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Security Monitor Pro
v2.30 |
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Monitor
Multiple Locations Simultaneously with Security Monitor
Pro |
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A growing business faces
security challenges. The business may have a large
facility, or more than one building to monitor, with
only a limited budget for equipment and staff.
Traditionally, CCTV (Closed Circuit TV) based
surveillance systems were used for multi camera
monitoring. This solution is expensive due to the
hardware and installation costs. |
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With
Security Monitor
Pro, one person can monitor several locations using
multiple cameras at the same time, even if some of the
cameras are far away from the PC. |
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Setting up the cameras |
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Security Monitor Pro can
use two basic types of camera: cameras directly
connected to the PC, and IP or network cameras.
Directly connected cameras must be fairly close to the
PC, but IP cameras can be anywhere with an Internet
connection, even in a different city. |
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Picking locations for
your cameras requires some thought. The first step
is to decide the objectives of your surveillance setup.
Start by answering the obvious, important question,
“What is the most important thing to monitor?” It
could be cash registers, the front door, the warehouse,
a parking lot, or the conference room. |
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The next step would be to
identify the entry, exit and other vulnerable points
around your subject. Once you identify these
points, you can determine the number of cameras
required. |
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Now, it’s time to
physically place and set up the cameras. You can
find advice on selecting a security camera in
this article. All cameras must be added to
Security Monitor Pro using the
Add Camera Wizard. Once the cameras are added
to the program, you can use the Preview windows to
position them and be sure you have complete coverage.
(If a camera is distant from the computer running
Security Monitor Pro, proper positioning may require two
people and a phone call.) Take your time to get
the camera positions right. The effectiveness of
your surveillance depends on the coverage. |
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When positioning cameras,
keep in mind that IP cameras will need both electricity
and a network connection. If they’re wireless (WiFi)
cameras, make sure the spot you place them in has good
signal strength. |
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Using Security Monitor Pro
with cameras in remote locations |
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A typical scenario will
have one PC maintaining surveillance using cameras in
two different locations. |
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In order to use a camera
for monitoring, you have to know its address. IP
addresses (network addresses) will look like
192.168.0.20, a set of four numbers separated by
periods. When you configure a camera, you will set
its IP address according to the instructions in the
camera’s manual. To use a camera that is not on
your local network, you can use the Internet. |
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To make a camera visible
over the Internet usually requires you have a public IP
address assigned to your camera. If your camera is
behind a router, you have to configure the router with
“port forwarding”. There is
information on configuring many of the most popular
cameras and routers for port forwarding at
PortForward.com. |
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Simultaneous
Monitoring |
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Security Monitor Pro can
preview, detect motion, record audio and video, and take
snapshots, from multiple cameras at the same time.
The Camera Thumbnail View bar shows a reduced-size preview of many
cameras. (The exact number depends on the window
size and your screen resolution.) The thumbnails
are small, but they show a live preview that is
constantly updated. If you see something in one of
them, you can simply click on it to scroll the Preview
Window and see a larger preview of that camera. |
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Scheduling Devices |
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If you are monitoring
multiple locations, each spot may need a different
schedule. For example, one camera may be on the
sales floor of a store, and need to be deactivated from
8:00am to 9:00 pm (so motion detection isn’t triggered
by customers and staff), while another camera monitors
the rear door of the building and needs to be
deactivated from 6:30 am to 5:00 pm (when deliveries
arrive). If the cameras are in different
buildings, they could even be in different time zones. |
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Security Monitor Pro lets
you set an individual schedule for each device.
The advanced scheduler gives you complete control—you
can set a different schedule for each day of the week,
and set it for special one-time events (for instance,
keeping a camera monitoring on a holiday when it would
normally be deactivated). |
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There are several ways to
schedule a device. The following is one way: |
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If the device is monitoring, click the Stop
Monitoring button for that device, or open
the Tools menu and choose Stop Monitoring. |
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If it isn’t already, scroll the
Preview Window until that device’s preview is
visible. |
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Click the Camera Monitoring Options
button for the device. |
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Switch to the Scheduler tab. |
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Check the Enable Scheduler
button. |
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Now you pick a schedule type. |
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a. If you select Once, you can start
(and optionally stop) monitoring one time on a
particular day, at a particular time. If
your store closes early on New Year’s Eve, you
might create a “Once” event for December 31 to
start monitoring at 6:00pm. |
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b. If you select Daily, you can start
(and optionally stop) monitoring at the same
time every day, for instance starting at 7:00pm
and stopping at 7:00am. |
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c. If you select Weekly, you can create
a different schedule for every day of the week.
