So your fleet wants to take a proactive approach to safety and is planning on getting dash cameras. During the procurement process, companies may tell you that they offer live streaming, while others tell you they provide live look-ins. But do you know the difference?
Many people don’t. This is a fairly new technology, with many misconceptions—and how dash cams are marketed doesn’t make things easier. Here is how to tell the difference, along with the advantages and disadvantages of both, which should help each fleet make the right choice for how they view visual data from their assets.
Misconceptions
Many vendors lump both live streaming and live look-ins in as “live video,” indicating what the manager is viewing from the office is in real-time. Some people think that they have live video, but they really have live "recorded" video. That is a video that that was recorded earlier, but was live at that time. You may be thinking, “Why would they think that?” Usually, the company selling the solution will tell the buyer this and phrase it like "Here is a recording of your live video on the hard drive," which leads to this misconception.
Another misconception is when a third-party manages your video solution. You may ask them for a live recording from now until some time in the near future. Again, you are getting a recording of a past event, and not seeing actual live video. This is an important distinction, especially if you notice a potential issue with the truck or driver’s behavior, something that could impact safety or overall efficiency. If you know something is truly live, you can actually manage the situation immediately. If it’s a recording, it could be better to handle any issues in a more deliberate manner, such as in the next training session.
This is why many companies have added the adjective “streaming” to distance themselves from these misconceptions.
Live Streaming Video
As stated previously, live streaming video is genuinely live. You log in to whatever software solution you have and choose which vehicles and cameras you want to view, and you will have a live view of what is going on until you close out of that window.
This feature typically needs an LTE/cell connection, although some will work on Wi-Fi only or both. The Wi-Fi-only option is only helpful if your vehicle has a constant wireless connection (hotspot, etc.), which most fleets do not have.
If you have a dual LTE/Wi-Fi option, you will use the LTE only when you are out of wireless range (i.e., in the yard/vehicle depot). With LTE, your provider may use a centralized server or the cloud. The centralized server may slow down your refresh rate (clarity and speed) based on the internet connection to the server and the server's speed. If they use the cloud, the only limitation is the connection speed to your device/computer. Cloud-based streaming has a quicker refresh rate, so your clarity is greater. This can come in handy when you need to view the camera immediately in case of emergencies.
The primary use of live streaming is to view your cameras at any time and for any length of time. You are only limited by the amount of data you have purchased or allowed. Some fleet managers will use live streaming to do a virtual ride-along (although it may be more cost-effective to record the time and do some spot check-ins).
Most of our customers at Fortress Mobile use this feature to view when an alarm has triggered (i.e., panic button pushed, calls for assistance, or if you have GPS included, then this may consist of speeding, hard braking, or hard turning events). With live streaming, you have immediate access and can view the incident for as long as you want. Some solutions also allow you to record this time for either immediate download or to the hard drive.
LTE data pricing and usage can vary depending on which carrier you need to go with, the data compression rates (i.e., h265 is better than h264), and the quality of the live streaming video (higher frame rate, or fps, uses more data).
Live Look-Ins
Live look-ins are similar to live streaming, except they are for shorter, specific amounts of time. They connect the same way and are routed either through the cloud or central server the same way. The viewing time can vary from company to company but typically is 1 to 10 minutes per view. The other main difference is that live look-ins generally are managed by a third party. In other words, you need to contact another company to give you this live view access. Although cumbersome, it does have its uses. One of those is to manage the amount of data you use, prevent accidentally leaving the stream on for hours, and having a third party control your viewing prevents unauthorized access.
With live look-ins, your data charges are based on how many look-ins/amount of time you viewed, so you only pay for what you use. So, depending on the amount of use, this could be either cheaper or more expensive than live streaming (live streaming has a set amount paid per month and is discounted due to bulk). This is similar to buying a bottle of water for $1 vs. an eight pack of water bottles for $5; it's cheaper as long as you don't buy more than four individual bottles.
Which is best for me?
Use live streaming if:
- Primary transport includes passengers
- Fleet transports expensive or highly regulated materials
- Monitoring of loading/unloading for multiple stops is desired
- Driver behavior will be monitored
- Insurance requires this method
- Fleets desire autonomy on when to view and for how long
Use live look-in if:
- It’s less urgent to view live video
- Live video rarely viewed
- Cost is a big factor
- Third party control is desired
Overall costs may depend on your fleet size and how much you need to view video in a month. Check with multiple suppliers of fleet management software that supply fleet camera systems, and compare the pricing because sometimes the difference in cost may be minimal. In the end, both have their merits but for different reasons.
Jayesh Mehta is the Director of Marketing at Fortress Mobile. He is also the author of “Rogue’s Guide to Acquisition: Principles from the Final Frontier” listed on Bill Gates Recommended Summer Reading of 2012. Jayesh has been in the marketing field since 2001 and with Fortress Mobile since 2020.
