Junior school defends toilet CCTV

A junior school head teacher has defended the use of CCTV in toilet blocks in an effort to deter vandals.

Len Holman, from Angel Road Junior School in Norwich, said pupils had asked for the cameras to protect refurbished toilet blocks.

But the human rights organisation Liberty condemned the measure.

Its director Shami Chakrabarti said the cameras would only serve to prepare children for "a lifetime of pretty intrusive surveillance".

Link to piece at BBC News

BiometriX 2009 makes its mark

Following the success of last year's BiometriX conference, the organisers, SmartX and Technews Publishing have announced the agenda for this year's groundbreaking conference and exhibition.
The 2009 conference focuses on Integrated Identity Management in the enterprise and public sector markets. Expert presenters from South Africa and abroad will highlight trends, best practices and case studies demonstrating the real-world design and implementation of Integrated Identity Management solutions in the enterprise.

The full details of this conference can be found on the BIOMETRIX 2009 website

INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP - NEW MEDIA RELEASE

Thank You, Gareth Evans

On behalf of the Board of the International Crisis Group, Co-chairs Lord Patten of Barnes and Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering warmly thank Gareth Evans for his nine and a half years of outstanding service to the organisation as President and CEO.

In recognition of his contribution, the Board has decided to award Gareth Evans the title of President Emeritus of Crisis Group.

“Speaking for the Board and staff, we all owe Gareth a tremendous debt of gratitude for his tireless efforts since January 2000”, said Co-Chair Chris Patten. “He took a small organisation analysing some 12 conflicts with 25 staff and a budget of two million dollars, and he transformed it into the pre-eminent international NGO in conflict prevention and resolution, examining some 60 conflicts world-wide with 130 staff and a budget of over 15 million.”

“Under Gareth, Crisis Group established its unique mix of field-based research, experienced policy analysis and high-level advocacy that together make Crisis Group so well-respected”, said Co-Chair Tom Pickering.

Gareth Evans served with distinction as Crisis Group’s President and CEO since January 2000. He will return to Australia in July, from which home base he will be primarily engaged in his role as Co-Chair of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, a joint global initiative of the Australian and Japanese governments (http://www.icnnd.org/). He will also remain on the Board of Crisis Group.

Gareth Evans will be succeeded as President and CEO of Crisis Group by the Honourable Louise Arbour, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and former Chief Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. She will take up the post on 21 July.

Contacts:
Andrew Stroehlein (Brussels)
+32 (0) 2 541 1635

Kimberly Abbott (Washington)
+1 202 785 1601

To contact Crisis Group media please click here
Visit Crisis Group's website: http://www.crisisgroup.org/

CCTV Media on the road in UK

CCTV Media are in the North East for a few days in July

We will be visiting clients to ensure one and all are aware of the recession busting marketing and media opportunities that exist within our portfolio of products.

Whether you have a single press release or a major case study that you want to submit, or if you simply want to learn more about the ways you can benefit from our advertising opportunities, online and in print ~ this is the time to tell us!

Call 01543 250 456 or eMail sales@cctvmedia.co.uk to make your appointment.

Is H.264 all it’s cracked up to be?

Walking around IFSEC this year, one couldn’t help notice the number of CCTV manufacturers who had H.264 stamped on their kit. However, we bumped into a few people at the show – who might be described as old curmudgeons – who weren’t enamoured with it at all.

So what is it and what’s all the controversy about?
H.264 is the latest motion-compensation-based codec developed by the ITU-T Video Coding Experts Group (VCEG) together with the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) in a partnership known as the Joint Video Team (JVT).

H.264 is also known as MPEG-4 part 10 (not to be confused with MPEG-4 Part 2) and MPEG-4 AVC (advance video coding).

Designed as an all-purpose video standard to be used across a range of applications - including low and high resolution video, broadcast, DVD storage, IP packet networks and multimedia telephone systems - H.264 is a motion-compensation-based codec which means, in short, that it performs some clever tricks to predict where moving objects in a scene will travel, thus reducing the amount of video data that has to be retransmitted with every frame of video.

