Category Archives: HDCCTV

Norbain’s loss but who’s gain?

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The shocking news that Norbain have found themselves in such a difficult situation over the last few days is lesson to all in the industry. The reasons given for the the demise of old Norbain were clear and unequivocal. Quite simply the industry has taken a downturn. New projects are on hold and new sales are just not materializing from any other source.

Some time ago now Norbain chose to take the route away from analogue products and “focus” on IP security equipment. This was based on industry predictions that all CCTV and security would be IP based in the very near future , tipping point has been predicted by Norbain as 2013. This has simply not happened and the evidence is clear that for the CCTV industry to cope with both a downturn in demand and new competition from IT integrators it has to learn lessons and change very very quickly.

Products need to be cutting edge, sales techniques changed with more online sales and support being a move forward but one that must be mixed with a good old fashioned voice on the end of a phone when its needed. More than this though the public have been let down too many times by poor results when video evidence is required. The frustration felt by small business as well as the public in high profile cases is immense when they are seeing poor images with the chance of any type of  identification laughable. That’s the weakness of course of analogue and why Norbain were keen to move to IP and with IP comes HD video.

This is the way forward, HD CCTV solutions must be sold in future if the industry is regain the faith of the UK public. Cheap analogue solutions are killing the industry. IP and HD was Norbain’s vision and with true integration achievable between all IP security products such as CCTV, access control and intruder alarms the idea was definitely a good plan. The problem is the adoption of IP by the CCTV industry itself has been slow to non-existent.

We advocate that HD is the way forward to. HD however over coax is a simpler and cheaper solution in many cases than IP. Using existing coax and still achieving HD images is highly beneficial to the end user where a new IP infrastructure is not practical.

So the lesson that needs to be learnt is to give the end users crisp clear images, give them evidence they can use. Make CCTV a desirable purchase once more, after all everyone agrees the concept is a good one. This goal can be achieved but it can only be achieved with the deployment of  HD in as many applications as possible.

Norbain, what does the future hold now?

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So Norbain  have gone into administration. At least Norbain were in administration but  now it seems everything is back to normal with the intervention of Newbury Investments (UK) Ltd. The status quo resumed???

Well this is how the people at the helm would like it to appear of course. What though has really gone on? Why would a company with the might in the world of CCTV that Norbain posses succumb to the point where they can no longer trade at a profit?

There are two lines of thought on this. The first is they left the move into IP CCTV way to late. Barry Shakespeare their forward looking M.D was tasked with taking the company to the next level and IP was his favoured route pretty much to the exclusion of all other CCTV solutions.

The second line of thought is that the failure of the CCTV industry to adopt IP in the quantities that had been predicted is the reason Norbain fell on hard times. IP has failed to capture the imagination of installers and the net result is poor sales and loss of market share from the CCTV industry to IT integrators.

The losers in this whole thing will of course be the creditors if they fail to get paid out in full, victims of a pre-pack agreement? We don’t know, however we feel very sorry for them if this turns out to be true. Also what will happen to installers with warranty on goods? Will these be honored? What about on going projects can orders for these still be met?

Its very early days of course and we will see how things pan out but this could prove that IP was not the way forward and that HD CCTV and HD SDI products will benefit from this. lets wait and see however Norbains line has been reiterated as follows……..

…………”Norbain has issued a release describing the sale to Newbury as an “acquisition”. Barry Shakespeare, managing director of Norbain SD Ltd, stated: “We are confident that Norbain’s best in class operations combined with Newbury Investments’ financial strength and complementary distribution experience will secure our future growth strategy”.

Lets hope this turns out to be the case.

 

HD CCTV white light illuminator

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All end users want good colour images at night, to achieve this its important that a white light illuminator is your lighting solution of choice. A good white light illuminator will be able to  produce around 2700 lumens in darkness, ample for good colour night time images. The best thing about led lighting though is its tough and it’s reliable. A life of 10 years or more can be achieved.

CCTV lighting has always been overlooked sometimes conveniently by sales to keep prices low, but most crime takes place at night and  all cameras need light to produce an acceptable image. HD CCTV needs more light to work, street light will be insufficient for mega pixel cameras or HD SDI CCTV. Remember that good lighting will save space on your hard drive ridding your images of background interference that often increases the memory consumed on your hard drive.

