Network Video Recorder cum Network Switch

Network Video Recorder "Built-in" Network Switch 

The introduction of a Network Video Recorder (NVR) with a built in network switch confused a good portion of the professional market.  It very much seemed to be something that was geared towards catering to a side of the market that was completely unfamiliar with how an IP camera system is setup and installed.   Not a lot has changed since their original release dates.  Most installers still scratch their heads at the thought of using them, but the fact remains that there is an audience.  For those who aren't looking to educate/teach themselves the way of "proper IP installation," these simple to adapt to NVRs are very appealing.  Having said that, it's equally important to understand what you're getting yourself into with a built in switch.

Cost Comparison

There are two ways to look at cost, but we're going to start with your initial purchase for getting this system up and running.  There's no way to conceal the fact that purchasing an NVR with a built in switch is going to be cheaper.  A standard NVR purchased together with a dedicated PoE switch will probably cost you about 25% more than the alternative.  Because of the somewhat basic nature of network switches, you probably won't notice any difference in performance between the two options.  It really comes down to quality in this case, and you're just going to pay more money for the more proven brands; your built in switches are generally built by an unnamed Chinese manufacturer.

The other way to look at cost is to look towards the future.  Network switches are just as imperfect as everything else.  The most common occurrence is that a network port burns out and is no longer able to be used.  If your warranty has expired, you're now in a position where you're going to need to start spending money to get to a solution.  Depending on how much that damaged switch effects your system, you're left with a couple options.  In the case of a dedicated switch, you can replace the switch entirely or you can purchase another smaller switch as an add-on to make up for malfunctioning port(s).  These can be purchased for as little as $50.  An NVR with a built in switch is not going to have such an easy time.  You can try using a dedicated switch as an add-on, but you're now just setting up your system via the alternate method.  If you still have a demand for the same type of "camera hardwired to NVR" setup and your NVR is out of warranty, you'll now find yourself needing to replace the entire NVR instead of the much cheaper network switch.P

Cable Runs

A built in switch is going to require that you run your cable the same way you would with an analog system.  In this scenario, you're going to be running a cable for each camera all the way back to the NVR to create your hardwired connection. Your cable length is limited, in this case, to the standard 328 feet.

A dedicated switch can potentially have some major advantages here. Thinking that a dedicated switch needs to be placed anywhere near your NVR or router would be a mistake.  It makes the most sense to place your switch as close to the biggest cluster of cameras as possible.  This can make for a lot of short cable runs from IP cameras to switch.  From there, it's just a matter of running a single cable from that switch back to your router.  The end result is that you simultaneously put all of your IP cameras on your network by running that one cable.

This is a rough example of what an installation might look like with a dedicated switch.  Of course your own personal hardware situation might be different, but you should get the concept we're going for.  Installing your IP camera system like this will also double the potential distance you can run your cable.  In addition to your cable length being able to be run as far as 328 feet from cameras to switch, you can also run up to another 328 feet from switch to router.  You can revert back to cost as much as you want, but a dedicated switch is going to give you more capabilities and versatility for your money than a built in PoE switch will.

Reliability

This is mostly a matter of opinion and how much you trust individual manufacturers to begin with.  Dedicated switches are usually going to be found with a name brand printed on them.  You've heard of certain brands like Linksys, Netgear, and D-Link because they have an established reputation.  It's not hard to go online and find out how well these companies are performing.  The internet will contain a plethora of reviews and discussions related to these company's products.  This is all to say that transparency is much easier to find with big brands; the general public doesn't let them keep any secrets.  This makes selecting and purchasing a product a very straight forward and simple task; it just takes a bit of research.

There are those among us who are completely against the idea of owning anything that's "unbranded" under the pretense that they believe it's all junk and lacks in longevity.  The fact remains that a good number of the unbranded devices that people have come to feel uncomfortable with are actually performing, and in some cases outperforming, a lot of the big brand names.  If something like this bothers you, you're going to have a hard time feeling comfortable with an NVR that has a built in switch.  The lower costs of these switches makes them attractive but getting passed the uncertainty of knowing whether or not they're going to perform as needed is not as simple.  Researching an NVR with a built in switch can gain you a general public opinion, but those opinions don't usually cover things like speed tests or information regarding longevity of the product.  This is one of those things you'll likely just have to try for yourself in order to know for sure.

