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Security
Installer (SI), European Security Installer (ESI) and Professional Security Installer (PSI) are three of a number of security industry trade magazines that I have written for over
the years and I'm including them in my archive because of the huge amount of
interest in video surveillance. I have been discretely reviewing video
surveillance equipment for more than twenty-five years, since the days when
CCTV cameras were the size of shoeboxes and still a comparatively rare sight…
The speed at which surveillance technoogy has progressed has been incredible, matched only by developments in consumer electronics though quite often the CCTV industry led the way. Advances like network or IP cameras, digital image processing and recording were pioneered in the surveillance market, indeed the one of the earliest commercial hard disc based digital video recorders I reviewed (Geuterbruck Multiscope) was back in 1995, more than five years before devices like TiVo and SKY+ appeared in the shops.
Back
in the mid 1990s I recall writing that the average UK citizen going about their
lawful occasions was seen by an average by more than 300 cameras every day. I
was amused to see this same figure mentioned recently in a newspaper article
about CCTV. I suspect the number has more than doubled by now.
My
insight into video surveillance technology allows me to play a game I’ve invented
called spot-the-camera. Recently, in my local building society branch I counted
no less than 15 cameras, half a dozen were meant to be seen by the public, the
others were all covert, keeping watch on both customers and staff.
I have had to be a little
selective in the choice of material in this archive; one or two manufacturers
and institutions wouldn’t thank me for including some of their more exotic
wares, which they prefer to remain under wraps. The archive begins in 1993 but
this is due to an ongoing problem I’m having with early material, which is
stored on older disc formats and paper but eventually I will get around to
including this material as well.
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