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| CheckMySystems is a specialist in CCTV diagnostics software |
CheckMySystems Ltd.- the CCTV diagnostics software specialist - is urging CCTV users and installers to check their surveillance systems to ensure they are correctly configured, before clocks move back an hour this weekend, as British Summer Time (BST) draws to a close.
Although keeping CCTV systems operating to the correct time may seem an obvious measure, worryingly, a snapshot survey conducted by CheckMySystems, after the last time clocks were changed, illustrates just how widespread the timing issue is for surveillance solutions across the UK. Worryingly, out of the 300 CCTV systems checked, nearly a third of CCTV clocks were running one-hour out or had another problem with their timing - a level which was much higher than CheckMySystems' team had initially expected and gives real cause for concern.
Comments Darren Rewston, Managing Director of CheckMySystems: "We were surprised just how many systems had time settings which were out of sync, this is especially problematic given the critical role that time and date information plays for CCTV. An incorrect time can result in problems searching for video evidence and events, especially if these are tied to times from other sources such as till receipts or ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) collection. Where a system uses recording or alarm schedules it can mean that the CCTV system is not giving users the alarm response coverage they expect."
"Another key point to bear in mind is that the CCTV system may be using recording schedules, which change the record or quality patterns of the CCTV system at different times. If the CCTV clock is not adjusted, critically, the record schedule will also be incorrect. Likewise, an alarm schedule may dictate when alarms can be triggered on the system, this is especially important in the case of sites where alarms are fed back to an RVRC (Remote Video Response Centre), as they will not receive alarms at the expected scheduled times."
"Thankfully, with CCTV diagnostics software like our CheckMyCCTV solution - which is increasingly being specified by Remote Video Response Centres and their customers - timing issues can be identified automatically and immediately addressed. This is not necessarily the case with manual or physical site inspections where, sadly, incorrect time settings may not be discovered for weeks or months."