All in all, you have good options for both dedicated switches and built in switches. Doing a little bit of homework/research into the product you’re considering should shed enough light on the subject where you can feel confident with your decision either way.

Compatibility

A dedicated switch, no matter who it may be manufacturer by, is compatible with any IP camera from any manufacturer across the board; no questions about it.  A built in switch relies on information it receives from the NVR to determine compatibility.  This can quickly turn into a problem absent any solution.  If you hard wire your IP camera to your built in switch on your NVR and you find that the camera isn't being detected, you're almost guaranteed to be the owner of an NVR and IP cameras that are probably never going to play nicely with each other, and likely not at all.  There is seldom anything you can do to fix a problem like this. On rare occasions, there's a setting that needs to be toggled somewhere, but don't plan on being this lucky.

You can still have compatibility issues with a dedicated switch, but those problems are usually limited to specific features and not the complete inability to bring up the camera whatsoever.  For example, a HikVision IP camera cannot be accessed by a Dahua NVR if you attach that camera to a built in switch on the NVR.  However, if you connect that same camera to a dedicated switch, you'll very easily be able to add that camera to the NVRs device list, but you'll be missing the motion detection feature without a lot of tampering.  We should mention again that any compatibility issues you encounter with a dedicated switch aren't cause by the switch, but by the manufacturers of the cameras and recorders. We are not promote HikVision / Dahua as both “High" level vulnerabilities. No participation in ONVIF committees for both brands. No access to new ONVIF software. Below media statement.

Security Trends in 2023

Security Trends in 2023 

Wishing you a very Happy New Year – 2023. Although some of the worst disruption caused by the global Covid-19 pandemic is hopefully behind us, 2023 is shaping up to be another challenging year for business and society. But this year few states going through partial lockdown case to case basis.

Cyber security in physical security:

Adoption of digital technology and internet have also led to increase in cybercrime incidents. It can be controlled or minimized with care, precaution, awareness and with the use of appropriate tools to secure the information. Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) under Cyber & Information Security (CIS) Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs, has prepared one manual to disseminate Cyber Hygiene Best Practices for the benefit of Industrial Bodies/General Public/Government Officials.

Many large buyers now provide a cybersecurity questionnaire that integrators and solution vendors must complete, leading to creation of new roles in some companies just to respond to such questionnaires that are required in bid processes. Vendors, integrators and the practitioners themselves are simultaneously chasing cybersecurity talent to add to their employee teams, a challenging proposition given the overall difficulty to hire technically skilled workers of any type. Cybersecurity has to be managed on multiple levels, requiring constantly expanding investments in:

·        Device-level cybersecurity (e.g., cameras, readers, panels)

·        Infrastructure cybersecurity (wiring, networks, switches, etc.)

·        Software and Server cybersecurity

·        Configuration cybersecurity (correct implementation of cybersecurity features)

·        Cloud cybersecurity

·        Mobile device cybersecurity (particularly as security and employee bases become more mobile or remote)

·        User cybersecurity (e.g., social engineering attacks, insider threats, etc.)

Security practitioners today seem to have three general choices when it comes to convergence:-

1. Ignore: Disregard the need to converge—a wholly unwise choice, by most accounts.

2. Strongly Interrelated Teams: Continue to manage security in two, separate but equal channels, but strongly define team relationships such that constant open dialogue and cross-investigation exist between the two specialized teams.

2. Fully Converged: Fully merge security leadership and tactical security management to link cybersecurity protections and physical security protections, given converged threat vectors that impact information, data, people and assets.

