Monitor Multiple Locations Simultaneously with Security Monitor Pro

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. 

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. 

Setting up the cameras

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Using Security Monitor Pro with cameras in remote locations

A typical scenario will have one PC maintaining surveillance using cameras in two different locations.

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.

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.

Simultaneous Monitoring

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.

Scheduling Devices

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.

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).

There are several ways to schedule a device.  The following is one way:

1. If the device is monitoring, click the Stop Monitoring button for that device, or open the Tools menu and choose Stop Monitoring.
2. If it isn’t already, scroll the Preview Window until that device’s preview is visible.
3. Click the Camera Monitoring Options button for the device.
4. Switch to the Scheduler tab.
5. Check the Enable Scheduler button.
6. Now you pick a schedule type.
   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.
   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.
   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).
7. Click OK.

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.

Example

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.

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.

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.

Once the cameras are in place, it’s time to configure each device.  Here are the configurations for this example:

Outdoor Display Area

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:

• 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.

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.

Warehouse

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:

• 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.

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.