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What our experts say …
VPP Stands for Video Professional Package, which only tells us that Samsung probably didn't spend much time devising a name for this otherwise well thought out 'one-box' CCTV system. For an insight into how the manufacturer came up with VPP you only have to look at the history of pre-packaged CCTV systems. For the most part they have comprised a 12 or 14-inch monitor, with a simple built-in four-channel camera switcher bundled with pre-terminated cables and matching colour or monochrome cameras. 'Cheap and cheerful'? Maybe, but they fulfil the need for basic CCTV coverage in retail premises and small businesses that is affordable, easy to install and use. But that's as far as most of them go, and due to their proprietary nature there's usually little or no opportunity for these systems to be expanded or integrated with other surveillance devices.

Samsung appears to have used this as a starting point and taken a more professional approach, or designed its package for a more professional market. Nevertheless the core features of a traditional one-box package are immediately recognisable in that VPP is a plug-and-play system based around a 15-inch monitor with integrated switching facilities to which you connect purpose designed cameras using pre-terminated cables. That's where the similarities end. The VPP monitor is available with a 15 or 21-inch screen; it's a well-specified flat-screen CRT type and the switcher is actually an eight-channel multiplexer with simultaneous live and playback screens plus a choice of formats for single screen, quad, 3 x 3, 3+4, sequence, spot and picture-in-picture displays. The monitor also has facilities for picture freeze, zoom, 'hidden camera' and motion detection. It has alarm, video loss and motion detection facilities and a simple video recording feature built-in for capturing up to 15 frames of video preceding alarm events, which it also logs.

It can also be used with an optional door bell/ intercom module and it records a still frame from the associated camera when the doorbell button is pressed.

Unique idents can be assigned to each camera input, the video stream is time and date stamped and there's a facility to record the output on a standard time-lapse VCR or an optional digital video recorder (SRH101A). A flat screen TFT LCD slave monitor (SMT-150) is also available. All monitor functions are controlled from a row of buttons on the front panel and a large rotary 'dial' knob, which has a variety of uses, including camera switching and navigating on-screen menu displays. The system can also be operated from a supplied infrared remote handset, which duplicates all of the monitor's front panel controls

Around the back of the monitor is a vertical row of sockets for the dedicated camera inputs and a bank of BNC sockets for supplementary cameras which can be any type with a standard composite video output. There are also two small mini DIN sockets, the top one carries the multiplexed video and audio outputs for onward connection to a video recording device, the lower one is for an optional slave monitor. A pair of 'breakout' leads terminated in BNC and phono plugs is included with the outfit.

Below the DIN sockets is a set of spring loaded terminals for connection to an alarm system and on the right side is a standard IEC socket for the mains lead. There's a choice of three cameras. The SOC-920P is a vandal-resistant colour dome with a ¼-inch CCD image sensor giving a claimed 480-line resolution and low light sensitivity down to 1 lux. This is coupled to a 3.6 – 43.2mm 10x motorised zoom lens with 12x digital zoom and auto/manual focus, all of which is controlled from the monitor or handset. There's not much to see on the outside of the 920, just a single captive cable terminated with an RJ-45 socket. The dome and cover are held in place by four screws and inside is a camera module mounted in a simple quick-release clamp and cover that allows it to be unlocked and moved to any position.

The SOC-420P has a similar specification to the 920 but it is built into a conventional camera housing and comes with a simple mounting bracket. The SOC-220P is the system's baseline camera with a 1/3-inch image sensor giving 330-lines resolution, a fixed 3.8mm lens but low light sensitivity is the same as the other models at 1-lux.

The SOC 420 and 220 cameras are built into compact grey-coloured plastic cases. There are no external controls and they are virtually featureless apart from the distinctive transparent cover on the front, a single RJ45 socket on the back and threaded mounting bosses top and bottom.

All three cameras have built-in microphones and connect to the monitor using 18-metre cables (supplied) that carry power, video, audio and telemetry. These are terminated at both ends with RJ-45 plugs, which makes installation virtually idiot-proof and suggests that is may be possible to extend cable runs using inexpensive off-the-shelf Ethernet computer network cables, though the instructions make no mention of this, nor could we find any indication of the maximum distance over which the cameras will function.

Optional alarm and doorbell modules connect in series with the cameras and come with their own reels of cable. The SAB-100 alarm module has pairs of contacts for alarm input and output and on activation, the monitor screen reverts to a 3 x 3 display with the word 'Event' overlaid on the relevant sub-screen. Pressing the rotary dial brings up a picture-in-picture (PIP) screen showing the 15-frame pre-alarm recording of the relevant camera and these can be stepped through using the rotary dial. The time and date are also recorded on the alarm event list, which logs up to 50 activations. The doorbell module looks similar to the alarm box and also connects to one of the camera feeds. On the front is a large button and a grille covering a small loudspeaker and microphone. The intercom facility on the monitor is activated using a 'Talk' button on the front panel. When the bell button is pressed the monitor screen switches to a 3 x 3 display with the letter 'D' superimposed on the corresponding camera screen and at the same time a still image from the relevant camera is stored on the Doorbell log list.

