Basic and related functions of security television.

Basic and related functions of CCTV.

Prologue
TV version of the play «Greetings from Tsyurupa!» directed by Sergei Kakovkin.

The pace of progress is increasing. In fact, it is a daily process, even if we do not notice it. And along with other changes, the views on the methods and technologies used in the segment of technical means of the security business are changing radically.
Philosophy is an amazing science. The basic principles of analysis were created by it. You can try to look at a topic that seems to be well-known to everyone from an unusual angle. And this view will be new and fresh for most readers of this article. Well, let's try!
Let's start with the banalities — society. It's no secret anymore: our society is becoming more and more aggressive. This stimulates the creation of new and more sophisticated defense mechanisms. The creation of such automated systems turns society itself into a mechanism. But society consists of people, and this, in turn, gives rise to a whole range of related problems. A detailed analysis of the emergence and progress of aggression and destructiveness of society was made by the Hungarian political scientist Eva Ancel in her work «Chapter 1: Myths of a Shocked Consciousness». In fact, in the pre-industrial era, man was the creator himself. He created the product/item and was also its seller. He knew his consumer, and the consumer was proud of the master. Industrialization introduced the concept of a system, a conveyor belt, into this process. And man stopped seeing what appeared at the output, seeing himself in the production process. He became a kind of mechanism. But man is inherent in being an individual. This phenomenon of human psychology has created (and is constantly creating) multiple relapses of imbalance in self-esteem and self-identification. Treatment is in the release of emotions. And these emotions are not always spent in sports or art. The described is the other side of the coin, the name of which is «Into a bright future on the wings of technical progress».
Now it makes sense to take a closer look at our professional subject. What is happening in the development of security television systems and how the principles of its application are evolving. Of course, the use of such technologies that record visual images on the object of observation for the purpose of their possible subsequent analysis increases the level of security. And along with verification and visualization, this is the main task of such complexes today. But it is possible to simultaneously and without any costs carry out a number of public events with the purpose of educating the society visiting the object of observation. How can this be done?
Firstly, we all know what a huge, and not only advertising, but also educational power broadcast television has. We have become so accustomed to having a TV in our apartment or house that we often cannot imagine what we can replace it with, for example, on boring winter evenings. Meanwhile, the information that pours out at us from the screen involuntarily changes our attitude to this or that event, product, person. It is worth noting that the largest audiences are popular reality shows, quizzes and competitions, and this clearly indicates the reasons that increase consumer demand for such programs.
Let's take a closer look at what security television manufacturers offer us. The option that interests us is a pass-through video channel. This technology allows you to split the video coming from a security camera into two parts. The first video stream will be used in a standard way: recording, analysis. The second is an excellent analogue of broadcast television. By connecting a cable to a screen/TV in a store, you can notice how the level of thefts will drop significantly over time. Why? In fact, we have used one of the three main principles of influencing the audience used by broadcast television. We have given the potential offender the opportunity to look at himself from the outside, which is undoubtedly an educational influence, because it returns the person the right to see himself and the results of his actions. Himself, and not someone else.
Secondly, the principle of live broadcasting undoubtedly has a great influence on the audience. Modern security television systems allow retransmitting the video stream received from the surveillance camera not only to local screens, but also to a much larger audience.
Broadcasting via Internet channels in real time is carried out by converting an analog video signal into a digital one, encapsulating it in TCP/IP protocol packets and delivering it to the audience's computer screens using various technologies. For example, multicasting or broadcasting. Integration into your own applications is possible using SDK (software development kit), which must be obtained from the manufacturer of the video system used.
Although this type of video retransmission may even have an advertising character (retransmission of video on the company's Internet portal), the very awareness that it can be seen by many people may push a person to more carefully monitor their actions in a public place. And this, in turn, can be regarded as a very positive additional effect of the operation of a security video system. And, by the way, this is exactly what many political scientists are working on and studying: mechanisms for managing and educating society.
And thirdly, personalization. As in broadcast television, a security television system integrated with other systems of the surveillance object (access control, fire and security alarm, billing system, etc.) is capable of personalizing the information collected and accumulated. And not necessarily in the context of subsequent preventive measures…

In conclusion of the article I would like to make a short express remark as an answer to questions about the inviolability of the individual, about private life, etc. All the thoughts I have expressed relate exclusively to security video systems operating in public places. By a public place I mean not only a store, but also a crowded office, a bank, a street. Naturally, the use of certain educational methods should be adjusted to reality. Of course, incorrect use can lead to public censure and disputes. But the main thing is clear: security television systems have already reached the level of technical perfection that can allow their use for the purpose of educating society. Moreover, it seems that such use is already an urgent measure today. And I believe that it is very important to think now not only about preventive measures when using security systems, but also about what social and educational effect such systems operating in constant mode can have.