With IFSEC International nearing closer, I start to get excited thinking about the clever and unique innovations we will see this year.
I am sure there will be plenty of smaller cameras, with greater pixel counts, and higher frames rates. These are all perfectly good improvements, but for me (as an integrator) I feel there are certain must-haves every manufacturer needs to offer in their cameras by the end of 2013.
Remote zoom and remote focus
I somedays wonder how I ever lived without remote zoom and focus. This has to be one of the greatest time-saving innovations for installers.
I remember first seeing this feature on a Pelco Sarix fixed camera a few years back and I could not believe how effective it was. There has been plenty of time for other manufacturers to catch up since then.
By the end of 2013, installers will expect this feature, and any manufacturer that has not adopted it will soon be forgotten.
Super low-light cameras
Axis has Light-Finder, Pelco has SureVision, and Bosch has Starlight.
Whatever you like to call it, it is just another name for exceptional low-light performance. When megapixel cameras were first introduced, they suffered greatly from poor low-light performance and the reputation seemed to stick.
Fortunately, technology improved and so did megapixel low-light performance. IP camera manufacturers are now trying to shake the bad reputation by producing super low-light megapixel cameras.
Every IP camera manufacturer needs to add a line of super low-light cameras by the end of the year. Many installers and end users are looking specifically for low-light cameras. For this reason manufacturers should follow the trend by branding low light technology with their own name.
Video analytics
I am starting to see more and more cameras being shipped with built-in video analytics. I look forward to the day that built-in video analytics becomes as common as built-in video motion is today, but, for now, it is still rarely included.
Manufacturers that choose not to develop their own built-in analytics will need to partner with a video analytics plugin developer. It will not be long before every IP camera is expected to support some type of analytics.
Video analytics is an established and proven technology. Too many camera manufacturers are placing the responsibility of integrating video analytics on the VMS. With processing power moving to the edge, it is time camera manufacturers get on board with video analytics.
The megapixel race is slowing, and integrators are generally happy with the resolutions available today. Camera size and higher frame rates are both important, but before pushing the limits of these (already satisfactory) features, manufacturers must first focus on adding the functions integrators and installers expect.
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Does that mean analytics are being carried out within the camera itself, or on externally supplied software?
Within the camera itself. It means you can, for instance, reduce the bandwith the camera uses by making the camera analyse whether an incident is happening. If the analytics in the camera detect something then and only then does it broadcast out, as well as potentially store locally on an SD card. Correct me if I’m wrong, Colin?
Rob, I couldn’t have said it better myself. I will add that if you are using an NVR (opposed to SD cards) for storage, having analytics at the edge will remove a significant processing load from the server. It also means if you want to add video analytics to an existing system, you would not need to replace the NVR in order to do so.
The analytics piece of this is certainly interesting. I was reading that it allows for real-time notification of in-progress events since the camera can intelligently distill whether what it is recording is a regular quiet night or an in-progress crime. It will be interesting to see how this type of capability, and the storage changes, will fuel the way that this market intersects with the much ballyhooed big data. From IMR Research report in December: “While Big Data is not going to be a mainstream concept for video surveillance in 2013, IMS Research predicts that the use and aggregation of… Read more »
I would love to understand how this happen, the camera itself has the power to process and analyze the data captured is something new me. I knew we would see intelligent cameras very soon.
@Robert Brown – you mean to say the camera only activate on a suspicious activity, its then the camera starts capturing and sending footage to the DVR or store them on an SD.
@Colin Atkins – this is a good way to save your bandwidth and storage space. Storage space of video footage is a problem that most companies have. If the camera constantly sends footage the NVR gets flooded with simultaneous transmission. I think this is a good way to capture only what’s important. Colin does this mean we would not have 24/7 footage?
@Hailey – yes we are in a year where most companies don’t know how to handle big data these collected. If the camera could process and analyze this information for us, I think that’s the best way forward. Why waste your bandwidth and storage having footage that is not necessary.
Yeah, it’s basically just video analytics on the edge. So a basic example would be simple motion detection. If movement is detected, then the camera knows to start storing the images. But generally you’ll have more advanced filters in place such as movement in a specific (pre-specified) direction from an object a certain size or bigger. The analytics will detect these elements, and video analytics are pretty advanced now.
I just don’t think big data is there for video surveillance yet. The analytics systems need to do their thing first to start showing the trends.
@Shehan Ahamed, you could still have 24/7 recording if you wanted. Video analytics in a sense, is like a very advanced version of video motion. You are still able to customize how and when your system records video, only you can do it in a much more detailed way.
