9-23-8 USING A CELLPHONE AS A REMOTE CONTROL PTZ SURVEIL=
ANCE
AUDIT SYSTEM.mht
USING A CELLPHONE AS A REMOTE CONTROL PTZ SURVEILANCE AU=
DIT
SYSTEM
Bridget Carey =
bcarey@MiamiHerald.com
Posted on MiamiHerald.com, on Tue, Sep. 16, 2=
008
the article “60-sec=
ond
review | Motorola Rokr E8,” about the “Motorola Rokr=
E8 cellophane,
available through T-Mobile” )on h=
ttp://www.miamiherald.com/business/technology/story/687837.html
)
These are the type of phones that students, instructors,
architects’ clients, as well as auditors and security guards use also=
as
remote controls to these surveillance PTZ cameras. The cell phone Co=
mes
with “USB cable to sync” AV lectures “with the computer, a
carrying pouch and a 1GB MicroSD (Secure Digital) card.” The camera surfer students can rec=
ord
the streaming AV (Audio Video) conference lecture to this SD card, for later
review.
The cell ph=
one “has
a 2-megapixel camera,” which the surfing students, architect clients =
or auditor
security guards, can use to broadcast video into the AV conference in the
classroom or the construction site.
Using the cell phone as a microphone student can ask the instructor
questions, while the speakers in the classroom, or the construction site,
amplify the question, so the entire class hears it. Likewise, the architect=
’s
client can ask the architect and the construction crew question, and listen=
to
the answers, while viewing the crew on the phone’s mini screen. The
instructor can reply to student’s questions, and even sent e-mails
directly to the student’s cell-phone.
The students can switch to “a=
n FM
radio” any time the lecture is too boring, without interrupting the
class. The “2 gigabytes=
of
internal memory, which can be expanded to 4GB,” can store an entire HD
(High Definition) compressed DVD, which the system burns in real-time. These way students can see the
blackboard as clearly as the instructor sees it. This is even better than students =
that
are sitting in the class-room further away from the board. Even without internet connectivity,
students can watch the compressed DVD off the SD card. The students can then record AV cl=
ips
with their questions, and upload them or e-mail them to the instructor for
playback during the next class.
Likewise, students can just had the SD card to the instructor during=
the
class, and the instructor can playback the question during the class, and r=
eply
to the question, while he is teaching the rest of the class.
The
cell phone “Price: $288.99 at
Motorola.com and $199.99 after mail-in rebate through T-Mobile,” is q=
uite
affordable, and easily available.
Bridget Car=
ey reports
“The design of this phone is unique and sleek. The ''buttons''=
are
not really buttons at all, but rather they are lights on a touch pad. For
example, if you are dialing you see a number pad, but if you are listening =
to
music you see buttons like play and skip.” If you are listening to a
lecture in progress, you can use this touch pad to control the PTZ (Pant Ti=
lt
and Zoom) surveillance camera, as if it were a simple DVD remote control, w=
ith
some extra features. You can =
pant
Tilt and Zoom the camera, as up to 32 other students can do in a FIFO (Firs=
t In
First Out) sequence. The inst=
ructor
has over-right capabilities, and presets like the instructor’s desk, =
the
left side blackboard, the right side blackboard, etc. In the event that some students de=
cided
to zoom at another attractive students face, the instructor can reset the
camera to the presets, and deny the student PTZ rights or access to the cam=
era,
using password and username privileges.
“It
couldn't be easier to sync” classroom videos, crime scenes, as well a=
s “music
with this phone. Just plug it into the computer and use Windows Media playe=
r to
add whatever music you want. Or you could just do it by opening the folders=
on
the phone.
It also has=
a
well-designed interface for playing music and great speakers.” This way students, and/or auditor =
security
guards can simply place it on the desk, while they are working on the compu=
ter
doing homework, etc.
“Ther=
e is
a semi-circle touchpad ''wheel'' for scrolling, but it is too sensitiveR=
21;
for regular viewing, but maybe very well for scrolling through pictures and=
long
videos.
Bridget Car=
ey experienced
a few problems … when… pressed the shortcut button … it t=
ook
about 20 seconds to load the music player. There was another time where =
230;
select the option to create a new text message from the menu …nothing
would happen.” To deal with such problems, you may=
have
to pay more for a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) hybrid cell-phone, with =
more
memory and a larger SD card (15 Gig).
I realize it
might be rare for such errors to occur and perhaps my tester unit is flawed,
but these delays and errors happened at different times -- even after
restarting the phone.
As Bridget
Carey writes in the “Bottom line: The music features on this p=
hone
are superb. But the touch-pad buttons require a learning curve”
especially if you are trying to PTZ the camera, while recording the AV
conference.