Artificial Intelligence (AI):

In 2018, a NITI Aayog report stated that India will hold a late-mover advantage in real world application of artificial intelligence (AI). Worldwide, spending by governments and business on AI technology will top $500 billion in 2023, according to IDC research. Moreover AI applications on top of security solutions helps break the boundaries of our industry’s value to practitioners, by embedding non-security applications that take data from the proliferation of sensors of all types to correlate data points or find trends that can save businesses money or enable them to act more swiftly.

In a pre-event discussion with panel lists from an AI panel held at SNG 2022, the expert panel lists (reflecting integrators, vendors and practitioners) indicated they see sweeping AI frameworks coming, but admitted the industry is not yet prepared to define a framework for AI, noting that the technology’s rate of change is likely outpacing our ability to construct implementation frameworks, particularly ethical frameworks.

 

“IN 2023, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE WILL BECOME REAL IN ORGANIZATIONS. NO-CODE AI, WITH ITS EASY DRAG-AND-DROP INTERFACES, WILL ENABLE ANY BUSINESS TO LEVERAGE ITS POWER TO CREATE MORE INTELLIGENT PRODUCTS AND SERVICES.”

—TRENDS FUTURIST BERNARD MARR, WRITING FOR FORBES IN NOVEMBER 2022

 

Autonomous Devices:

Autonomous devices are a physical form of autonomous technology. Robots, both functional and humanoids, drones and vehicles are a few examples of autonomous devices. Autonomous devices learn from their surroundings and complete tasks without continued human input.

Automation of repetitive security tasks in lower-risk environments (think robots doing automated patrols in unstaffed facilities) and partly about highly responsive situational awareness (flying a drone to a remote or dangerous location for visual input back to the command post), but the real opportunity being seen for 2023 is connecting improved robotics with AI-embedded intelligence to finally put more “autonomous” in “autonomous devices,” some of which required an operator to previously drive the robot. Notably the International Standards Organization narrowly defines robots to not include remote-controlled solutions such as remote-controlled drones and ground vehicles.

Over half a million industrial robots were installed in 2021 according to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), and that doesn’t even include robots for security applications, which are outside of the scope of the IFR’s annual World Robotics research.

Workforce development:

Workforce development from the societal centric perspective is defined as initiatives that educate and train individuals to meet the needs of current and future business and industry in order to maintain a sustainable competitive economic environment.

In a survey they found attracting skilled labor is a top concern, and there’s only one solution in today’s hyper-competitive labor market: “We must train our own.” Long established as a factor limiting companies’ growth (especially that of the systems integrators), expanding the workforce has become a key focus of organizations like SIA, which partnered with the Electronic Security Association to cofound the Foundation for Advancing Security Talent (FAST) to drive awareness of security industry employment opportunities.

Smart practitioners, particularly larger corporations with extensive security teams, are also hiring talent from their integrators and vendors in some cases, recognizing that they need internal personnel with the skillsets that they once could wholly outsource. Others are instead outsourcing or embedding integrator talent into their organization.

70% of employees work through mobile devices, with 200 million worldwide using mobile business apps. What’s more, 84% of decision makers plan to increase spending on mobile applications that drive employee productivity, reduce costs and enhance customer satisfaction.

The mobile workplace is a place that offers a host of benefits. Its core objective is to make employees as productive as possible, whether they are at their desks, in the field or working remotely. It’s all about equipping staff with the tools they need to do their jobs more efficiently, putting those tools conveniently at their fingertips, and connecting processes so that everything within a business works more cohesively.
 
Smartphone applications will increasingly be employed in 2023 to control physical security systems. Managers will have fingertip control over who has access to certain zones and facilities, and will be able to set those controls from wherever they happen to be working.
 
Security analytics will collate rich data insights from a suite of IoT connected devices, delivering them into the hands of decision makers via their smart devices, helping to inform security and operational strategies.

Data privacy:

Data privacy is the right of a citizen to have control over how their personal information is collected and used. Data protection is a subset of privacy. This is because protecting user data and sensitive information is a first step to keeping user data private. US data privacy laws are regulated at the federal level. Data privacy is typically applied to personal health information (PHI) and personally identifiable information (PII). This includes financial information, medical records, video footage security, social security or ID numbers, names, birthdates, and contact information. You might be surprised to learn that CCTV footage is subject to the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation).

