Digital video is the new analog?

In our business we almost sell an equal combination of digital and analog gadgets. So we also get a lot of questions about what really is the difference and why?  Most people have a basic understanding and sometimes it’s really all that’s needed but there are other times when the words IP, megapixel and analog all get dropped in the same sentence.

Analog is a basic form of video we see nearly everyday as we step into a convenience store and see ourselves on the big screen near the register.  So now that cable stations are broadcasting in digital and Blu-Ray players are becoming more popular, our movies and favorite shows are looking a lot better now.  So what about surveillance cameras and their seemingly antiquated analog signals?

Analog is still widely used in CCTV applications and is still the most cost effective when it comes to surveillance.  Analog has been good for us for decades, digital does produce some better video but their is a cost when it comes to a surveillance system.

Digital means more information and therefore requires more space when being recorded.  So that’s where compression comes into play and the newest MPEG-4  format,  H.264.   Digital video has its’ advantages and so does analog and the race between the two is still on.

B.Eaton

One-Touch Voice Recorder Pen Review

Recently we received in the new one-touch voice recorder pen and I had the opportunity to sit down with this device and see how well it performs.

We have always stocked audio pens from this manufacture so I was excited to test this new model out, some of the differences between this model and the older model that we carry are as follows.

• Stores 142 hours of audio
• Direct MP3 download
• Reset button
• USB input built directly into the pen
• LED light on the USB port to indicate lvl of battery life (only seen when plugged into the USB on the PC)

I plugged the unit in around 10:30am and it was charged by noon, (2 hour charge time recommended) . I quickly reasembled the pen since it easily screws back together and put it into record mode by pressing down on the clasp, I recorded about 2 minutes worth of audio and plugged it into the PC.

The pen quickly installed the drivers needed to download the file, after that I had to restart my computer (windows XP) as prompted so that the drivers would work correctly. After rebooting I plugged the pen back in and it worked like a charm and brought up my sub folder to access the media files. It was simple to navigate the folder cause there is only one total folder within the pen. I clicked on my audio file eager to hear how it sounded, like a kid in a candy store I clicked it and what do you know, it got an error……unable to play the file etc, etc, etc…… You’re probably thinking oh god Windows media player fails again! But I actually don’t use windows media player as my default audio/video player I use  VLC because it has a more stable codec ( apparently not that stable) for the video files that we play here on a day to day basis, so I just prompted the file to play in Windows media player and it worked like a charm.

Sometimes with audio pens they can sound muffled depending on where the microphone is placed on the pens body, I was very happy with what I heard a nice crisp sounding audio of me talking on the phone with another store manager for 2 minutes, I had the pen lying on the counter to my right about 5 feet away and was pleased to hear how well it picked me up.

The pen itself is a very snazzy looking pen, black through the body with silver a trim. Its a larger pen kinda similar to this MontBlanc pen.

I don’t have many complaints about the unit except that it only has a 6 hour battery life while the older style audio pen has a 12 hour, I really like that its MP3 , no more downloading software to your pc. Unfortunately it says that it only works with up to Windows Vista and that’s disappointing if true, we will have to test it on one of our window 7 machines and see if their is any truth to what the manual says.

I would have to say overall if your looking for a very easy covert audio pen to use the one-touch voice recorder would get my vote of confidence, with its super simple design to activate recording to its short recharge time and easy download capabilities you will be confident that you will get the recordings you needed that day.

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When is Enough Really Enough??

Recently during dinner I was watching the Simpson’s .  The episode was based on Springfield putting in a camera network for the entire city, exactly like London England has to help deter vandalism, theft, violence and what not.

As I continued to watch the episode Ned Flanders (Mr. righteous of all people) becomes the chief operator of the surveillance  network system, he has the ability to talk to people via intercom systems through the camera network. Well if you know anything about good ol Ned he lives by a different set of rules than the rest of the patriarchs in Springfield. So he starts warning people over any little infraction they may be doing from kissing in public, to betting and much more. Well of course this starts to bother the rest of the citizens of Springfield because they cant get away with anything and they feel there own personal privacy is being invaded at this point….(sounds familiar)

Well Bart ends up finding a blind spot in the camera system which of course is in the Simpson’s back yard. So all of Springfield gathers their to do their illegal activities. From their the story takes a whole look at when is enough really enough when it comes to security and our rights as Americans. I don’t want to give away the end of the show because it was actually pretty good, but here is a link to the entire episode through Hulu.com.

Now each person has their own opinion on this subject, and opinions are like…..well you know the old saying.  So I will just keep my opinions to myself on this matter because neither side is right or wrong in their claims.

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