 |
The Word on the Street
NEW POSSIBILITIES WITHIN VIDEO SURVEILLANCE! H.264 TO REPLACE OTHER COMPRESSION STANDARDS!
The latest video compression standard, H.264, is expected to become the video standard of choice in the coming years. It has already been successfully introduced in electronic gadgets such as mobile phones and digital video players. For the video surveillance industry, H.264 offers new possibilities to reduce storage costs and to increase the overall efficiency.
H.264 (sometimes referred to as MPEG-4 Part 10/AVC) is an open, licensed standard that supports the most efficient video compression techniques available today. Without compromising image quality, an H.264 encoder can reduce the size of a digital video file by more than 80% compared with the Motion JPEG format and as much as 50% more than with the traditional MPEG-4 Part 2 standard. It is the magnitude of these numbers that makes H.264 highly relevant for video surveillance applications.
One immediate benefit of the drastically reduced file sizes is the impact on storage and bandwidth requirements. For the same amount of video data, with the same image quality, a video surveillance system supporting H.264 compression will basically reduce the storage cost and bandwidth occupancy by at least 50% compared to when using conventional compression technologies. As the systems grow larger, and the requirements for high resolution images in combination with high frame rates increase, H.264 will be a key differentiator between various system solutions.
H.264 presents a huge step forward in video compression technology. With support from many industries and applications for consumer and professional needs
such as QuickTime, Flash, YouTube, iPod and Play- Station 3, H.264 is expected to replace other compression standards and methods in use today. As the format becomes more broadly available in video surveillance equipment, system designers and integrators will need to make sure that the products and vendors they choose support this new open standard.
Information provided by Anixter. For more information, please contact Rian Schermerhorn, the Regional Security Manager for Anixter in the Pacific NW (PH: 503.997.7656 or email: rian.schermerhorn@anixter.com), or your local Anixter Rep.
Anixter currently stocks the Axis' growing suite of products that support H.264 compression. Additional information on H.264 can be found at : http://www.axis.com/promotion/new_generation/index.htm
|
|
|
|
Specifier's Corner
IS "OPEN ARCHITECTURE" REALLY OPEN ARCHITECTURE? --- MAYBE AND MAYBE NOT!
Manufacturers of Access Control and CCTV Systems all claim to be "Open Architecture" and compatible with other products, but that can be a serious trap for Specifiers, especially for those specifying an "integrated security system" where all of the elements must communicate with each other.
The problem of "Open Architecture" and system compatibility is similar to what Apple Computers initially faced in trying to run IBM software, and vice-versa! Initially, Apple computers couldn't run IBM software, and IBM computers couldn't run Apple software. While things have improved between these two giants, the problem remains a serious issue between the various security system manufacturers. If a software "application" has not been written and tested between one security software product and another, serious incompatibilities can result, so SPECIFIER ---- BEWARE!
This problem becomes especially acute when dealing with the new technology IP Network Cameras because these cameras are now mini-computers requiring software to communicate. Your favorite Access Control System may claim to be "100% Open Architecture" and supposedly compatible with IP Cameras, but you better read the fine print! It takes time to build these software "applications", and sometimes the cost runs into the tens of thousands of dollars! Often manufacturers will need to have software applications for every new IP Network Camera model hitting the market. If you call for a camera that is not on the "approved software application list" for the Access Control System you're specifying, then you are leading your customer down a dead end path!
Specifiers also need to beware of those factory sales personnel saying that "SDK's" (Software Developer's Kits) are available! That simply is sales code for "We aren't compatible and we don't expect to be, but you can write the application yourself!" It simply means the system manufacturer has not yet developed the software application needed to do what you want to do. Unless your customer is willing to spend a lot of money developing their own software application which may or may not work without considerable "debugging", I would simply look for another acceptable product that has an "off-the-shelf" software application that is all ready proven to work! System integration is tricky business so make sure you know what works and what doesn't!
 Gary Clark,
Technical Advisor
|
|
