Practical Advice for Getting Surveillance Video From Point A to Point B
As cameras and other video devices demand greater power and greater transmission distances, integrators face numerous critical challenges in video system design and deployment.
While cabling and transmission were at one point in time almost afterthoughts in video surveillance systems, in recent years they have come farther out of the shadows and are now fully recognized as the key foundational solutions they are. With this greater prominence has come more thoughtful consideration of the importance of getting things right through careful evaluation.
As always, distance is one of the primary factors in determining the proper cabling for a job, with coax, Cat 5e/6 and single-mode fiber only capable of transmitting video over finite distances (See “Distance Limits” on page 95). With the majority of transmission companies providing Power over Ethernet (PoE) capabilities, limits on the amount of power that can be provided to cameras and other devices go hand in hand with distance limitations.