Chapter 2 – Video Technology Overview

Publisher Summary This chapter provides an overview of video technology. The primary function of any video security or safety system is to provide remote eyes for the security force located at a central control console or remote site. The video system includes the illumination source, the scene to be viewed, the camera lens, the camera, and the means of transmission to the remote monitoring and the recording equipment. The light from an illumination source reflects off the scene. The lens collects the light from the scene and forms an image of the scene on the light-sensitive camera sensor. The camera sensor converts the visible scene formed by the lens into an electrical signal suitable for transmission to the remote monitor, recorder, and printer. The transmission media carries the electrical video signal from the camera to the remote monitor. The camera scene is permanently recorded by a real-time or TL video cassette recorder (VCR) onto a magnetic tape cassette or by a digital video recorder (DVR) using a magnetic disk hard drive.