Is Storage So Inexpensive You Should Record Continuously Now?

Looks like that is a comment I had on another thread. My comment about the motion flag was based on searching. Still, exterior cameras have to always be run continuous especially since with high definition we are usually looking at larger scenes. The thing is, the goal of our industry is to provide forensics for evidence and the percent chance of obtaining goes up exponentially if you record continuous. So what if it takes more time to search. 2 tb certified drives now are 150 bucks. I normally use vbr recording with reduced agc settings with a goal of 1 Mbps average on a 1-2 mp camera (main-high profile). This is achievable (reducing agc even a little bit helps alot to reduce bandwidth below trade show settings). Many integrators also think frame rate is linear in regards to bandwidth. Average cameras set for 1 fps continuous with higher rates for motion use more than half of the storage compared to continuous when you take into account the size of the key frame related to prediction frames. My main comment is that if a customer spends 1000 dollars on a camera, for an extra 15-20 bucks, they can increase their chance quite a bit for usable frames by going continuous. The bandwidth for the camera is used no matter if you store or not.

400 dollars? No wonder I only do enterprise solutions. On the low cost end:

250 bucks for camera plus markup = 375

Cabling, terminations, and hardware = 30 plus markup = 50

Camera license= 150 bucks

Installation (4 hours in, 6 hours out) = 325 for interior

General training, programming, and support (average per camera, 15+ system) = 100 bucks

Camera % of headend= 200 bucks

Networking % of project = 25 bucks

Total = 1000 bucks per camera (on average)

How do you come up with 400 bucks? (in my experience, 1000 x inside plus 1800 x exterior = general system price).

I did just sell a couple 4 camera hikvision systems parts only for 1600 each, so I guess......

I think, whenever cost allows, video should always be recorded full time, and motion searching done retrospectively (assuming the video system has that feature). I have had cases where proving something didn't happen, for legal reasons, is as important as proving something did. With motion only recording, the court (and even myself) can never be 100% sure that the event didn't happen as it's too easy to misconfigure sensitivity or zones or due to some disk or processing error the motion event was never triggered.

Also typical motion recording settings may be designed to ignore objects far away on the grounds that faces can't be recognised at that distance anyway. But for serious incidents this video is still useful as it shows how many people were involved, which direction they came from and where they went to. It may also help determine which other cameras may have got a better image.

It is all about bugdet though ;)

I have to agree that full time recording is the ideal way to go considering the many reasons listed in the posts above. As it seems, most people are concerned with the cost of storage or storage space required due to the use of megapixel cameras. At most of our facilities where we are using either 2MP, 3MP or 5MP cameras for outdoor surviellance we have opted to record continuously as we cannot afford to miss any recordings due to the fact that motion may not be detected for whatever reason. We also initially were incurring a lot of motion caused by trees, etc. Yes, you can select motion zones or mask off areas which are not relevant but there are many variables when dealing with trees, wind, weather, etc.

Initially we didn't think we could afford 30TBs, 45TBs or even 60TB of storage to allow for 30 day retention periods of many megapixel cameras recording continuously. After several RAID failures of storage systems which were about 8TB or 12TB max in size due to the expensive nature of RAID Storage Solutions we considered using Veracity's COLDSTORE Solution. We were able to get up to 90TB of storage (using two COLDSTORE Units) at three of our locations and record continuously for 30 days. If I would have tried to find a RAID Solution with 90TB of storage space it would not have been budget friendly. With the COLDSTORE Solution not only did we save on the actual hardware costs, but we also save on electricity. Each COLDSTORE unit only uses a max of 42 watts on a single PSU. The failure rate of the harddrives (off the shelf) dropped drastically since 80% of the time only two hardrives are on. Less coolling needed in our server rooms was an added benefit as well.

Here is an IPVM Review on the COLDSTORE Unit:
Veracity Coldstore Overview

Here is another discussion on IPVM which talks about 50TB+ Storage Systems:
What Are You Using For 50TB+ Surveillance System Storage?

The snapshot below shows a comparison of Energy Savings:

In my personal opinion and experience the COLDSTORE Solution has allowed us to make continuous recording of cameras affordable and easy to maintain.

VMD is not merely used as a feature to reduce recording space but as a means to only recording relevant information. So when retriveing archive recordings, it is a lot easier to viewing movement as to no movment. Why would it be necessary to record information when there is no motion other than the incidence of a guard sleeping (which will be viewed at inset and outset of occurrence)? In the South African market, the prescription is towards VMD recording as opposed to continual recording.

I prefer to keep constant recording in addition to motion recording. I have recently been setting up my analog installs with D1@7FPS normal recording (constant) with VBR cap @512Kbps, then also motion recording with D1@7FPS with a VBR cap of 1024Kbps. While the normal recording has the same resolution and frame rate, the lower VBR cap cuts down on the additional storage needed. To be honest, most of these analog installs are small camera counts (8 cams usually) and a single 2TB drive is more than enough for a full 30 days retention. And the best part is my customer still receives motion cues that they can use to cut down on forensics time.

Now for our IP projects, they tend to be larger camera counts and vary greatly depending on the type of customer. For instance, an apartment complex we are working with right now in the planning stage is going to need 15 IP cams (13-1080p outdoor, 2-720p indoor) and we are proposing 9TB (3x3TB) of disk space. At $450 cost of the actual drives, how could we not think of drive cost as a minimal part of the cost of the project. It is a mere fraction of the overall cost.

We will be recommending constant recording for almost all customers going forward, unless Thailand floods again. (too soon?)