By 2024, 75% of the Global Population Will Have Its Personal Data Covered Under Privacy Regulations. Ultimately, the practitioner is responsible for ensuring that their data is protected and that systems are used ethically. This had led to pullback from many practitioners on their pace of adoption for some technologies like facial recognition to ensure that they have not only justifiable use cases but the procedures in place to ensure that advanced systems are used responsibly, and that data is only collected when it is needed.

Contactless security:

Contactless technology has become hugely important post-Covid, due to the strong reaction against physical contact. It’s also about the user experience, with people increasingly wanting things to be instant and simple.

Contactless security is therefore, unsurprisingly, becoming more commonplace. Biometric access, using the likes of fingerprints, iris scans and facial recognition to identify authorised personnel for physical access into a building or specific part of it, is already becoming the norm, whilst other contactless entry technologies that are set to be even more widely adopted during 2023 and beyond include Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), and smartphone NFC (Near Field Communication) keyless entry, as well as QR code entry for temporary access.

For added security, multi-factor authentication (MFA), the use of more than one method of identification, is likely to become more widely adopted, as organisations batten down the hatches, making it harder for would-be unauthorised entrants to gain access.

Internet of Things and the Cloud Ecosystem

Internet of Things and the Cloud Ecosystem

Internet of Things or IoT refers to an ecosystem of devices/things that are connected to each other over a network enabling communication among them. These connected devices are equipped with UIDs (Unique Identifiers). Once a device or gadget is represented digitally, it can be controlled or managed from anywhere. This helps to capture and transfer data from different places with minimal human intervention, increasing efficiency and improving decision making.

Broadly, Internet of Things can be classified into Consumer IoT (CIOT)) and Industrial or Enterprise IoT (IIoT). The key difference between CIoT and IIoT mainly lies in the type of devices, application and the technologies that power them.

Consumer IoT

Home Security and Smart Homes is one of the major areas where Consumer IoT is becoming very important.  Monitoring intrusions, authorizing entries, controlling appliances remotely, all these are examples of Consumer IoT applications.  Personal Healthcare is another area, which has benefitted extensively from Consumer Internet of Things. Personal wearable healthcare devices like fitness bands, track and monitor performance over time, providing information on progress and improvement. Blood pressure and heart rate bands powered by IoT can connect us directly to the healthcare system and provide timely assistance and alerts when needed. Other areas in the healthcare industry wherein IoT can play a crucial role include patient surveillance, care of the elderly and the disabled.

Industrial IoT

Enterprise and Industrial IoT applications can automate business processes that depend on contextual information provided by embedded devices such as machines, vehicles and other equipment. In recent years, Internet of Things has been gaining wide applicability, notably in Industrial and Enterprise environment as it provides a convenient mechanism to connect devices, people and processes. Organizations are looking at upgrading their existing resources to bring all their legacy systems under the IoT ecosystem. The key here is to ensure seamless interoperability, connectivity, scalability, and stability among various components in the ecosystem.  Some of the areas where organizations can bring in easy, yet beneficial changes with IoT are,

o   Asset tracking

o   Resource Management

o   Inventory management

o   Job/Task distribution

Cloud Ecosystem

The cloud ecosystem offers a platform to connect, collaborate and innovate. While IoT generates data from various physical systems in the ecosystem, cloud enables a seamless data flow and quick communication among these devices. It’s a complex system of connected devices that work together to create an efficient platform. The resources that can be delivered through cloud ecosystem include computing power, computing infrastructure (servers and storage), applications, business processes and more. Cloud infrastructure has the following characteristics, which differentiate it from similar distributed computing technologies:

o   Scalability

o   Automatic provisioning and de-provisioning of resources

o   Cloud services accessible through APIs

o   Billing and metering in a pay-per-use model

o   Performance monitoring and measuring

o   Security to safeguard critical data

How do IoT and the Cloud go hand in hand?

