Crazy UK CCTV and The Value of PTZs

Like a scene out of a James Bonds movie, UK authorities released amazing footage of a driver taking a terrified pedestrian on a neighborhood ride hanging onto the hood of their car.

It is an excellent demonstration of the use of real time, operator controlled PTZs. Check it out in action. Go full screen to enjoy the 39 second ride:

Notice how an operator switches between 3 CCTV cameras in less than a minute as the car goes across the neighborhood. A couple of important points:

• There is no way to do this with megapixel cameras. If you digitally zoom down long blocks like this, you will see nothing more than murky blobs.
• Latency was minimal, key to following something moving that fast. We have been discussing the importance of low latency and the potential concerns with IP based PTZ latency [link no longer available].

Good news - they guy is all right, shaken not stirred.

Bad news - the woman who was driving got sentenced to more than 4 years in prison. Ironically, she was on the run trying to avoid being arrested for the far smaller offense of shoplifting.