, and of course, all of the rest of the Americas; and so on and so on.
Riduculous that someone with so much education can't forcast his great plan even a few years into the future.
QWATSCH! Those that think security is about perception should go into a secure building with a gun or bomb and see if they don't end up in jail or worse. Yes, its possible to sneak something nasty into most soft targets, but what makes you think that security measures are only cosmetic?
There are concrete methods, learned the hard way over many years, that increase the difficulty for someone to attack a target. Why do you think they call it a "soft target"? If you want to say the terrorist will go elsewhere, then you protect elsewhere. If I have to travel on public transportation I want a large disincentive to target my train/bus/subway. If I can shift a target away from a certain transportation then it becomes the perferred form of transport exactly because it is more secure. And what makes you think that you loose your personal rights because you're scanned on entrance? Give me a break. Its not a human right to ride a train. If the Government comes into my home, without a warrent, where I'm making a bomb, that is a violation of my rights (even though I'm an asshole- which sounds more appropriate then terrorist), but going out into public and using a public train is not my personal space and my being searched is in no way violating my privacy. My bag and person is subject to search because I want to partake in a public benifit. If they search it for drugs, then I have a problem, but its easy to limit their jurisdiction to items deemed hazardous to other passengers. If they find some other contraband, they can't do anything about it: like in Amsterdam.
These were not suicide bombers. If they were, it would be very difficult to stop them. But so long as they drop off a bomb and leave, they value their own skin and therefore are easier to dissuade. Use what is necessary to send them elsewhere. And if they go elsewhere, use it there to.
BUT, all this being said, we must eliminate the cause of the terrorism or else we will never have peace. This means negotiation, peace and love (no joke- and I agree with your last comment that for every act against us we increase our aid to the region which perpetrated the act). But if we think that we can not prevent or shift the targets of terrorism with effort, you should go back to school and take more history courses.
Young describes Mercury as an "elusive planet," noting most people, astrologers included, have never seen it.
I guess AstroLogers see Mercury on the Queen of Cups card all the time. But I would guess that most AstroNomers have seen Mercury at least once. Give me a break.
Piled Higher and Deeper. Completion of a Dissertation and publication is a rigorous process that is overseen by more then a handful of other PhD's. They're just pissed they were too stupid to catch it. Its that simple.
There is so much B.S. and white lies that fly around a "scientific institution". I once got sick during data collection and missed a few sampling points. I had my boss come up and tell me to enter about what it should have been. When I wouldn't he got pissed and I got "benched". There is SO MUCH PRESSURE TO PERFORM its incredible. That pressure leads to status quo and researching only what really is an obvious hit to begin with. If you go out on a limb and come up blank with a grant, you're less likely to get another one. So you play it close to the vest, take very few chances, and fudge if you have to. Its just like ANY OTHER JOB. It doesn't take a PhD to figure that out!
I'm the damn guilty one. So are you! Yes you /.'ers. What are YOU doing to educate, instead of complain and blame? Enough groaning about why nobody understands the poor IT masses, or latest science theories. Get out there and educate. Don't blame the Parents/Teachers/Kids/TV/Food/Dieting/or men on mars.
Yes we can blame the US lifestyle, but you can move to Europe (and I have, so don't bitch to me). Yes you can blame TV, but you can unplug the damn thing. Just DO IT. Don't groan about it.
For that matter, what is to prevent in 200 years humans from looking back and calling this the "age of arrogance". I'm an post-grad educated scientest, and if there is ONE thing I'm convinced of is that WE DON'T HAVE A F-ING CLUE. You think we understand Genetics because we can draw a double helix? Good luck. You think we have a clue what causes the BASIC laws of physics? Good luck. You think we can explain emotion, or for that matter how to have a meaningful long-term relationship. Good luck. Yes we're learning, but don't get all bloated with arrogance. Arrogance makes it very difficult to "un-learn" a theory, and that makes it almost impossible to actually grow and learn.
So don't whine, act. And don't act like you know it all.
So many technically minded people screwed thier employers by jumping ship every 6 months (practically) that, in some sad irony, the situation is reversed. It wasn't one sided, of course, but the inflated environment has caused a pendulum reaction.
You'll never make as much money as you think you're worth. IT is not a profit center, its a cost center. Deal with it. Start you own company, work harder then you are now, and then maybe with a little luck you'll get the job you want. Until then, don't expect anyone to "give" it to you.