The progress of security camera technology has represented quite a long trip, from blurry black and white photos to crystal clear video recordings.
The security camera was the first available to the public in 1949, but exploiting video for surveillance purposes has already been around for much longer. Technology has gone a long way since those early days in terms of live video monitoring.
Outdoor cameras today provide high-resolution video, sophisticated motion detection, and remote monitoring, making it simpler than ever to keep an eye on your residential property and loved ones.
Join us as we go back in time to learn about the evolution of live video surveillance and how current security camera systems may help you and your family.
Security cameras have become a regular sight in most business and residential locations in today’s day and age.
Since their debut, these video surveillance gadgets have gone a long way and are now very astounding pieces of technology. This article will discuss the evolution of security cameras from the 1930s to the present.
The History of Security Cameras
Even after more than 75 years, they are still predominantly utilized for multi-family residential live surveillance and crime imprisonment. With inventions such as the internet and cell phones, the world has altered dramatically since then.
However, in terms of camera security architecture and utility, not much has changed. Almost all cameras nowadays are employed to collect footage that must later be evaluated by humans if an incident occurs.
This procedure is not only slow but also expensive, requiring human attention and large volumes of data storage.
A lot will change shortly, given recent advances in machine learning and camera quality.
Rather than reacting to events after they occur, we anticipate that hardware and software capabilities, as well as improved security property management, will progress to the point where cameras will automatically identify and warn people about incidents and critical events occurring within their range.
1930 – 1950
The prototype CCTV camera was produced by a German inventor, Walter Bruch, during WWII. This crude camera was used to monitor V2 rocket launches from the shelter of a military bunker.
Due to the absence of video-capturing capabilities at the time, these broadcasts could only be seen live.
The US Army quickly caught up on this technology and began using cameras to observe atomic bomb testing from a secure distance.
Another type of early security camera was a portable movie camera that could be held in one hand while the other was used to spin the film with a crank.
Given that it was the first time that recording devices could be used reasonably quietly, these cameras were perfect for clandestine surveillance activities.
After the Thai Royal Family visited England in 1960, the first instance of video surveillance for high-level officials was instituted.
The police were told to install numerous cameras in Trafalgar Square to help them safeguard the Royal Family from the massive throngs of onlookers. monitoring cameras began to be used more often by the police for public monitoring in 1965.
1950 – 1980
Fast forward to 1969, when African American inventor Marie Van Brittan invented the first home security system.
This patented system employed four independent peepholes on a door with a movable camera to watch visitors at various heights.
This camera was connected to a display for viewing from a safe distance, and a 2-way microphone was used for conversation.
While this technology was cutting-edge at the time, home security camera systems would not become widely used until much later. The advent of video cassette recorders (VCR) in the same year enabled the recording of surveillance footage. This was a significant milestone since security feeds had previously required to be watched in real-time.
Security cameras became more prevalent in business settings such as banks and high-end retail outlets as a theft prevention strategy in 1970
One constant for surveillance cameras was that they proved ineffective in low-light circumstances until 1976 when the introduction of Charged Coupled Device (CCD) technology resulted in the development of low-light cameras.
A CCD was a light-sensitive circuit that recorded video by converting photons to electrons. CCD sensors would deconstruct the acquired film into pixels, which would subsequently be converted into electrical charges with levels dependent on the level of sensitivity of light in the pixel.
1990 – Early 2000s
With the introduction of digital multiplexing, which allowed feeds from numerous separate security cameras to be presented on a single monitor, the 1990s were an exciting moment for security camera technology.
By allowing operators to watch many camera views on a single screen, opened the door to significant revenue prospects in the video security world, particularly in the video monitoring industry.
The digital multiplexer’s usefulness was short-lived as the Digital Video Recorder (the VCR’s replacement) arrived on the scene, automatically merging numerous video feeds, obviating the need for digital multiplexers.
DVRs significantly improved video surveillance organization by keeping all footage on SD cards rather than the large number of physical cassettes that were previously hoarded.
Modern Day Security Camera
Since the 1990s, technological improvements have made analog VCRs affordable to the general population, making CCTV cameras and video surveillance more readily available and popular.
Security cameras evolved as well, moving away from analog VTRs and VCRs and toward digital video recorders (DVRs).
This digital recording technique enabled consumers to save their footage to hard drives, reducing the total weight of home surveillance systems and conserving a significant amount of physical space.
This developed over time into cloud storage, video with high-definition, night vision, and advanced two-way voice communication that we now see in home security systems.
But it doesn’t stop there; modern security cameras can provide a 360-degree image of your house and property with a few clicks on your smartphone.
Modern cameras use the relatively new Network Video Recording (NVR) technology, which encodes the footage in the camera and streams it to the NVR for storage through the internet.
NVRs are a more efficient means of transmitting security data since they eliminate the need to physically remove the SD card or hard drive from the camera. CCD sensors have been mostly superseded by more efficient CMOS camera sensors, which need 100x less power while being more cost-effective to manufacture.
Final Takeaways
The advancements in security camera systems are likely to drastically alter how we see and use security cameras.
AI will gradually take over the most tiresome activities and operate as an assistant, relaying all pertinent information to the appropriate person.
Many new products and solutions are being developed for a wide range of application cases. These cameras are more than simply a security measure.
They may be built to help with a wide range of business use cases and be a vital tool in industries such as hospitals, banks, offices, transportation, and so on.
