Stay Safe and Secure with Live Video Surveillance: A Beginner’s Guide

Jon Jones ● Jan 2 ● 12 min read

Live video surveillance is a powerful security and monitoring tool that allows you to keep an eye on your property and the people and activities within it in real-time. Regardless of the size of your business or organization, live video surveillance can provide the peace of mind you need.

In this blog, we’ll explore the many benefits of using live video surveillance, as well as some best practices. From increased security and crime prevention to improved efficiency and cost-effectiveness, live video surveillance has the potential to transform your security.

What is Live Video Surveillance?

Live video surveillance is a process that allows security professionals to keep an eye on your property and assets from afar 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There are many benefits of using live video surveillance. Some benefits includes deterring crime, catching criminals in the act, providing evidence for criminal prosecution, and peace of mind.

• Deter Theft, Vandalism, and Crime: Security systems with live video surveillance can be an effective deterrent to criminals. If potential criminals are aware that their activities are being actively monitored, their likelihood of committing a crime decreases.
• Identify Criminals in Real-time: Live video surveillance is an important security measure as it can help catch criminals in the act. This type of surveillance provides a proactive approach to security by alerting security personnel to potential risks as they are happening, rather than after the fact.
• Provide Evidence: Live video surveillance can also provide evidence for prosecution in the event of a crime. This ensures that criminals are apprehended and prosecuted, and it may protect your business from a repeat offense.
• Improved Efficiency and Productivity: For businesses, live video surveillance can help improve efficiency and productivity by allowing managers to monitor employee activities and identify bottlenecks or areas for improvement. It can also be used to monitor customer traffic and behavior, which can inform business decisions.
• Peace of Mind: Live video surveillance can provide peace of mind for business owners. Knowing that your property has round-the-clock protection in the event of an emergency can help reduce anxiety and stress levels.

How Does Live Video Surveillance Work?

Live video surveillance is especially effective in deterring crime when there is a professional security officer monitoring your site 24/7. Thus, live video surveillance systems are a great way for businesses to protect their investments while also keeping their employees and customers safe. With these systems in place, companies can rest assured knowing property and assets are safe and secure.

However, not all security systems come with live video surveillance services. For this reason, it is crucial to actively look for security systems that offer such services by trained security personnel. With Verkada’s Alarm license and installation of security cameras, you can rest easy knowing that your facility is protected with surveillance services. But how precisely does real-time live videeo video surveillance work?

Step 1: Choose the Cameras for Live Video Surveillance

You begin by determining which cameras will be watched and at what times. Verkada’s high-tech AI analytics then notify on-call security personnel whenever a human is detected at the scene. Access control and intrusion sensors are just two examples of the other Verkada devices that can trigger alarms.

Step 2: Security Officer Checks for Danger

Second, when an alarm goes off, the people who are watching the live video feed will look at the footage to see if anything is in immediate danger.

Step 3: Security Officer Responds to Incidents

Ultimately, if there is a real danger, the monitoring agent will immediately contact the customer’s call list. In the event of an emergency, customers can also request that agents contact the appropriate authorities. The agent avoids unnecessary alarms by disregarding the situation if it poses no immediate risk. The Verkada agents in charge of your building’s live video monitoring services will essentially (1) spot suspicious behavior, (2) look into the matter, and (3) take charge if an emergency occurs.

Best Practices for Live Video Surveillance

When using live video surveillance, it’s important to consider the following best practices. First, it’s crucial to be aware of and comply with any privacy laws and regulations that apply to your use of live video surveillance. This may include obtaining consent from individuals being recorded, as well as clearly disclosing the use of surveillance and posting visible warning signs.

Additionally, to get the most out of your live video surveillance system, it’s important to position and place cameras in strategic locations that provide a clear view of the desired area. This may involve considering factors such as lighting, obstructions, and the field of view of the camera.

Furthermore, it’s important to ensure that the footage from your live video surveillance system is securely stored and backed up in case it’s needed for investigation or other purposes. This is made easy with cloud-based cameras that offer storage for up to 365 days.

By following these best practices, you can ensure that your live video surveillance system is effective and being used responsibly.

An Introduction to Verkada: Live Video Surveillance

Here at Monarch, we will work with you to design a surveillance system with live video surveillance. Together, we will design, implement, and oversee a security infrastructure for both safety and convenience.