Installation is an absolute doddle since all that is required to get the system up and running is to mount the cameras and plug in the cables. Pressing the menu button on the front of the monitor brings up six options. The first is View Setting, which is a set of global adjustments for the monitor display (contrast, brightness, colour and sharpness). Item 2 is for adjusting the time and date, setting the position of the PIP screen and multi-screen border display colour (black or white).

Menu 3 covers camera setup with individual selections for each camera for creating an ID (one line of up to 10 characters) and setting loss detection. On the more advanced SOC-920 and 420 cameras there are extra options. These are Iris Control (ALC or manual), where the area of sensitivity appears as a frame on the monitor screen that can be resized and positioned to avoid areas of bright light in the scene area. Other camera settings include Shutter Speed (auto, 12 fixed low speeds and seven manual high speeds – 1/20th to 1/10,000th sec) and White Balance (auto tracing, fixed and manual). There's also a 'Special' sub menu with settings for AGC, Mirror (switches the video image horizontally) D-Zoom (sets the magnification level) Posi/Nega, Zoom Speed and Detail. Back to the main camera sub-menu there are switches for Focus (manual or ONEAF, where autofocus is set after zooming) and Motion Detection. This uses a resizable mask to define the area of sensitivity; three detection levels are available.

Item 4 is System settings and this has a series of sub menus for Alarms (hold time, alarm buzzer and Pattern/Alarm action), Record (audio record enable, Spot Monitor output and VCR setup); Hidden Camera (disconnects cameras from Live monitor display); Sequence (set cameras sequence time from one to 30 seconds); System ID (allows multiple systems to be controlled from a single remote handset); Password Check and Password Change (used to enter and change operator password) and Language (English, Spanish, French, Italian or German). The last two items on the main menu are Event List, which logs alarm, motion detection and video loss activations, and Doorbell List, which details the previous 16 doorbell presses and displays the still images stored by the monitor.

There appears to be a performance mismatch between the SOC-920 and 420 cameras and the monitor. The former have a claimed horizontal resolution of 480 lines but according to the specs the monitor's horizontal resolution is just 400 lines. In good natural light and the exposure systems set to auto, the two 920 and 420 cameras produce a reasonably crisp picture with natural-looking colours though the dome produced some very noticeable internal reflections in some lighting conditions. As lighting levels fall there is a steady increase in noise and colours get progressively muddy but it's not noticeably worse than most comparable general-purpose colour cameras. The simpler SOC-220 camera also performs well though with a slightly less detailed image making it better suited to wider area coverage. Throughout our tests we became increasingly aware of an annoying screen flicker on the monitor and this was apparent in both full screen and multi-screen modes. It appeared to be slightly slower than the a normal 50Hz flicker and was most noticeable in the top right corner of the screen, especially when the camera was displaying a bright or well lit scene.

We encountered several other problems. The multi-function dial knob seems like a good idea but it can be difficult to use. The click stops are not well defined so it needs a light touch to avoid overshooting camera or menu selections. The knob's less than positive click-to-enter function also means it can take several tries to make menu selections or changes. The menus could be better designed and if you mistakenly select a camera ID you can't escape and have to click your way through to reach the Save and Exit options. Unless all eight inputs are connected an irritating camera loss indicator ticks away in the top right corner and there doesn't seem to be any way to switch it off. The oddest problem is the system's inability to permanently store camera idents. If a camera is disconnected or there's a video loss its ident is lost and it returns to the default. The pre-alarm video recording facility can only be used once and as soon the replay screen is exited the stored images are either discarded or over-written.

What the manufacturer says ...
Businesses and CCTV users can now easily expand their surveillance coverage at low cost using the ground-breaking Samsung VPP Observation System from Asset Security. The VPP package is the most flexible and user-friendly observation system on the market today.

For the first time ever, retailers, hotels, schools and other small-to-medium system users can link up their existing cameras to this new observation system – whatever the make or model – and also add extra new ones.

Re-using all their existing cameras in this way allows users to expand their security coverage at much less cost, and it also saves on the associated expense of pulling out and running new cabling.

Uniquely, the system can also accept a mix of specialist cameras, such as infra red models allowing night time surveillance, vandal-resistant models, or covert cameras. Until now, all other observation systems on the market have tied customers into using proprietary cameras, or required them to replace cameras and cabling when upgrading their conventional CCTV systems to an observation-type system.

Asset's VPP system is truly plug and play – allowing up to eight new and existing cameras to be quickly linked to a monitor, via the built-in Triplex multiplexer.

"For the installer, this flexibility means he can make maximum use of what is already there, while the end user does not have to double up on investment and start all over again," said Kami Raufi, Managing Director of Asset Security.

The current cameras available for use with the VPP system include a high resolution model featuring a 12x zoom lens (which is superior to the varifocal lens models used in other systems) and a host of other features. Also there is a vandal-resistant dome camera with the same specification plus IP66 rating, suitable for internal or external use, and a basic fixed focus lens camera.

The VPP system has been developed by Asset Security in partnership with the global market leading electronics manufacturer Samsung Electronics. Asset Security is Samsung's exclusive agent in the UK and Ireland.