Watermarking is like a signature on a video. It reminds of the owner when using it.
I am going to explain watermarking in this article, let’s start by setting apart the two kinds of watermarking: Overlay image and digital watermarking.
- Image overlay
It consists of overlaying a logo on an image streaming. Therefore, the logo is visible throughout the video. Very often, video surveillance cameras show the time and the date of their live and recording images.
- digital watermarking
An encryption code assigned to the owner is embedded with the video. Then a software is used to calculate the code. If it does not match with the owner’s umber, the image is tampered.
Digital watermarking is not visible.
Why watermarking a video ?
The watermarking is embedded with image and is impossible to remove. As a result, copyrighted materials are identified and the source of the image is easy to retrace. Thus, the reasons of watermarking is:
- Copyright protection
It is a reliable tool to protect copyright.
- Evidence authentication
In some cases, courts could ask to authenticate images in order to be accepted as evidences
- marketing
Video producers could use watermarking. Especially, overlaid image to advertise their brand.
Where watermarking happens ?
While digital watermarking is not as easy to get, overlaid image is available on :
- cameras
All NVRs and DVRs are able to watermark video streaming. They can display the date and the time of the live streaming and recorded images.
- NVR / DVR
All NVRs and DVRs are able to watermark video streaming. They can display the date and the time of the live-streaming and recorded images.
- When exporting the images
We can also add watermarking at the exporting of the videos.
- On a VMS (video management software)
Not VMS are able to overlay images; they can also do digital watermarking.
Genetec has the option to watermark video.
Read more about video system management
Conclusion
The authenticity of the image is a number one condition for a video as an evidence. That is what watermarking is for. Generally, courts accept video with date and time as a proof, but They could require digital watermarking in the future.
