| PC Cameras | The so-called "Webcams" are relatively inexpensive solutions designed to produce general images in home and studio environments. For personal computers, capturing, controlling, and transmitting images requires specialized software. Although used for desktop video conferencing and many other general image applications, webcams are mostly not mature enough and are unsuitable for professional surveillance applications. |
| Analog Cameras Connected to a PC via Capture Card | Standard analog CCTV cameras connect to workstations/personal computers equipped with video capture cards. These cameras require dedicated software to encode/decode images and control the network interface. Additionally, remote viewers also need relatively expensive personal computers. These products are still popular in the surveillance industry and general group video conferencing applications, and recent advancements in cameras have led to the development of general webcams. |
| Standalone Digital Video Cameras | These types of digital cameras capture and store images in internal memory, which are later transmitted to a personal computer or workstation. The images are usually compressed before being sent to the specified computer with specialized client software installed. These cameras cannot provide real-time image transmission, and due to limited onboard memory, the image sizes are relatively small, and the resolution of images provided by these cameras is very poor. |
蘊藏許多助人的知識與智慧。