It has a menu of tools which can be implemented or not, depending on the application. Each tool brings with it a set of benefits and costs so each implementation of H.264 can achieve different results. Implement more of the H.264 “toolbox” and you get smaller bitstreams (lower bandwidth required) but at the cost of more processing power or increased latency as the bitstream undergoes more intensive processing by higher power algorithms.

Proponents of H.264 claim it delivers :
- Improvements in video quality and compression over MPEG-4 and MPEG-2.
- Low latency times
- Up to 300:1 video compression
Detractors variously claim it is:
- Too complex for the task, requiring too much computational power
- Too slow, leading to higher latency times, especially at the higher compression levels
- Not much of an advance on MPEG-4 (part 2)
- Expensive to implement
- A bunch of hype as manufacturers implement the very simplest profiles of H.264 and fail to realise the true value of this wonderful new compression standard.
Have you bought or specified H.264 products? Does your company manufacture H.264 compliant products? Do you think it represents a significant step forward from MPEG-4 part 2?

Or is H.264 just the latest “must-have” badge on manufacturer’s products? Is it too costly for the benefits it delivers?

Write to us, call us, let us know what you think about this hot topic.

Contact me at: editor@cctvimage.com or Tel. 020-8255 5007
We’ll publish a selection of responses in CCTV Image magazine and online.
Best regards,
Tom Reeve
Editorial Director
CCTV Media
www.cctvmedia.co.uk

Post IFSEC update

So the dust has settled and IFSEC has been and gone but far from forgotten. The team at CCTV Media have enjoyed meeting many of you and we're all the better for learning about the new technologies and products in the market. One thing we did gain is a very definite reaction to Mike Newton (CEO at Dedicated Micros) video comments about IP (for those that haven't quite got it together with streaming video - you can read all about it in the latest edition of CCTV Image magazine). In our next issue we have an article coming up that will put forward a more positive case for IP - the debate continues. If you have a comment, then please do mail editor@cctvmedia.co.uk. we want to know what you think. For the reaction so far you can take a look at our video coverage of IFSEC on www.CCTVMedia.co.uk.
Moving on, many thanks are due from me to the numerous companies that took time to talk to Junco Films representative India Hamilton. It was great to introduce India to companies that are happy for their technology and products to be featured in Junco's 90 minute documentary which looks into security and surveillance and how this works with our human rights and the threat level faced in various territories globally. If you would like to learn more about the film and how you can be considered for involvement go ahead and email peter@cctvmedia.co.uk

If you have an interest in the Republic of Ireland keep your eyes on your inbox as today's the day we release our first enewsletter dealing specifically with ROI security matters. If you want to mail PR for consideration please forward to PR@secureview.ie. Should you not receive a copy of the news you can view it at www.secureview.ie and if you mail to enquiries@secureview.ie we'll ensure going forward you gain a personalized copy at no cost.
Well I must continue with the many opportunities we have to follow up with from the show, let us have your feedback on any aspect of the industry as you see it and if we think it's a story, rest assured we'll apply the media element of our company name and we will deliver the news to our globally positioned community on your behalf!

CCTV Media present our video productions

Hello again, After a fantastic IFSEC its time to put pen to paper. Thanks to all who assisted us in providing video footage and comments about the whole show. Particularly to Milestone Systems team.
Video is becoming a most important way of delivering messages, training and clear imagery via the internet. With our specialist team we are able to deliver your message professionally and online before you even get back to the office.
Take a look at Milestone Systems recent Video demonstration - all feedback greatly recieved.
For more info on Milestone - contact them directly through their website at: http://www.milestonesys.com

Mike Newton, Dedicated Micros

MIKE NEWTON : DEDICATED MICROS.

Mike Newton, the chief executive officer of Dedicated micros is rubbishing claims that IP network video recorders represent good value for money. He claims the ROI on these systems is far too low. What do you think? Watch the video interview online and let us know.



Best Regards
from the CCTV Media team.