Bitrate are the amount of data that the IP camera system send each second to capture and stream the video footage. Furthermore, bitrate is measured in megabit per second. The bitrate will impact two factors of the IP camera system: the amount of storage space that it use, and the amount of network bandwidth that it requires.
For instance, if the bitrate are set too high for the capability of the network and storage drives for the system, then that system will consume its storage space at a rapid rate and it may begin to overwhelm the local network. In contrast, if the bitrate is set too low, then the quality of the video will be poor; the video footage will appear blurry. Bitrate is related to both the resolution of the video and the frame rate of the video.
How Bitrate Affects IP Cameras, Storage and Network
The resolution of the video is the number of pixel that are contained within each frame of video. Higher resolution videos contains more pixels, and, therefore, require a higher bitrate to encode those pixels into each frame. The frame rate of the video is the number of individual images that is displayed each second within the video.
Videos with higher frame rates contain more images that the IP cameras must process, and, therefore, require high bitrates. Additionally, another factor that impact bitrate is the codec. For example, one codec that people have used for creating videos is the H.264 codec.
The H.264 codec is an older codec that is compatible with a variety of devices, but requires high amount of bandwidth to utilize those videos. An alternative codec is the H.265 codec. The H.265 codec is a newer codec that utilizes smart methods of compression of the videos.
The H.265 codec requires less bandwidth then the H.264 codec to provide similar quality videos. Thus, if the IP cameras supports the H.265 codec, they should be utilized to allow higher resolution videos to be created while using less storage for those videos. Another factor that impacts bitrate is the content that the IP cameras are filming.
For example, if the cameras are set to use variable bitrate mode, then the bitrate will automatically adjust according to the amount of motion within the video frame. If there is a high amount of motion within the frame, the bitrate will increase to ensure that the cameras are adequately capturing the moving object. If there is little motion within the frame, the bitrate will decrease to reduce the amount of storage space that the system uses or the amount of bandwidth that is required to stream the video.
Some moddern IP cameras use smart encoding method where bitrate is automatically increased for moving objects within the video while decreasing the bitrate for static background of the video. Storage space for the footage that the IP cameras capture also depends upon the bitrate of each camera and the method for recording the video. For example, if the surveillance system are set to continuously record video footage, the storage space that is used will be very high due to the high bitrate that is required to continuously record those videos.
In contrast, if the system is instead set to motion-only recording, then storage space will be reduced for the surveillance system. This is because the system will not be continuously recording video; rather, it will only record video when motion is detected within the video frame. For instance, if a person is creating their surveillance system, they will need to calculate the bitrate of each IP camera that will be used.
The total bitrate of each surveillance system will indicate the amount of hard drive space that will be required for all surveillance cameras. In addition, a little extra storage space will be required to account for any overhead. The bitrate of each IP camera also impact the stability of the local network.
For example, the local network will need a switch with high-capacity data transfer to handle the total bitrate of the data from each IP camera. Furthermore, if the video feeds from the IP cameras are to be viewed remotely, the upload speed of the internet connection will impact the bitrate of the surveillance system. If the bitrate of each IP camera is too high relative to the upload speed of the internet connection, the video will stutter when viewed remotely.
One method of reducing this issue is to use sub-streams. For example, the main stream of each IP camera may be set to high-quality video to allow the video to be recorded on each IP camera, but the sub-stream may be set to low-quality video feeds for those that wish to view the video remotely on mobile device or in web browsers. Finally, another mistake that people can avoid is increasing the bitrate of each camera to the highest setting.
For example, if each IP camera in a system is set to an increased bitrate, it is possible that the total bitrate will be too great for the storage drives and the network switch. Instead, a person should first test the bitrate for a single IP camera, and then can be increased for the other cameras as necesary. By understanding each of these factor, including bitrate, resolution, frame rate, codec, storage methods, network stability, and bandwidth, a person can ensure that there IP cameras will remain reliable, and that their storage space will be sufficient for the period of time that they intend for the surveillance system to view the video footage from those IP cameras.