Internet of Things and cloud computing are complementary in nature. IoT benefits from the scalability, performance and pay-per-use model of cloud infrastructure. The cloud reduces the computational power needed by organizations and makes data processing less energy-intensive. These facilitate business analytics and collaborative capabilities which help organizations in rapid development of new products and services. The benefits of combining IoT and the cloud are:

o   Quicker deployment of data and thus, quicker decision making

o   Easy navigation through data

o   Flexible payment options

o   Decreased costs on hardware and software

o   High degree of scalability

Conclusion

According to SoftBank, by 2025 about 1.0 trillion devices are expected to be connected over Internet of Things. The rapid development in the field of IoT technology and the fast-paced business environment has made IoT an inevitable choice for organizations. IoT is bridging the gap between physical systems and digital world, hence increasing productivity in both consumer and industrial environment.

IoT service providers assist organizations to transform their infrastructure by providing IoT sensor nodes and IoT Gateway Devices, integrating the communication Frameworks and protocols and providing the Applications [Web/Cloud Applications and Client Applications], to bridge the legacy systems to the IoT infrastructure. IoT Service Providers identify congestions in the enterprise functioning and help the organization to achieve increased efficiency by enabling systematic and intelligent tracking, monitoring, communication and decision-making system. Mistral, as a technology service provider can help you realize your IoT strategy by providing IoT Device Designs and IoT Gateway Designs based on powerful processors from Intel, Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, NXP/Freescale and open source platforms. We can help you through IoT Protocol Development, Web/Cloud/PC Applications integrating with the legacy system to provide a seamless IoT enabled solution for enterprise and industrial automation.

Ref:

1.    1.   https://venturebeat.com/business/
2.      https://www.mistralsolutions.com/blog/internet-things-cloud-ecosystem/
3.      https://community.arm.com/arm-community-blogs/b/
4.      https://www.thefreelibrary.com/

Fundamentals of Printed Circuit Board

Fundamentals of Printed Circuit Board 

We live in a world driven by technology and use them in nearly every aspect of our daily lives. We tend to depend on smart electronic devices to make our lives easier, organised and better connected. Needless to say, all these electronic devices are designed over a Printed Circuit Board (PCB). PCB Design Services is a product design process involving high-level engineering tools for board design.

PCB Design is the point in a design stage at which all the design decisions made earlier come together and where unforeseen problems related to performance, power distribution analysis, signal integrity, thermal analysis and noise mismatching make themselves known and have to be resolved.

What is a PCB or printed circuit board?

Printed Circuit Board is a critical component in electronics that enables and integrates all the electronic circuits/components of a design. These boards are used in various electronic products – from Smartphones, Smart Tabs, Reader, Camera Devices, Access Controller, Infotainment Systems to Medical devices, Industrial equipment, Automotive Electronics, Radars, Defense, Military and Aerospace equipment and all other computing systems.

Printed circuit boards were initially developed during World War II for military applications. Over the years, this technology was adopted by electronic manufacturers enabling them to offer cost-effective, compact, and power-efficient solutions.

The printed circuit board is made up of a thin layer of conducting material, usually copper films printed over a non-conducting layer known as substrate. These substrates are made up of special materials which do not conduct electricity. The most commonly used substrates are Resins, Fiberglass, Epoxy Glass, Metal Board, Flame retardant (UL94-V0, UL94-V1) and Polyimides.

Fundamentally PCBs are single layer, double layer, and multi-layer. The layer classification of Printed Circuit Boards is based on the number of conductive layers present in the PCB. The below figure shows the cross-section of various types of PCBs.

Typically, there are two different methods for mounting components on a Printed Circuit Board – through-hole and surface-mount. In the through-hole method, the components consist of thin leads that are pressed through tiny holes in the board on one side and soldered on the other side. The through-hole method is mostly used because of the mechanical stability it provides to the components. In the surface-mount method, the terminals of every component are soldered to the same surface of the Printed Circuit Board directly. Mostly surface-mounted components are small and have a tiny set of solderable pins or Ball Grid Array (BGA) on the component.

