4-Megapixel IP IR D/N PoE Box Camera ACTi KCM-5211 18x Zoom H.264
– 8 fps at 2032 x 1920 resolution
– DC 12V/Powered by PoE Class 3
– 18 x optical zoom
Integration is extremely important to ACTi and as a result they are continuously working with Video management software partners in order to allow them to deploy their ACTi cameras in as many situations as possible. The KCM series is the main focus of their latest projects regarding VMS and offers good choice to customers as a result. See the chart below to view integration partners.
Here at Integrated CCTV we do like good products. We have recently been concentrating on HD SDI CCTV and we like it! It will take off in the UK and it will challenge HD IP products for market share, no doubt. However megapixel IP products are not giving up and going away, far from it and here is why. A recent demonstration of Avigilon HD CCTV and VMS has to go down as one of the most impressive dems I have seen in many years.
Avigilon UK
So why are Avigilon the fastest growing IP camera manufacturer in the world right now? We are still in times of limited growth and only just out of a recession. Yet during this period Avigilon have simply gone from strength to strength. Having seen the equipment and image quality, approach to sales and support, the commitment to research and development, it is is easy to see how.
Avigilon CCTV
When the equipment is demonstrated, the ease of set up is so simple. The 16 megapixel camera is built like a tank and the images are simply brilliant. It is the use of the jpeg 2000 format and it is the way this format is manipulated that enables Avigilon the ability to produce the pictures without completely swamping the network.
Ok, so you see the dem and you are impressed now you wait for the price. As we all know in the UK bringing existing analogue cameras into any CCTV solution is important . The use of encoders is crucial to the migration from analogue to IP and of course HD. So to hear that an Avigilon 4 way encoder comes in at under £250 was remarkable. This must be a loss leader? It brings existing analogue CCTV cameras back into system design for those who do not wish to sacrafice their existing systems but allows them to fit additional HD CCTV of exceptional quality.
HD CCTV cameras
But surely the cameras will be costly? After all the build quality is excellent and the pictures are faultless. Well now Avigilon have produced a 5 megapixel camera for under £500 and a 1 megapixel for under £300 . This beats just about everything else around and its better.
As a company Avigilon have always impressed. We have written about them for years, spoken to Rick Ramsey their production manager and know they bring quality to customers looking to upgrade to HD CCTV. Now however they are using their new found strength in the market place to bring sensible pricing to. They claim that in 6 years time they will be the largest IP camera manufacturer in the world. You know, I’am not sure i would bet against that right now.
VideoIQ have claimed they have a unique product that can fulfil a niche in the IP video marketplace that as yet no one else has attempted. In effect they have managed to create analytics on a megapixel camera and use edge technology to achieve a simply better surveillance solution. A bold claim, but does it work and can the new technology really live up to the claim? As part of the day job we got VideoIQ to do us a demonstration. What was seen was an impressive product with some pretty impressive features.
iCVR Video IQ camera
Firstly unlike most other IP video solutions there is no requirement for a NVR. The VideoIQ iCVR camera looks a pretty robust unit and all the recording is done at the edge of the network. This means that it’s a scaleable approach to recording. If you need just one camera then that’s all you buy, no need to buy expensive recording equipment that is under used, equally no need to upgrade each time you want to increase security across your company or group.
Because all the recordings are stored on the edge of the network, the iCVR camera only needs to stream what is requested or deemed an alarm event. The streamed video can be set up by the use of rules and this means that only minimal bandwidth is ever required, essentially by-passing the most expensive part of a new IP CCTV installation i.e the cabling infrastructure.
So have VideoIQ really achieved effective analytics with a megapixel camera? Yes is the answer, once installed the advanced analytics calibrate themselves. The self learning technology was demonstrated and the iCVR camera seems to get more intelligent with each object detected.
The whole point of this technology is no wasted network capacity but still be able to achieve excellent image quality. Alarms can be generated via email and advanced search facilities mean that objects can be easily tracked and zoomed into. With browser access, viewing is possible from any PC and an event driven alarm review screen incorporated into the VideoIQ view software makes operation easy. The software is included with the purchase of the camera.
VideoIQ claim the iCVR is a fully integrated solution, we tend agree. The package includes the iCVR camera, the embedded DVR, powerful analytics and the video management software.
A complete solution? Well there are those I’am sure who will dispute that, but from what we witnessed it goes a very long way towards one.
Avigilon are a proactive company. As a result Avigilon resellers have major advantages over their opposition because of the high quality of this progressive Canadian companies IP surveillance portfolio. NVMS, Avigilon’s video management software solution is one of the best on the market and Avigilon boast the 16 megapixel HD professional IP camera in its formidable range.This camera has been designed to integrate with NVMS and High Definition NVRs by using network equipment and delivers an unmatched performance, it is easy to install and uses network switches to give it power over the Ethernet.
Avigilon CCTV
Avigilon resellers are backed with unrivalled support from the company. We interviewed Rick Ramsey of Avigilon to find out why resellers should be so confident about their future and the IP surveillance systems they are selling.
There are many commentators about who are still asking the question where is IP CCTV going in the future? Most are still undecided on how things will develop and there seems to be a three way split on opinion.
1) The first chain of thought and one that holds most weight is that IP CCTV will grow a little more slowly than previously thought. However it will still grow and many feel that it is inevitable that it IP surveillance systems will become the norm for Image related security and management solutions. The idea behind this thinking is down to TCO or total cost of ownership. Based on the fact that IP CCTV can provide unquestionable flexibility and image quality it seems like a no brainer that this technology will come out number 1 over its two other main rivals, but as yet a slow start despite huge investment from the big boys such as Axis, Panasonic ,Samsumg, Arecont and Sony has suddenly shed a little doubt on just how much this technology can really dominate the market place within the next five years.
2) The reason for this doubt is analogue CCTV. Obvious weakness in this type of CCTV recording and image quality has been tempered by the ever decreasing cost of the products. It was originally thought that IP CCTV cameras would be mass produced bringing an very sharpe end to analogue CCTV dominance and see it disappear faster than the VCR did at the turn of this century. However big manufacturers such as March networks have decided to continue production of some high end analogue DVR products and analogue cameras keep being produced in the far east with endless relentlessness. So when will we see the demise of analogue, at the moment no one is sure but eventually it must be surpassed by IP CCTV solutions, its just when that is now in doubt. We could see analogue persist for another ten years!
CCTV cameras
3) Finally there is there is a new kid on the block. HDCCTV. This consists of HD SDI products that can transmit uncompressed HD images over coax. Suddenly this technology has huge appeal for existing CCTV companies who’s engineers are struggling to get to grips with IP. Its not that the engineers are not clever enough to make the shift to IP . It seems the cost of tooling up the engineers and giving training is holding them back. When the engineer sees 80 analogue CCTV systems to every 20 IP then even with training he will rarely get to apply newly learned skills and this then can easily cause his knowledge to fade. This is now where the HDCCTV plug and play concept becomes so attractive to CCTV installers. They are finding IP cameras and NVRs prohibitively expensive, difficult to deploy and expensive to maintain . Some are having to rely on third party IT support to commission systems or having to go to the extra cost of actually creating thier own IT departments to cope. A very costly overhead indeed. So HDCCTV with all the benefits of HD images suddenly becomes a very attractive option.
HD SDI DVR
It is difficult to see where it will go in the end. Will it be the flexibility and superior image quality attainable by IP CCTV? The tried and tested analogue CCTV solution? Or the new kid on the block, HDCCTV? The jury is out….. but we do think we know!
