Re: How long to keep surveillance tapes?

["Just Looking" <nospam@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Your question seems to include a fundamental misunderstanding of current IP
recording technology. Most companies don't use surveillance tapes anymore.
Some IP technologies a few years back used a tape library like a juke box
type set up. That type tape library set up isn't sold anymore. Many
companies that use an NVR central storage have rules based retention times.
Not every camera or every type of event has to have the same recording rules
applied to it. Stored video can be a different CIF and frame rate for not
only different events but different times of day for example. In some cases
all events are stored for a certain amount of time and then the stored video
is "groomed" for video that doesn't meet the rules applied to being
retained. These days it is easy to digitally encode the video at the edge of
the network and record it there as well.  There are products that direct the
video to the appropriate storage device and index it for queries. Even as
digitized video is shuttled around the network, different rules to conserve
network bandwidth can be applied. Everyone seems to want the video stored
for as long as possible within certain budget limits. In the end the answer
to your question might be more of a financial question rather than a
technical or security question.

"DavidB" <#davidb105#@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:476bed26.62317045@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Do most commercial companies recycle their surveillance tapes or do
> they archive the tape or digital pictures indefinitely? What is a
> prudent amount of time to retain surveillance footage when there has
> been no known incident for which they would obviously be needed?