Often businesses have different hours on
different days, or are closed weekends (and
therefore want monitoring turned on the entire
time Saturday and Sunday). |
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Click OK. |
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Each device can be
scheduled individually and can use different Alert
types. For instance, you might want the camera on
your sales floor to take snaps at regular intervals
during store hours (as a record of who was there or to
monitor staff), but not use motion detection (because
there will be a lot of motion on the floor when the
store is open). A camera watching a parking lot
might use motion triggering and record video. If a
camera is detecting night-time intruders into a
warehouse, you might configure Security Monitor Pro to
ring an audible alarm and send e-mail to the Security
Manager. You’ll need to consider which Alerts are
appropriate for each device and change the settings
accordingly. |
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Example |
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Let’s set up a
surveillance system for Birdbath Bliss, a store for
lovers of wild birds, selling birdbaths, birdhouses, and
birdseed. The business consists of an outdoor
display area for birdbaths and large birdhouses, an
indoor sales floor, a small office, and a warehouse.
Each of these areas will be protected by a camera. |
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The first step is to
select and place the cameras. We can use an
inexpensive USB camera (plugs directly into the
computer) in the office because the PC is there.
The others will all be wireless IP cameras.
(Setting up the wireless network is not covered in this
article.) For the outside display area (where
vandalism is a concern) a camera with low-light
capabilities is a good choice. The other three
cameras don’t need this because some interior lights
will be left on. The Add Camera Wizard is used to
add these cameras to Security Monitor Pro. |
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Now that the Preview for
each camera is visible, we can carefully position them
for the best possible coverage of the areas they’ll be
monitoring. When placing the outdoor low-light
camera, it’s important to place and point it so that it
won’t be blinded by the headlights of passing cars. |
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Once the cameras are in
place, it’s time to configure each device. Here
are the configurations for this example: |
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Outdoor Display Area |
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When setting up a device,
it’s important to consider what it’s protecting you
against. For the outdoor product area, the primary
concern is vandalism—birdbaths and large birdhouses
aren’t common shoplifting targets. We’ll set up
the camera with the following settings: |
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- Run Alerts when motion is detected
- The Alert triggers video/audio recording.
Whenever motion is detected, the program records for
2 minutes or until the motion ends, whichever is
more.
- Alerts also trigger Email/SMS notification,
which sends an SMS message to the owner’s phone
informing him that motion has been detected.
If it’s a real emergency the owner can call the
police.
- Schedule: monitoring starts at 7:00 pm and ends
at 5:30am. Vandalism is less of a risk during
daylight.
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One thing to be aware of
with the outdoor camera: if it’s visible, vandals may
try to destroy or unplug it. It should be
well-concealed. |
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Warehouse |
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There are two primary
security concerns in the warehouse: employee theft
during the day, and break-ins at night. To guard
against employee theft, the camera can be set to record
continuously during the day (by clicking the Start
Recording button). In addition to the continuous
recording: |
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- Schedule: monitoring starts at 7:00 pm and ends
at 7:00am. The store closes at 5:30, and by
6:30 the warehouse is cleaned up and ready for the
next day.
- Run Alerts when motion is detected.
- The Alert triggers only the Email/SMS
notification. There is no need to trigger
video recording, because the camera is always
recording in any case.
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Security Monitor Pro
supports monitoring and recording from multiple cameras
simultaneously. The application has a user-friendly
interface and is ideal for monitoring large areas and
business premises. Its scheduler gives you full control
to configure each camera independently. Securing your
assets was never so simple, effective and inexpensive. |
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