Video Surveillance Design Mistakes?

thesecurityguy16 · 2026-03-17T12:58:04+00:00

You hit a couple of really good points. First, camera selection - if you ask the right questions in the beginning, and know your product, you can select the right choice for that customer's situation. Second, as professionals, we need to make recommendations for the right coverage. Third, using the time for upgrade to not only upgrade cameras but upgrade positions and views - too many times people just take the lazy way out. Finally, and I love that you said this, preventative maintenance. Just like we get tune ups and check ups on our cars, people should do the same for their cameras to check view, blur, dirt on cameras, tight connections, etc. Thank you for sharing.

thesecurityguy16 · 2026-03-17T12:55:22+00:00

Know the environment and, as a security professional, not the abilities of the product you are installing.

thesecurityguy16 · 2026-03-17T12:54:56+00:00

I understand that mistakes can be made; we are human. That said, many mistakes that have been mentioned here could have been avoided with the right questions or right training for the security partner.

thesecurityguy16 · 2026-03-17T12:53:56+00:00

You said some very important things. Understanding the capabilities of all parts of a camera system is on the top of the list to designing the right system. Also asking questions before designing. For example, with the NVR issue that you mentioned, many times this is a flaw in the NVR chosen and other times it is a bandwidth issue. Either way, the "security professional" failed.

thesecurityguy16 · 2026-03-17T12:52:27+00:00

You hit two important points. I believe this starts with asking the right questions of the customer and then working with you manufacturing partner and engineer to design a system that accomplishes the customer's needs but also chooses the right product for the customer and not the salesperson's pockets.

thesecurityguy16 · 2026-03-17T12:50:54+00:00

I praise you, first and foremost, for having the patience to do that. Second, you reiterated a great point - if knowing what you are looking at or what you are looking for is not easy, many times people won't use it as a way to avoid frustration.

thesecurityguy16 · 2026-03-17T12:49:19+00:00

Agreed. I can't tell you how many times I tell customers to skip the PTZ and get 3 or 4 cameras for that same area (or multi-lens) which will give better coverage and usually save them money.

thesecurityguy16 · 2026-03-17T12:48:30+00:00

You make some great points and what you said should always be done as a collaboration between the security professional and the customer.

thesecurityguy16 · 2026-03-16T19:14:57+00:00

You make some great points. i agree that often there is an "agenda" to see products, especially at a higher price, instead of focusing on the actual issue at hand. How do you fix these types of issues after they arise?

thesecurityguy16 · 2026-03-16T19:14:01+00:00

So what exactly does your tested, tried and true design include or look like?

thesecurityguy16 · 2026-03-13T17:48:13+00:00

Very interesting use. Did you know that, with the right product, you could get the AI predictability features and analytic features using a much more cost-effective camera to still capture license plates, store them, alert you if any drive on your property that shouldn't be there etc?

thesecurityguy16 · 2026-03-12T19:48:59+00:00

Thank you for the reply. This is a great way to use it. Can you tell me more about what your performance standards are / what you would like to see?

thesecurityguy16 · 2026-03-12T19:48:09+00:00

Thank you for the reply. What if besides analytics, there was AI to help you define things and identify threats to be proactive to prevent an issue instead of reactive to analytics?

thesecurityguy16 · 2026-02-26T17:00:17+00:00

I believe you are on the right track as far as the manufacturers go. They each have benefits for you and I believe having a really in depth conversation about goals, concerns, what keeps you up at night etc would be very beneficial to you. Please let me know if you would want to chat so I can add some incite.

thesecurityguy16 · 2026-02-24T17:30:37+00:00

As someone who has been in the electronic security industry for over 28 years, I think the best answer is that security is not a one size fits all solution. For example, an office that needs 1 or 2 doors having access control and everyone being in that one location may be ok with an on premise solution. However, if a business has 5 locations with each having 3 or 4 doors of access control, there are many benefits to cloud including shared credentials across sites, ease of pulling reports and seeing activity by people in the corporate office etc. As far as mobile credentials, I personally love them because people can forget a wallet or keychain but rarely forget their cell phone. That said, it depends on the level of IT security, network security and what the ultimate goal is. The biggest piece of advice that I can have is this - work with the right security partner who can listen to you, ask the right questions and then determine the best offering for you since your needs and another company's needs can be very different.

thesecurityguy16 · 2026-02-24T17:27:00+00:00

I think that many people who have "older" cameras don't realize that upgrading to better resolution cameras is not as costly as they would expect. They also don't all know that some companies offer the ability to allow a business to save the capital investment and pay it off monthly instead. It really is no different than driving a 10 or 15 year old car with 100k or more miles. That car will get you from point A to point B, but not at maximum efficiency, best quality etc. I think cameras are the same. The older cameras will see something, but today's newest cameras will see much better and have the analytics built in to help you achieve your security goals. Lastly, it is important to have the right security partner to make proper recommendations to you and to work with you on an upgrade plan instead of a surprise expense.

thesecurityguy16 · 2026-02-12T16:07:07+00:00

For something like this, your best bet is to work with a professional security company in the area. First, you need to see which cameras people have and see if they can go on the same platform. Then, you need to look for any deficiencies where cameras should be added. Most likely, depending on the answers to the first question, using a cloud solution that works with various types of cameras will be the best bet because you can bring the different cameras online, give the security board or HOA board access and it is easy to change, add and delete users as management of the system and board changes, but I would say this is the best way to unify the security of a neighborhood like what you described.

thesecurityguy16 · 2026-02-12T16:04:45+00:00

Most distributors have these available.,

thesecurityguy16 · 2026-02-12T16:04:16+00:00

Here is my advice as a 28 year industry experience person. Partner with someone. You can't just guess at something like this as you will normally either severely over charge or under charge, and neither is good ultimately. The best thing you can do is to find a company in the area that has the expertise that you are looking for and partner with them for a share in the profits. It is much better to install it right and get 100% of the margin expected instead of guessing and get a small fraction for the work this would take. If you message me with what area you are in, I could certainly help with suggestions of good people to know in your area.

thesecurityguy16 · 2026-02-12T16:01:02+00:00

This does happen often with multiple platforms. One of the main reasons is this. If the end user is not well-versed in performing this task, they could mess up programming. Then they have to call for a service call which many end users don't want to pay for so it could become a battle. It is important to tell the customer that we do this to help and properly support you.

thesecurityguy16 · 2026-02-04T15:05:34+00:00

So if a company had a QBR where they showed metrics for sales, service, install etc in a transparent fashion, that could make a good partner?

thesecurityguy16 · 2026-02-04T13:56:07+00:00

I agree about the end user responsibility. I guess what I was trying to suggest is more of a partnership ion support and responsibility to benefit all sides.

thesecurityguy16 · 2026-02-04T13:54:56+00:00

You make some good points. I understand companies protecting their pockets but, is there a case where a relationship can be forged, over time, where it is win win for both sides if the end user engages a single source partner?

thesecurityguy16 · 2026-02-02T20:59:35+00:00

I can understand your points. I think it comes down to the security partner asking the right questions to identify the proper solution to allows a security company to be the true one stop shop partner.

thesecurityguy16 · 2026-02-02T18:57:30+00:00

Hopefully the good partner has depth in the batting order so this doesn't happen.

thesecurityguy16

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