IT managers in an organization are always very careful and strategic about allocation of bandwidth. Most organizations reserve a very small percentage of their bandwidth for video surveillance and slowing down the entire network due to video footage is the last thing any IT manager would want.
Listed below are some expert tips to best alter the video surveillance system and minimize the bandwidth usage.
Set the right resolution for the camera
The higher the resolution, the greater is the bandwidth. Set up cameras with a lower resolution wherever possible. For instance, a small hallway or pathway inside the office can be conveniently monitored using the lowest available resolution. However, the same cannot be said about cameras installed in the parking lot where a large area must be covered through day and night.
Choose h.264 over the more common M-JPEG
The h.264 compression format works better when it comes to storage space and using lesser bandwidth. Unlike the M-JPEG format, h.264 produces a video stream that consists of partial frames and full frames in an alternating pattern and thus allows the consumption of lower bandwidth.
Keep the number of frames per second low
The video surveillance footage from your office space does not have to look or feel like a movie (uses 50 frames in a second) and therefore 5-7 frames per second can fulfill the security requirements of most organizations. Reducing the number of frames brings down the bandwidth by many MBs.
Above all, IT managers must familiarize themselves with the surveillance system and manage configurations to achieve the lowest possible bandwidth rate.
