HDcctv-compliant product sales are set to take off in 2011, as the standard is to become increasingly valuable to the surveillance industry in successive versions (each of which is being designed to be backward compatible with all prior versions).
HDcctv is an open standard for the 100% digital transmission of HDTV signals in a video surveillance system using industry-standard cable. HDcctv-compliant cameras, DVRs and IP streamers enable convenient, selective upgrades of CCTV systems re-using existing local site cable infrastructure.
Moreover, compliant products offer a new degree of architectural flexibility for IP-based systems by allowing the conversion from video to IP to occur not in the camera but somewhere that’s less expensive or more secure.
Industry analyst IMS Research recognises that the HDcctv Alliance is successfully mobilising security equipment manufacturers to develop and release HDcctv-compliant products. As I write this column, the first HDcctv-compliant products are being prepared for shipment.
Installers around the world can’t wait to get their hands on this equipment that allows them to offer significant additional value to their existing CCTV customers, as well as gain a competitive advantage in winning new customers.
HDcctv unlocks HD for the installed base
Well over 95% of all video surveillance systems in operation globally are coax-connected CCTV solutions.
Demand for HD surveillance is growing rapidly, but the equipment industry has struggled to satisfy this demand with megapixel IP cameras (which require costly new infrastructure and IT skills).
A palpable tension exists between megapixel IP camera manufacturers and the broad market. Must we extend IP LANs to camera mounts for HD?
HDcctv relieves this tension: no more IT worries when it comes to camera connections.
Therefore, HDcctv-compliant product sales are set to exhibit marked growth in 2011.
What happens after 2011?
The planned future development path of the HDcctv standard addresses comprehensive video surveillance needs:
– Functional capabilities: compliant products today are tested to HDcctv version 1.0. V1.0 provides for streaming 720p50/60 or 1080p25/30 video from point to point. Future versions of the standard will provide for remote control, bi-directional audio, a meta-data channel, camera power and more.
– Resolution: the HDcctv Alliance is the only standards body in the surveillance industry to partner with SMPTE, manager of the global HDTV standard. Future versions of the HDcctv standard are planned under license from SMPTE to provide for resolutions ranging from D-Cinema 4k (4096 x 2160 = 8.8MP) to Ultra-HD 8k (7680 x 4320 = 33MP) and beyond.
– Media: V1.0 provides only for transmission over coax cable. V2.1 is planned to provide for transmission over 100 m of Cat5 cable, and V2.2 provides for long-haul transmission over optical fibre. No expensive converters are required.
– Transmission distance: V1.0 provides for transmission over at least 100m RG59U cable. V2.1 is planned to provide for transmission over 300m of low-grade surveillance cable, facilitating retrofit of any existing CCTV feed.
HDcctv will supplant analogue CCTV
Who would buy D1 when you could have HD at equal cost?
It’s only a matter of time until cost parity is within reach: at sufficient scale, HDcctv-compliant equipment should be only negligibly more expensive than CCTV and therefore the preferred alternative for the served market.
It is not a question of whether HDcctv supplants CCTV, but rather when it will happen.
The future begins today
HDcctv-compliant products will appear in diverse VSS designs in 2011.
Which installations will be among the first to take advantage of HDcctv, though?
One thing is for sure: buyers of HDcctv-compliant products can count on transmission distance, interoperability and forward compatibility while squeezing new value from existing cabling.
Therefore, HDcctv is a worthy candidate to consider including in any video surveillance system design, now and in the future.
Todd E Rockoff is executive director of the HDcctv Alliance
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