Clearing Up HDcctv Technology Misconceptions
What exactly is HDcctv technology? HDcctv Alliance’s Todd Rockoff sheds some insight on the technology.
HDcctv Alliance Chairman Todd Rockoff clears up some HDcctv technology misconceptions.
SSI: “In addressing some of these limitations, the HDcctv 2.0 standard muddies the waters somewhat. There are now two different types of HDcctv, NR (normal reach) and AT (advanced transmission). They both add a data channel so you can control cameras, and AT allows a signal to degrade over distance so it should be more resilient. There’s still no power option, no higher resolution cameras, no support for UTP or fiber optic cable, wireless, higher frame rates, and so on. And, by splitting the standard, we’ve moved away from the “plug and play” nature of the beast; you need to plug an HDcctv 2.0 AT camera into an HDcctv 2.0 AT DVR – it won’t work if you plug it into an HDcctv 2.0 NR DVR or an HDcctv 1.0 DVR. Whew!”
TR: Indeed, things have become more complex with the introduction of both AT and NR. The installer will need an inexpensive adapter – expected to cost on the order of $10 – to connect a 2.0 AT camera to a 2.0 NR DVR. Nonetheless, every capability Bob mentions is being developed in the standard and in fact is already being delivered outside the scope of the standard already, so no invention is required. And it’s all still more readily interoperable than even the most ONVIF-conformant IP equipment. If the NR/AT confusion is a real problem for installers, the rule of thumb is this:choose NR if you need bit-perfect images, alternatively choose AT if you really do need to accommodate any legacy CCTV infrastructure.
SSI: “So, I am back where I started, wondering just who the customer is for this technology. If you are looking for an inexpensive system, you are likely looking at a relatively small monitor, in which case plain old analogue looks pretty darn good.”
TR: Everyone wants HD if they can have it for free, which they can now with HDcctv equipment. As most installers well know, it’s not only about live monitoring on small displays but about the value of forensic evidence. HD is better than sub-HD, all else being equal.
Note that sub-HD IP cameras have disappeared from the market. There is a simple reason for that: there is no compelling advantage for using D1 IP cameras instead of same-resolution analogue cameras. HDcctv equipment is now on a par with the cost of analogue equipment, and installers can expect HDcctv equipment to command the same advantages over 1MP and 2MP IP cameras that PAL and NTSC cameras have proven over D1 IP cameras. In the mid-term future, IP cameras will be mainly relegated to very-high-resolution applications, such as 4K video formats, where image sensor sensitivity has yet to deliver surveillance-grade capabilities in the 1/3-inch optical format that dominates the industry.
SSI: “If y
ou are for simplicity, there are a number of IP cameras on the market that utilize local storage (no DVR needed) and connect to the internet via WiFi, so you only need to worry about power (WitnessAll even provides remote management and video alarm reporting for about $4 a month per camera). And if you are looking for higher quality images, there are far more options in the IP video world.”
TR: It is popular to say that IP cameras are convenient to use, that IP cameras are inexpensive, and that IP cameras deliver better quality video than alternatives. While IP cameras can in fact deliver the highest resolutions of any cameras, there are many trade-offs. It is not possible, from an impartial technical point of view, for a 2MP IP camera live views ever to be better than a 1080p30 HDcctv camera live view, all else being equal. Similarly, as Bob points out earlier in the article, nothing could be simpler to implement than HDcctv cameras.
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