Whilst I agree with the ideal of minimising bandwidth and storage and the improvements in video analytics are great…I still think some form of local storage is required. The use of an onboard SD card to record the last 24 hrs I think will become more called upon in the future as NVR’s become virtual with such as BIG Data … There is still the need to retrieve evidence speedily at the point of the incident. Technology all be it a wonderful thing can run away with real life. Let’s not forget the requirement of PACE and “Best Evidence” I predict a long… Read more »
I totally agreed, there should be added functionality in the production of our security cameras and its storage capacity by intregating it with our portable devices like mobiles with high resolutions regardless of time and lights and as seen in these days.
@Jeff jiangfu Walker, video analytics does not change or limit the typical methods of storing video, or the format it is stored in. It simply offers users the ability to fine tune how their system behaves, and in non-security applications (like retail) video analytics provides valuable operations and marketing data.
Of course, just like any technology, the performance and reliability of the system will depend on the technical team that installs it.
The reason you’ve lived without mechanized lenses is to save you and your customer money. You seem dedicated to IP cameras, in which case you and your customer are spending 3x what you need to spend on cameras and recorders in the first place, let alone the extra expenses on LAN configuration and maintenance. The extra costs of mechanized lenses seem less to all-IP-cam installers, on the margin, as does placing a non-live-view DVR in each camera, and an analytics engine in each camera. “On the edge” as a synonym for “in the camera mount” is revealing: lots of valuable… Read more »
So for instance, constantly record at a lower resolution, and when an ‘incident’ is detected, record at a higher resolution, I guess.
The testing in court of such footage, I agree, would be very interesting to see.
Todd, I’m not dedicated to IP, I’m dedicated to meeting my clients needs and exceeding their expectations. There is only a small, but growing selection of IP cameras on the market today that come with built-in video analytics. For various reasons, none of these cameras meet my needs. For that reason (and this may come as a shock) in most cases I still use analog cameras for intrusion video analytics. In regards to vari-focal lenses, my technicians are highly trained and are paid accordingly. The small expense of ‘upgrading’ to a camera that supports remote zoom/focus is easily justified by… Read more »
Hi Colin,
Sorry for mis-understanding your design philosophy.
Two clarifying questions:
1) How often does the focus or zoom need changed in a way that the pan and tilt do not?
2) Have you considered multi-channel HD analytics engine operating on HDcctv inputs?
Thanks –todd
Yes Robert, that’s a conventional DVR recording strategy.
They all need to be adjusted simultaneously, but zooming and focusing is by far the most time consuming part. Also, aside from dome cameras, every other camera can be aimed without opening the housing. It also means that if, for whatever reason a camera goes out of focus, end users can re-focus the camera themselves. I have not considered HDcctv for video analytics. My choices for monitored video analytic solutions are dictated by the platform used by my monitoring station. I would openly consider HDcctv but it is not supported by the monitoring platform we use and therefore not an… Read more »
You’re right, but with analytics you can really fine tune the low res/high res recording scenarios.
Imagine you have a camera looking down a hallway. You could configure such a camera to record at its highest resolution only when someone is walking towards the camera. In the event there is no movement in front of the camera or, if someone is walking away from the camera, it could be set to record at a lower resolution.
That’s the kind of dynamic flexibility that just makes sense.
Does that mean analytics are being carried out within the camera itself, or on externally supplied software?
@saulsherry, It wont be surprising if camera itself performs real-time analysis of video for immediate detection of events of interest considering the fact that the transistor sizes are shrinking and more and more processing of data can be achieved using processors.
You could configure such a camera to record at its highest resolution only when someone is walking towards the camera.
@ColinBodbyl, wow if we are able to implement such features using video analytics then it will definitely help companies because they dont have to worry about bigger memory to store the data. Using this application we can save the data which is of interest.
Dare we rely upon video analytics to provide the total solution
@Jeff jiangfu Walker, true. Video analytics may not provide total solution but it definitely gives the end customers an extra feature which can be used in variety of ways. You can consdider this feature as an addon to the existing system.
Saves you having to wade through reams of data to find an incident. Time saving, resource saving so therefore money saving.
I am with you Colin, remote focus and remote zoom is something important, and you will not be in needs of a ladder to fix the focus of every camera you have. On the other hand I am not with having a high level of intelligence in the camera itself for the following reasons You have to deal with each camera individually according to the level of intelligence if you have different types of cameras, while in central controlled intelligence you can have a base line for all cameras, the other thing dealing with a single type or level of… Read more »
Interesting distinction, Lami S. But then, might you want to upgrade just some cameras and not the whole system, upgrading a cameras intelligence beyond the base level central control?
Thank you Rob for the comment.
The answer is easy you can deal with a group of cameras at the same time or even a single camera at a time, so no problem in that. Remember the most important part is you have a single controller that deal with sub-intelligent cameras by the way these cameras are much cheaper.