CCTV lighting is becoming even more important now with the growth of HD SDI CCTV and mega pixel IP cameras. In the past CCTV lighting has been done using either IR bulbs or halogen lighting. An expensive way of doing things, with halogen an unacceptable way forward now. It pollutes and must be phased out. This opens up the path for white light illuminators in particular all in both the electrical and CCTV industry agree this the way forward if we can get the costs down.

sirius CCTV lighting solution

So what do the experts say? …….. “what is the price of an illuminator compared to a halogen? Well right now price wise there is no comparison. While a 500 watt halogen can be purchased for as little as £5, an illuminator that is going to give the same sort of light spread will be well over £200 and very often more. This is hampering the change over of CCTV lighting from old to new technology. However the end user must be educated in the the TCO of an illunminator and the benefits of upgrading his CCTV lighting. While a halogen light might do you for a year without burning out , it wont last too much longer on average. Then it will draw 5 times more energy, this can be costly when having to pay the electricity bill. You must also consider access to the light for maintenance, a cherry picker these days is going to set you back at least £250 for the day so that halogen is far more expensive than you think. Finally if you are upgrading to HD SDI CCTV or a mega pixel IP camera then the extra money you have paid for quality images will be wasted as night time recordings will be disappointing

So for crisp clear colour images from your HD SDI CCTV system at night go green with a white light illuminator”

 

HDCCTV, will it succeed where IP CCTV has failed

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Yes well the big idea is HD CCTV solutions will transform the CCTV industry. Where IP has failed as yet to make the impact we all expected 5 years ago HD CCTV will succeed in a relatively short space of time. The reason is simple. IP is the domain of the IT world, although it has a place in the industry its for bigger systems. HD CCTV is the domain of the security world and that’s because its simple and uses a transport medium that is already in place. More than that its a massive improvement on what we have had to endure with analogue CCTV over the last 30 years. The dream of CCTV and why it evolved in the first place was to read number plates, to see faces and identify criminals. The effect was supposed to deter crime. With HD CCTV this is now actually possible but unlike IP CCTV systems, with HD CCTV we still protect existing investment in the coax infrastructure. Relatively cheap but ultimately effective! That’s why HD CCTV will succeed………

Benefits of CCTV…but is this the real picture?

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CCTV is just about everywhere now and is universally accepted by the public as something that is part of  our everyday lives. However what are the benefits and what is the real truth behind CCTV systems that have been installed over the last 20 years?

Benefits as follows:

1) CCTV is always on. Day and night the systems record every movement  that takes place in view of the camera.

2) CCTV acts as a valuable visual  deterrent. No one is knowingly going to commit a crime when they know they are being watched and recorded.

3) CCTV cameras can be fitted both internally and externally this is certainly not the case with all physical deterrents.

4) CCTV can be used to determine authorised access to site, controlling movement and keeping out those who perhaps should not be in a certain area at a certain time.

5) CCTV can be used to determine when a deliberate attempt to compromise a secure boundary is taking place . Particularly useful for high security situations such as the MOD sites and airports.

6) CCTV reduces loses due to theft. Crucial in the retail industry.

7) CCTV reduces company loses from fraudulent transactions or injury claims.

8 )  CCTV can be used to enforce health and safety requirements on site , it may even to be able to claim that it saves lives.

9) CCTV enables retrospective analysis of crimes and actions, the resulting evidence can be used to enforce a conviction or in the case of companies, a dismissal.

10) CCTV gives  the public a feeling of well being that that would not be achievable without the help of the knowledge that people are watching to keep you safe.

11) CCTV is cheaper and more reliable that manned guarding and human intervention . Cost is always a primary decision when it comes to security.

CCTV images of riots
Can we get a conviction from this kind of quality image?

To be fair we could go on, but the above bullet points prove that for all the negative publicity that CCTV sometimes gets, there is certainly value in the concept.

The concept?…yes this is where we actually to get to root of the problem with CCTV. Everyone loves the concept but over the last 20 years people have been less than satisfied with the results that have been achieved by installing CCTV on the streets or into their businesses. Why you may ask? Well the answer is simple “ANALOGUE CCTV”.

Analogue CCTV  has been about the most mis-sold product of the last 20 years in our opinion. The reason is quite simple….. “definition”. Lets be fair, analogue CCTV is quite capable of providing the correct definition if specified correctly , however cost has proved a limiting factor in the sale of CCTV systems across the UK and invariably CCTV has been massively undersold as a result. There are simply not enough cameras or recording memory to get satisfactory results. Everyone wants a wide angle picture, all customers want to see every part of of their site  but they also expect to be able to see car reg plates and faces as well . This is not possible or at least it is not possible without the correct investment. You must buy the right lens and ensure you get the correct angle of view as well but you must have enough cameras looking into the area of interest. You must also take lighting into consideration to really achieve what the end user expects. Sadly over the years salesmen have wrongly under specified in order to keep costs competative and win contracts. This way of selling has caused disillusionment amongst business owners and the public alike.

Now though the CCTV industry has the means to redeem itself. HD CCTV is the answer. This can be provided either through an HD SDI format or over IP. Now images that we all agree are a huge improvement on the past are achievable. The CCTV industry has something to hang its hat on !

HD SDI CCTV, HD CCTV DVR, HD SDI DVR

HD CCTV promises to restore the faith of the public in CCTV in general and offers the CCTV industry the opportunity to upgrade many of the poorly sold systems of the past. This of course does not excuse mistakes that have previously been made. It must also be warned that as always you will get what you pay for. Don’t be tempted by cheap HD SDI DVR’s that offer frame rates and recording capacity that just won’t cut it.  It does however offer a way forward that will see all the benefits listed above be able to be applied and at last get some real value for money out of your CCTV system.