Unlocking the potential of High Definition CCTV Solutions
There is little doubt that the introduction of High Definition (HD) megapixel CCTV cameras and associated HD recording and display solutions, driven by an insatiable appetite amongst end users for more detailed CCTV images, reflects a major watershed in the capability of CCTV systems.
Specifically in terms of the quality of images which can now be provided and, crucially, the potential to accurately identify suspects and achieve successful convictions.
In fact, if current trends continue, it is highly likely that High Definition (HD) CCTV will become the de facto standard for CCTV users and providers over the next few years. As with the move in the 1990s from analogue to digital CCTV technology the appearance of HD CCTV parallels, very much, the experience in the consumer electronics market. Here we are seeing High Definition (HD) televisions and broadcast channels becoming the technology of choice and, as a result, taking an ever greater share of the market.
Key Benefits
From a security and risk management perspective I believe that the transition to High Definition (HD) CCTV brings with it a number of concrete benefits, in particular, as mentioned, it allows the delivery of more detailed images than ever before. With this in mind we are likely to see HD CCTV being particularly favoured for high risk environments such as banking where the identification of faces is a prerequisite.
Until relatively recently film was really the only way by which banks could achieve the kind of detail which they required for evidential purposes. In this case the flexibility which comes with digital HD CCTV, in terms of the handling of images, makes it much more attractive and cost effective than recording onto specialised film. Other sectors were we will find the early adopter's of HD CCTV concentrated include: retail, corporate headquarters, urban centres and security sensitive military installations.
Implementation Matters
Of course as with any new technology the advent of HD CCTV is not without some potential implementation issues which security managers and installers should be aware of.
Amongst the issues which need to be considered are how to view, record and store CCTV images which are typically much larger than before and, in a network environment, how to transport images efficiently to where they are needed without having to commit upfront to an expensive network upgrade. Added to this, historically IT managers have been reluctant to have bandwidth hungry on their networks and in some cases there is a red light on any video being transmitted in this way.
So how can these hurdles be overcome? One approach is simply to have a closed CCTV recording system whose only role is to store images locally which have been taken directly from the megapixel cameras. The downside of this is the lack of an ability to make the content of the images available more widely by for example using an IP connection.
Another option is to link the megapixel cameras on site, via IP, to a network video recorder which can sit at a convenient point on the network. Here care needs to be taken that transmitting the images will not overload the network with data.
A solution to the management of larger HD images being captured by mega pixel cameras alongside existing analogue CCTV cameras is to combine the ability to set up a segregated high bandwidth network for local High Definition IP recording with low bandwidth IP connectivity to the corporate network. At the same time, for added flexibility utilising DVRs which offer the potential to reduce the size of the images through a transcoding process so they are optimised for transmission.
This is the path we would advocate and have taken with our solutions. The advantage here is that a remote operator can call up the images without overloading the corporate network and also, crucially, be confident that a highly detailed version has been recorded locally for evidential purposes.
Optimising HD CCTV
Looking in more detail at the performance characteristics potential purchasers should expect in new HD CCTV system, beyond the considerations just mentioned, there are additional benefits to be gained by studying closely what is on offer.
There are tremendous advantages, for example,in adopting a system whose user interface supports electronic pan, tilt and zoom on live megapixel images. In addition, rather than simply recording the field of view triggered on alarm or preset - which means that some parts of a scene may sadly be lost with no hope of retrieval - recording from the latest megapixel cameras should cover the complete field of view of a camera, so it is perfectly possible to review retrospectively areas which were outside the operators original 'live' view.
Another feature, at the forefront of HD CCTV, which is advantageous to specify is on-demand de-warping during live and playback of panamorphic 180 degree or immersive 360 degree camera views. This capability greatly enhances the management and interpretation of images and allows them to be viewed, seamlessly, alongside more conventional views.
Of course many potential users of HD CCTV do not necessarily want to move wholesale to HD, instead, for practical and economic reasons, they are looking to integrate this powerful capability into an existing CCTV system. Against this backdrop, cost conscious security managers can benefit from adopting an advanced remote viewing station which supports the viewing of megapixel images on legacy CRT monitors. In practice this means that rather than having to rely on 300,000 pixels from a static scene on a standard definition monitor, or upgrading to an expensive HD monitor, the user can take advantage of 2,000,000 pixels from a connected megapixel camera, simply zooming in to view vital evidence such as faces or numberplates right to the very limits of the megapixel camera's resolution.
A High Definition Future
To conclude, there is little doubt that the advent of HD CCTV and new, flexible solutions, which are now in the marketplace opens up tremendous opportunities in terms of the high quality of images which can be captured and looks set to revolutionise how we use CCTV to secure sites and identify offenders.
About the author: Mark Romer is General Manager, ANZ at Dedicated Micros, www.dedicatedmicros.com.