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Video Content Analysis: Look Smart

Video content analysis (AKA video analytics) is getting better all the time, but it's still new enough that buyers should proceed with eyes wide open

At Trump, a lot of the technology “is overkill for us,” Santoro says. “We are looking for basic, simplistic ways to alert our people to changes in areas. We’re not inclined to go with too many bells and whistles. A lot of the systems have so many features and so many things that you end up not using them.”

Tip 3 - Think About Whether On-the-Edge Analytics Makes Sense for You

Another key decision is whether you want to have content analysis performed “on the edge”—that is, on digital video cameras or encoders, rather than on servers or DVRs. Analysts say this is where the industry is heading, but right now you still have a lot of options.

The advantage of on-the-edge analytics is that content analysis can be performed when the video is of its highest quality, before it is compressed to be sent over the network and stored. A traditional, centralized model, however, provides more flexibility. One DVR or server can do analytics on more than one camera feed, which means that capabilities can be directed and redirected based on the needs of the minute.

Which direction to go, says Frost & Sullivan research analyst Dilip Sarangan, depends largely on your organization’s network capabilities and what the IT department is willing to put on the network, since video traffic tends to be a bandwidth hog. The decision may influence which vendors you want to consider. Some vendors, such as Cernium, focus on centralized tools, while others such as Ioimage focus on on-the-edge setups. A lot of vendors, however, do sell both.

Tip 4 - Test, Test, Test, Before You Write the Check

Once you identify your business need and narrow down the field, it’s time to start testing. Video analytics technology is able to deliver on more of its promises than it could a few years ago. Even today, however, the technology must be configured correctly, and it may not work at all in certain situations.

“Of course [the vendors are] going to say it’s great; it does all this kind of stuff,” warns IMS Research’s McManus. But be suspicious. Integration is a problem. So are false positives. Fortunately, vendors may be willing to let you try out the hardware or software for a month or two before you actually write any checks. Insist on it.

That’s what Brian Ishikawa at the Bank of Hawaii did. Ishikawa, vice president and director of corporate security at the Honolulu-based bank, was interested in one of the more pie-in-the-sky applications of video analytics—3VR Security’s digital video recorders, which incorporate facial biometrics. The company claims that its facial recognition technology allows customers to search through video archives and find all the times a given person shows up on camera.