Verkada offers a wide range of security products, including facial recognition cameras, access control, intrusion sensors and professional monitoring. All Verkada devices integrate with each other and are managed from a single cloud dashboard. Consider the following features of all Verkada devices:

Simple to Use

• Solid-state Storage (SSD): No NVR, DVR, or server is required. This means you pay for what you use – and that’s all. This reduces any extra overhead operations and the associated expenses,
• Regular, Automatic Software Updates: No need to worry about if your devices are working properly or are up-to-date with our Verkada devices.
• Simple Plug-and-Play Install: Just a standard Ethernet cable is required for the cameras to be brought online and fully operational within minutes.
• Accessible Anywhere, Anytime: Access archived or live feed videos on any device or browser
• Time lapse: Watch a day of footage in under 30 seconds with timelapses.
• Floor Plan: Quickly respond to incidents with real-time motion plotting. 

Scalable

• Unlimited Storage on Camera and Cloud: Reduce your organizations’ liability risk with unlimited cloud archiving offered by Verkada cameras.
• Unlimited Users Allowed: You can easily authorize admins access to an unlimited number of users.
• Infinitely Scalable: No matter how large the facility is, we can help you keep everyone on the same page. 

Limitlessly Smart

• AI-Based Video Analytics – People and Vehicle: Face detection, person of interest detection, and license plate detection are all available.
• Smart Filters: Search for specific people, vehicles, and objects without having to spend too much time scrubbing through footage.
• Live Alerts: Receive instant alerts in any meaningful event
• Shareable Live Feeds: Share your live feed via SMS. This is useful as you can send it to first responders in case of an emergency for dramatically reduced response time.
• 10-Year Warranty: Rest assured that your money is well protected

Live Video Surveillance: Cloud-Based Verkada Cameras

Verkada offers some of the best cameras for live video surveillance systems. These cameras include: the Verkada Indoor Dome Series, the Verkada Outdoor Dome Series, the Verkada Bullet Series, the Verkada Mini Series, and Verkada Fisheye Series.

Verkada Indoor Dome Series

The Dome Series from Verkada provides enterprise-grade security in a variety of models suitable for any environment – indoors or outdoors. These hybrid cloud cameras have a long-lasting, vandal-resistant design and sensor resolutions of up to 4K. Thus, they are one of the best cameras for live video surveillance on the market.

All of the cameras in the Dome Series are straightforward to install and ready to use right out of the box without any additional configurations or downloads. Hence, organizations can quickly scale coverage and situational awareness across any number of locations using standard features such as data encryption in transit and at rest, onboard storage, and advanced motion-based insights.

There are models in the Indoor Dome Series: CD42, CD52, and C62.

	CD42	CD52	CD62
Type	Indoors	Indoors	Indoors
Image Resolution	5MP	5MP	4K
Type of Lens	Fixed, with 3x Zoom Digitally	Zoom, with 3x Optical and Digital Zoom	Zoom, with 3x Optical and Digital Zoom
Standard Retention	Up to 365 Days	Up to 365 Days	Up to 90 Days
Standard Storage	Up to 2TB	Up to 2TB	Up to 2TB
Audio	Yes	Yes	Yes
IR Range	15m	30m	30m
Rating	IK08	IK08	IK08

The Verkada Outdoor Dome Series

The Verkada Outdoor Dome Series is both weather- and tamper-resistant. Its capabilities function well even in areas with limited bandwidth and connectivity. They are perfect for monitoring the parking lot and the exterior of buildings (e.g., to capture key license plates). There are three three models in the Outdoor Dome Series: CD42-E, CD52-E, and C62-E.

	CD42-E	CD52-E	CD62-E
Type	Outdoors	Outdoors	Outdoors
Image Resolution	5MP	5MP	4K
Type of Lens	Fixed, with 3x Zoom Digitally	Zoom, with 3x Optical and Digital Zoom	Zoom, with 3x Optical and Digital Zoom
Standard Retention	Up to 365 Days	Up to 365 Days	Up to 90 Days
Standard Storage	Up to 2TB	Up to 2TB	Up to 2TB
Audio	Yes	Yes	Yes
IR Range	15m	30m	30m
Rating	IK10 & IP67	IK10 & IP67	IK10 & IP67

The Verkada Bullet Series

The Bullet Series from Verkada is built to withstand extreme conditions, and its conspicuous appearance is meant to deter would-be assailants.

These cameras’ lenses can be either wide-angle or telephoto, giving you the flexibility to capture a broad scene or focus in on distant details, respectively. In addition to being able to take clear pictures up to 50 feet away in the dark, they also have powerful long-range IR LEDs.

Bullet cameras are weather-resistant and can be used in the open air. They have a strong aluminum unibody with hermetically sealed internal electrical components. The exterior housing is protected from dust and water to an IP67 standard, and from vandalism, hail, and other flying objects to an IK10 standard. Thus, the bullet camera is an ideal camera for live video surveillance.

There are four three models in the Bullet Series: CB51-E, CB61-E, CB51-TE, CB61-TE.