PCB Material Classifications

A PCB is broadly classified into three different categories:

1.   Rigid PCB

2.   Flex PCB

3.   Rigid-Flex PCB

Let’s have a look at these categories in detail:

1. Rigid PCB

Rigid PCB, as the name suggests, is a solid, inflexible PCB which cannot be twisted or folded to fit into a specific mechanical enclosure. The Rigid PCB which is also known as the Standard PCB is made up of resin and glass along with copper foils which are generally known as Laminates. These laminates come with specific thicknesses to form a standard double-sided PCB, i.e., 0.4mm, 0.6mm, 0.8mm, 1.2mm, 1.6mm, 2.4mm, etc. Multiple sheets of these laminates are used along with pre-preg to form a multi-layer design.

Rigid PCBs are the cheapest PCBs. These are also known as the traditional PCBs and are more widely used in various electronic products. The best example of a rigid PCB is the computer motherboard. Some of the solid PCBs that we see in our daily lives are washing machine, refrigerator, telephones, and calculators.

A simple construction of the double-sided PCB and multi-layer PCB are shown below:

Benefits of Rigid Printed Circuit Boards:

o   Cost-Effective solution

o   Rugged and reliable

o   High-density circuits

2. Flex PCB

As the name suggests, the Flex PCB is a flexible PCB that can either be folded or twisted to form a specific shape. The flexible nature of these PCBs helps in accommodating a complex PCB in a smaller form factor thereby reducing the product size. The clutters within a given frame, replacing a wires/cables with a simple flex PCB. The substrate in the Flex PCBs is made up of thin insulating polymer films or polyimides similar to the Rigid PCBs. The key objective of Flex PCBs is to improve the bend and make the product compact and flexible with a lesser layer count. The thickness of the copper foils and the polyimides are made thinner to achieve the flexibility of the product. . “The thinner the copper foil, much reliable is the Flex PCBs.” A Stiffener/Backer is attached to the Flex PCBs to prevent plate buckling and support for components.

Ideally, Flex PCBs are a great choice for designing PCBs of high speed and controlled impedance. These PCBs are widely used in aerospace, military, mobile communications, computers, digital cameras and more.

Benefits of Flex PCBs:

o   Allows bending and folding to fit into an arbitrary shape

o   The thin and lightweight enables a substantial reduction in packaging size

o   Flexibility makes it easier for installation and service

o   Effectively reduce the volume of the product

o   Suitable for miniaturized and high-reliability electronic products.

3. Rigid-Flex PCBs

Rigid-flex PCBs are circuit boards that use a combination of both Rigid and Flexible board technologies in a given design. Typically, Rigid-Flex boards consist of multiple layers of Rigid and Flex on a PCB, that are interconnected within a 3D Space. This combination enables efficient space utilization as the flex part of the circuit can be bent or twisted to achieve the desired shape of the mechanical design.

Similar to the Rigid PCBs, standard FR4 layers merged along with polyimide layers, usually in the centre, are used to form a Rigid-Flex PCB. Rigid-Flex PCBs are most commonly found in devices were space/weight are major concerns, such as smartphones, digital cameras, USB, CT Scanners, Pacemakers, and automobiles.

Benefits of Rigid-flex PCBs:

o   Rigid-Flex PCBs enable design freedom, space minimization, weight reduction, that will eventually reduce the packaging requirements significantly

o   Integrates both rigid and flexible circuits to minimize interconnects

o   Dynamic and flexible and fits into smaller spaces

o   Suitable for high-density, miniaturized and high-reliability electronic products

o   Flex circuits eliminate wire routing errors

BACK SIDE CONTROLLER BOARD PCB

FRONT SIDE CONTROLLER BOARD PCB

So, there you have it. The basics of PCB and it’s classification.

Ref:-

1. Mistral Solutions Pvt. Ltd

2. https://www.tempoautomation.com/blog/

3. https://jayconsystems.com/circuit-board-design/

CCTV Camera Cable Variations

CCTV Camera Cable Variations

We know that selecting your CCTV cameras and video recorder may have been a little more work than you might have anticipated. We’re sorry to say that the decision making process isn’t over just yet. We can say with confidence that about 90% of tech support related issues are a result of problems with cabling. This makes your choice in cable one of the more important decisions you’re going to make.

