Video surveillance and the Internet speed: 6 options for reducing consumption

It is extremely difficult to imagine one’s life without the Internet. Almost all human activity relies on the capabilities of the World Wide Web. It is often necessary to look for ways to increase the speed of traffic or quite the opposite to try to save consumption. Internet speed for video surveillance is no exception. The article will be useful for those who want to know how to avoid slowing down the network speed using video surveillance.   

About the effect of a video surveillance system on the Internet speed

Before installing a video surveillance system, you should consider the bandwidth of the surveillance cameras. Will they affect the speed and performance of the Internet? In general, their impact is insignificant, even when accessed remotely via phone.

The constant evolution of video surveillance technology solves one of the tasks which is reducing the impact of camera operation on bandwidth consumption.  

Bandwidth factors

There are several factors that affect the bandwidth of a surveillance camera. Here are the main ones:

1. A number of video cameras. Multiple cameras require more bandwidth. 
2. Resolution. A high-resolution video camera uses more bandwidth because it needs more space to store the file.
3. Frame rate. The more frequent the frames, the more bandwidth is needed. The optimal frequency is 15 to 20 frames per second.
4. File compression algorithms. Video compression significantly saves network bandwidth. 
5. Installation. The high-quality installation of a video monitoring system will not affect the efficiency of the Internet in general.  

How to reduce consumption? 6 options

If you want to reduce bandwidth consumption and reduce the load on the network, then take into account the recommendations below. There are 6 options:

1. Choosing the best camera resolution. Depending on the surveillance object and its area, choose the pixels for the camera. Take into account that the quality of the picture should not worsen. A larger surveillance area requires a larger camera resolution. 
2. Reduce frame rate. Reducing the frame rate to the optimal 15-20 frames per second saves bandwidth without compromising image quality.
3. Video compression. The use of data compression algorithms allows for increased storage capacity without affecting video quality.     
4. Separate network for video surveillance. The use of two routers and an isolated network for video surveillance increases security for the system and the performance of the network in general.
5. Motion detection. The motion detection setting allows the camera to be switched on only if any movement appears in the camera’s field of view. This saves bandwidth and space for the archive.
6. Surveillance system with multiple cameras. Configure as many cameras as you need for video surveillance. New technology allows you to avoid a significant impact on Internet speed.  

Read more on the topic in the article “Reduce HD video surveillance bandwidth costs“.

Calculating bandwidth consumption

What Internet speed is required for video surveillance?

There is a formula for determining camera bandwidth. It looks like this:

Bandwidth consumption, Mbit = Camera Resolution, Px * Frame, Kb * Frame Rate / 1000000.

From the formula you can clearly see what factors especially affect the value of bandwidth. The most productive throughput is between 2 and 6 Mbit.

Faceter 

The Faceter cloud-based video surveillance service has a modern wide range of features suitable for any business and private use. With Faceter you can install any video surveillance system with the necessary number of cameras and high bandwidth.   

Faceter specialists will help you select the optimal set of features and get the most out of the installed video surveillance system not only for security purposes but also for gathering marketing analytics.   

Conclusion

The option of a video surveillance system with a large number of cameras and maximum use of settings can significantly slow down the network. Turn to the proven leaders in the video surveillance market in Russia. The quality of services, affordable prices, and high-level specialists will help to effectively, with all the nuances, solve the issues of setting up video monitoring.