Friday 22 August 2014

Why are School Districts paying so much for their mobile video camera systems?

n our normal lives we see new technology prices reduce over time, so why then are School Districts still paying so much for old DVR camera technology?

Do you remember when the new flat screen plasma TV screens first came on the market and the cost was out of this world, something like $20,000. Today just a few years later you can walk into a shop and get one for just hundreds of dollars.

So why are the traditional mobile video camera manufactuers like Seon, Angetrax, 247 Security etc still able to charge school district from $1000 to $1400 for a 1 camera system that is after all old DVR technology and not HD. These DVR systems are years old and they don't even have High Definition video. All of these DVR's are manufactured in Asia so why haven't the costs come down?

Well most of these manufactuers have actually being reducing their manufacturing costs over the past few years by getting rid of their 1 and 2 camera systems and replacing them with the 4 camera system. This reduces their inventory costs in having to hold multiple DVR options. So they actually offer a 4 camera system even if you only want a 1 or 2 camera system. They will argue well if you need extra cameras then you can add them. The reality is School Districts are paying high premiums for a DVR that has features they will never use. Not many School Bus fleets can afford or have the budget to pay for 4 cameras on every bus, many will never use the wi-fi or dual streaming features because the cost of implement these features are just way to expensive. (Article on the true costs of Wi-Fi and automatic downloading)

For School Bus fleets that are just looking for a 1 or 2 camera mobile video camera solution it just does not make sense to pay over $1000 for a DVR that you are only using at best 50% of its features. So when School Districts write Bid proposals or RFP's for a 1 camera mobile video camera system why does the specification state the need for a 4 camera DVR? is it becuase the maunfactuers are righting the specifications to fit their agenda's?

In these economically challenging times, increased fuel costs, budget cuts etc, can School Districts really afford to pay for product features they are not going to use? and allowing the traditional mobile video manufactuers to dictate the price. Should'nt your mobile video technology partner be trying to make your budget go further by providing the latest technology and innovative approaches to fit the way your operation works?
tti's approach is to put our customer first and work with you to provide solutions to over come some of the challenges you are facing. As a result wouldn't it be good if you could have a mobile video camera system that is:

  • HD - High definition allows you to view the image on a large screen, zoom in, see the detail of what actually happened
  • How about a video camera system that can be moved to other buses in minutes - makes your budget go further
  • How about making installation so easy you don't have to pay installation costs 
  • How about a built in rotating screen that drops down to help in positioning the camera, and then folds out of the way
  • SD card video storage - no moving parts, and no heavy bulky harddrives to walk around the yard
  • A locking and vandleproof case
  • How about bulkhead mounting which allows the camera head to be repositioned in minutes if you require
  • IR illumination to help in poor light 
  • You need a company that will support you..tti is there to help with any software questions, set-up, training etc
  • O yes lets make the price more realistic - $390 for a whole sytem per bus, with locking mechanism $490 per bus...
  • And of cause you want to try the product before purchasing, no problem we will ship you a free no obligation Buddy NightOwl camera system to test for 2 weeks
  • Who else has bought from tti? well our school bus customers span right across North America - they have all benefited from the savings and the flexibility of our mobile video camera solutions


www.tt-i.info

School Bus accidents - Stats

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that 96 percent of the estimated 8,500 to 12,000 children injured in school bus accidents annually are considered minor (scrapes, bumps, bruises, etc.).


NHTSA calculated that 4 percent of the school bus-related injuries to children -- about 350 to 475 annually -- are serious (i.e. broken bones or worse) based on the medical community's widely accepted AIS or Abbreviated Injury Scale.


An average of six children are fatally injured inside school buses annually.


About 16 children are fatally injured as pedestrians in the loading & unloading zone around school buses annually. That's better than 200 percent improvement from 75 school bus fatalities in 1975; it is still not good enough.


During the seven years between 1989 and 1996, 9,500 school-age children were killed during school hours while riding in all kinds of motor vehicles.


The federal government considers school buses to be about nine times safer that other passenger vehicles during the normal school commute.


According to data gathered for NHTSA's Fatal Analysis Reporting System, about 600 school age children are killed annually riding to and from school in motor vehicles other than school buses. These fatalities occur during school transport hours (7 to 9 a.m. and 3 to 5 p.m.), on school days (Monday through Friday) only, and during the typical 180 day school year, to children riding to and from school, mostly in automobiles.

School Bus DVR hard-drive replacements


You have a fleet of buses that have traditional DVR systems installed and they all use hard-drives. Just like the days of VHS tapes you are starting to find that your hard-drives are now starting to fail and break down. Hard-drives by their nature and design are prone to mechanical failure as they record the video data onto a spinning disk, a bit like the old days of vinyl records. After a while due to these moving parts and vibration of the vehicle they start to fail. Depending on when and the type of DVR system you purchased you may now find that you cannot find a hard-drive replacement unless you try and make one yourself. With hard-drives costing from $250 and upwards it might be an idea to consider replacing your video camera system for a SD Card video mobile video camera solution which costs $490 per vehicle and includes High Definition video as standard.

Why does tti only offer SD cards. There is a number of reasons why we recommend SD cards for video storage.
1. The SD has no moving parts so is more reliable than a hard-drive

2. SD cards are everywhere and are the standard for most electronics we find to day. Because of this there are huge cost savings with SD cards starting from around $20-$60

3. SD cards are small and easy to carry unlike hard-drives which are heavy and bulky 

4. Storage capacity. The argument many manufacturers make is that you need large 250GB hard-drives etc for video, however in our view this is just not necessary. With a 32GB SD card (Class 10) you can get upto 10 days of video. According to our customers if an accident or incident has happened you will be retriving that video very quckly either by demand from law enforcement or complaints from parents. The video is not going to sit around for weeks and months on the bus because if it does then it really was not an important incident at all. So why pay for months and months of storage when in reality its not even needed?

So if you are facing the issue of replacing DVR hard-drives then we welcome the opportunity of sending you a complete new camera system to evaluate for yourself and to see exactly the true value of a new camera system that only costs $490 per bus (Buddy NightOwl) and that includes High Definition video as standard.

TTI Tracking Technology Inc
www.tt-i.info