Siamese Cable

Siamese cable is really two different cables fused together. You have your coaxial cable (RG59) for video, and power cable. The video portion will serve to relay the video feed from your camera back to your DVR, while the power cable will relay power from your power supply to the camera. Siamese cable is appropriate for any analog, HD-CVI, and HD-SDI security camera system.

This is easily the most popular choice, but there are different levels of quality which can tie into the decision making process. You’ll often see the acronym “AWG” along side of this type of cable. American wire gauge (AWG) is just the unit of measurement that represents the “gauge” or thickness of the wire.

Your standard pre-made Siamese cable will usually be 24AWG or 26 AWG. This is going to seem thin when you hold it in your hand but it’s still very practical. Cable like this is functional for runs up to 150 feet. We don’t recommend going much further than that as you’ll very quickly begin to experience video and/or power loss because of the thinner gauge copper wire. Also, because of it’s thin gauge, pre-made Siamese cable can only be used reliably with standard analog cameras. You will not be able to use this with HD-SDI or HD-CVI cameras.

Pre-made Siamese Cable

The alternative to pre-made is to purchase Siamese cable sold by the spool. This is also commonly referred to as RG59 cable. The coaxial cable that comes off of a spool is normally 20AWG while the power cable is 18AWG. There are two different types of coax in this industry and most of it is copper clad. This means that the center wire is aluminum or silver but cased inside of a copper shell. This type of cable is good for runs up to 300 feet. Some people have been able to push this as far as 400 feet, but usually after 300, you begin to experience video degradation. The other option is solid copper Siamese cable. Unless you have an HD-CVI system, this probably isn’t going to be necessary for you, but you might find that this is a good solution for you if you just need to stretch those 300 foot runs a bit further without video loss.

Siamese Cable from Spool with Various Power and BNC Connectors

Just keep in mind that standard analog and HD-SDI systems are only designed be able to go up to 300 feet. Whether it’s copper clad or solid copper, either one should work just fine for you. Solid copper cable only comes into the picture with HD-CVI systems because there runs can go up to approximately 1600 feet. Without solid copper Siamese cable, you start to experience video degradation pretty early on.

CAT5e Cable

Cat5 and Cat5e are absolutely different no matter what anyone tells you. Ordinary Cat5 cable should not be used with CCTV products. The quality of the cable is too poor for this application and will cause frequent problems if it works at all. If you choose to run this type of cable, it needs to be at least CAT5e (we’ll get to CAT6). You can use this type of cable with standard analog cameras, and it’s required for IP/network cameras.  If you choose to go with Cat5e for your analog cameras, you shouldn't have any issue with runs up to 1000 feet.  If you are using Cat5e with IP cameras that are power over Ethernet (PoE), your cable runs can go as far as 300-1000 feet, while non-PoE cameras will be limited to the power supply being used with them (usually about 300 feet).  The power consumption of your PoE IP camera will ultimately dictate the maximum length of your run but you can usually expect at least 600 feet (12W power consumption).

Analog cameras, as you may have already realized, aren’t really set up for Cat5e cable. The work around for this is to use baluns. Think of baluns like converters that attach to your cameras to make them compatible with Cat5e. There are various types of baluns to choose from depending on your needs.

Network camera, or IP cameras, have a network cable port on their pigtail. Whether the IP camera is power over Ethernet (PoE) or not, the network cable port will be there. You’ll also have a female power terminal on the pigtail very similar to that of any analog or HD camera.

If you have a camera that’s PoE, you can run that single length of Cat5e cable and you’ll have video and power going through the same cable. If your camera is not PoE, you will need a dedicated power source to power the camera. The Cat5e cable will still be good for video, but you’ll most likely need to run a separate power cable in addition to your Cat5e cable unless you have an outlet close enough for the power supply to reach the camera.