	CB51-E	CB51-TE	CB61-E	CB61-TE
Type	Indoor and/or Outdoor	Indoor and/or Outdoor	Indoor and/or Outdoor	Indoor and/or Outdoor
Image Resolution	5MP	5MP	4K	4K
Type of Lens	Zoom, with up to 3x Optical and Digital zoom	Telephoto Zoom, with 8-20mm focal length	Zoom, with up to 3x Optical and Digital zoom	Telephoto Zoom, with 8-20mm focal length
Standard Retention	Up to 2TB	Up to 2TB	Up to 2TB	Up to 2TB
Standard Storage	Up to 365 Days	Up to 365 Days	Up to 90 Days	Up to 90 Days
Audio	–	–	–	–
IR Range	30m	50m	30m	50m
Rating	IK10 & IP167	IK10 & IP167	IK10 & IP167	IK10 & IP167

The Verkada Mini Series

The Verkada Mini Series offers flexibility and high resolution for crystal clear footage. The Mini Camera is a compact size that can fit any space, anywhere. There are three three models in the Mini Series: CM41-S, CM41, and CM41-E.

	CM41-S	CM41	CM41-E
Type	Indoor	Indoor	Outdoor
Image Resolution	5MP	5MP	5MP
Type of Lens	Fixed, with up to 3x Digital Zoom	Fixed, with up to 3x Digital Zoom	Fixed, with up to 3x Digital Zoom
Standard Retention	Up to 90 days	Up to 365 Days	Up to 365 Days
Standard Storage	Up to 385GB	Up to 2TB	Up to 2TB
Audio	–	Yes	–
IR Range	N/A	15m	15m
Rating	N/A	IK08	IK10 & IP67

The Fisheye Camera

Using sophisticated onboard processing and a wide–angle 12MP image sensor, the CF81-E fisheye camera from Verkada offers dynamic viewing experiences. In fact, there are five different viewing options available to users: panoramic, digital pan-tilt-zoom, 2-way split, 3-way split, and 4-way split.

The CF81-E has an IP67 rating, making it suitable for use in either indoor or outdoor environments. The exterior housing has an impact resistance level of IK10, making it safe from vandalism, hail, and other flying objects. The CF81-E, like all Verkada cameras, can be used straight from the box with no further settings adjustments required.

	Fisheye CF81-E
Type	Indoor and/or Outdoor
Image Resolution	12MP
Type of Lens	Fixed, with 3x Digital Zoom
Standard Retention	Maximum of 90 Days of Standard Quality Retention
Standard Storage	Up to 2TB of Onboard Storage
IR Range	20M
Angle of View	180°
Rating	IK10 and IP67
Audio	Yes
NDAA Compliant	Yes
Analytics	Ambarella Chipset for People and Vehicle Analytics
Viewing Modes	Panoramic; Four–Way Split; Pan-Tilt–Zoom

Three different view modes are supported by the CF81-E. You can customize the view mode to meet the requirements of the install location.

• Four-way split: Use a single camera to watch four distinct fields of view.
• 180° Panoramic: A wide-angle view that is ideal for an open area or a corridor.
• Pan-tilt-zoom (ePTZ): Provides a panoramic, all-encompassing view of your environment

Live Video Surveillance: People Analytics

People Analytics combines cloud-based computer vision with intelligent edge-based video processing to give users high-quality images of every person recognized in the scene. Moreover, Verkada’s centralized management platform enables users to filter visitors according to a wide range of criteria, such as time of day, date, appearance, clothing color, backpack detection, and facial matches. Consider the following benefits of using Verkada’s People Analytics with live video surveillance.

• Face Search
  • You can quickly find people who look like a face you already have in your organization. You can also upload an image of a face of a person of interest.
• Occupancy Trends
  • Estimate the number of people who cross a customizable digital line on a video feed.
  • Keep track of how a space is being used in order to improve business operations.
• Person History 
  • Search through high-resolution snapshots of people detected in the frame.
  • Save screenshots or easily access associated high-resolution video.
• Examine Anywhere
  • People Analytics is accessible from any device and from virtually any location in the world.
• Filters for Attributes
  • Filter by a variety of criteria, such as clothing color, gender appearance, and facial matches.
• Cross Camera Tracking
  • Quickly identify people of interest or potential suspects across all cameras at all sites.
  • Record and export multiple angles of a person to provide evidence quickly.

Monarch: Your Trusted Security Vendor of Live Video Surveillance

In conclusion, live video surveillance is a powerful security and monitoring tool that can provide increased security, improved efficiency, and enhanced situational awareness.

By following best practices and staying vigilant, you can take advantage of the many benefits of live video surveillance and enjoy greater peace of mind. That’s why Monarch is here to help you choose the cameras that best fit your security needs

Updated: Jan 2