VIVOTEK Secures Polish Gas Station with High-res Cameras
Testimony
Introduction
Art-Rafix is a busy gas station in the city of Ozarów in Poland. To ensure the safety of both employees and customers, as well as combat the recurring problem of gasoline theft, Art-Rafix decided to install surveillance cameras, seeking out system integrator RS Engineering for a suitable solution.
Challenges
According to Rafal Chmielewski, project lead at RS Engineering, on evaluating the site and questioning owner Art-Rafix owner Jerzy Troszczynski, he soon discovered that the project presented some major challenges. Besides the highly varied light levels at the 24-hour station, at any given time some parts of the station were heavily shadowed while others were brightly lit. This type of high-contrast environment presents difficulties for any type of camera, because if a bright area is used to set exposure levels, detail is lost in darker areas, and vice versa.
This was a particularly vexing issue for the gas station, because it made it impossible to reliably capture clear enough images of license plates to identify their numbers, essential for apprehending drivers who attempted to drive away without paying for a tank of gasoline. A high-resolution camera with day-and-night functionality and excellent performance in high-contrast lighting conditions was needed. Fortunately, VIVOTEK's IP7161 fit the bill.
Achievements
A high-end two-megapixel network camera, the IP7161 can deliver extremely clear and crisply detailed video, and was designed specifically to ensure that it could meet the requirements of demanding surveillance tasks such as identifying license plate numbers even in challenging filming conditions. Providing coverage six times greater than a VGA camera, the IP7161 also integrates an ePTZ function that allows users to quickly obtain close-ups of specific areas in the field of view without physically moving the camera.
Besides fulfilling the owner’s basic requirements, the IP7161 offered additional advantages. Its wide coverage allowed the gas station to use just four cameras to monitor the entire fueling area. Its support for multiple video streams that can be viewed on a variety of devices means that the owner can perform remote surveillance when he is away from the gas station. Yet another benefit was the IP7161’s PoE support, which saved on wiring costs. FD7160 cameras installed in the indoor area of the gas station have also proved a success, with their two-megapixel resolution providing the detail needed to positively identify persons of interest, and a wide angle of view enabling just three to throughly monitor the area.
Troszczynski exults, “I am surprised but very happy with the great results we are getting thanks to VIVOTEK’s megapixel cameras. I know that most petrol stations here in Poland use analog cameras and they don’t get nearly the same quality of surveillance video; it’s usually not good enough to read off license plate numbers. But we can.”
Art-Rafix is a busy gas station in the city of Ozarów in Poland. To ensure the safety of both employees and customers, as well as combat the recurring problem of gasoline theft, Art-Rafix decided to install surveillance cameras, seeking out system integrator RS Engineering for a suitable solution.
Challenges
According to Rafal Chmielewski, project lead at RS Engineering, on evaluating the site and questioning owner Art-Rafix owner Jerzy Troszczynski, he soon discovered that the project presented some major challenges. Besides the highly varied light levels at the 24-hour station, at any given time some parts of the station were heavily shadowed while others were brightly lit. This type of high-contrast environment presents difficulties for any type of camera, because if a bright area is used to set exposure levels, detail is lost in darker areas, and vice versa.
This was a particularly vexing issue for the gas station, because it made it impossible to reliably capture clear enough images of license plates to identify their numbers, essential for apprehending drivers who attempted to drive away without paying for a tank of gasoline. A high-resolution camera with day-and-night functionality and excellent performance in high-contrast lighting conditions was needed. Fortunately, VIVOTEK's IP7161 fit the bill.
Achievements
A high-end two-megapixel network camera, the IP7161 can deliver extremely clear and crisply detailed video, and was designed specifically to ensure that it could meet the requirements of demanding surveillance tasks such as identifying license plate numbers even in challenging filming conditions. Providing coverage six times greater than a VGA camera, the IP7161 also integrates an ePTZ function that allows users to quickly obtain close-ups of specific areas in the field of view without physically moving the camera.
Besides fulfilling the owner’s basic requirements, the IP7161 offered additional advantages. Its wide coverage allowed the gas station to use just four cameras to monitor the entire fueling area. Its support for multiple video streams that can be viewed on a variety of devices means that the owner can perform remote surveillance when he is away from the gas station. Yet another benefit was the IP7161’s PoE support, which saved on wiring costs. FD7160 cameras installed in the indoor area of the gas station have also proved a success, with their two-megapixel resolution providing the detail needed to positively identify persons of interest, and a wide angle of view enabling just three to throughly monitor the area.
Troszczynski exults, “I am surprised but very happy with the great results we are getting thanks to VIVOTEK’s megapixel cameras. I know that most petrol stations here in Poland use analog cameras and they don’t get nearly the same quality of surveillance video; it’s usually not good enough to read off license plate numbers. But we can.”