The alternative to running two separate cables is to use simple PoE power adapters for non-PoE IP cameras that will essentially convert your non-PoE camera into a PoE camera. They’re identical in purpose to video and power baluns. You’ll still need a dedicated 12V DC power supply for the camera, just like you would any analog camera, but these adapters will enable you to position your power source somewhere much more convenient; for instance, next to your network switch or network video recorder (NVR).

Cat6 Cable

This type of cable is almost never necessary. The fact is that as of right now, there aren’t any IP cameras that require Cat6 cable, but because of the fact that Cat6 is backwards compatible with CAT5e, there is absolutely no harm in using CAT6 or CAT8. Due to the fact that CAT6 is the newer, bigger, and better thing out on the market though, a lot of people choose to go with Cat6 cable in an effort to predict the future in a way. By using CAT6 cable now instead of Cat5e, you may be preventing yourself from having to run new cable later when you upgrade your system. Predictably, cameras will only be getting more advanced and as such will probably require a more advanced cable in the distant future, such as Cat6. Theoretically, Cat6 may be able to lengthen the maximum distance of your runs, but testing for it is so scarce that we wouldn't be able to confirm that with any confidence.

Cat 5 vs Cat 6 vs Cat 8 Ethernet Cables

Designed by integrating cutting-edge technology, the cat 8 cables elevate the performance to the next level. Having a higher bandwidth performance than Cat 5e and Cat 6, Cat 8 cables are the most sought-after ones nowadays.

A comparison of Cat5e, Cat6 and Cat8 Ethernet cables would reveal that cat 8 cables are far more superior than the former two, even though it has a few cons.

Cat8 cables have better frequency characteristics that make them capable of offering higher data speeds than Cat 5e and Cat 6. It can support bandwidth up to 2 GHz for a distance of up to 30 meters. The data speed guaranteed by cat 8 varies from 25 Gbps to 40 Gbps.

On the other hand, Cat 5e Ethernet cables offer a maximum frequency of 100 MHz and Cat 6 supports a max frequency of 250 MHz. The data speed of the Cat 5 cable is limited to 1000 Mbps and that of the Cat 6 Ethernet cable is 10,000 Mbps.

The only major drawback of Cat 8 Ethernet cable is the distance it performs the best. Cat 8 cables are ideal for home installations, LAN in office spaces of small areas etc. Cat 8 Ethernet cables simply assure network speeds from 2500 Mbps to 40,000 Mbps.

The Power of Ethernet or POE is another advantage of using Cat 8 cables. Thereby you can save on cabling expenses at home as well as office. Ideal for space management, reducing clutter, and optimal performance, Cat8 Ethernet cables might be a preferable choice for you.

Twisted Pair Cat 8 Cables

Increased data speed has become a necessity presently. Every minute delay is costing businesses, and individuals offering services their money, time and effort. The electromagnetic field created through the passage of electricity and electromagnetic interference can impede the speed and flawless performance of the network.

Twisted pair cables are a solution used for reducing the effects of the magnetic field. The magnetic field created would be contained in the limited space. Thus high-speed data transmission would occur unaffected.

More twists in the network cabling would provide improved frequency characteristics to the cable. Furthermore, individually shielded pairs of network cables are another method for enhancing frequency.

The categories of cables available in the market presently are:

Cat 5 cables

o   Bandwidth – 100 MHz

o   Data Speed – 100 Mbps

Cat 5e cables

o   Bandwidth – 100 MHz

o   Data Speed – 100 Mbps

Cat 6 cables

o   Bandwidth – 250 MHz

o   Data Speed – 1 Gbps

Cat 6A cables

o   Bandwidth – 500 MHz

o   Data Speed – 10 Gbps

Cat 7 cables

o   Bandwidth – 600 MHz

o   Data Speed – 10 Gbps

Cat 7a cables

o   Bandwidth – 1000 MHz

o   Data Speed – 10+ Gbps

Cat 8 cables

o   Bandwidth – 2500 MHz

o   Data Speed – 40 Gbps