|
Views & Comments>
Video/Surveillance - A New Era Is Upon Us.
7 Dec 2004
Analog CCTV systems for security and surveillance applications gained popularity back in the 1970s. As security challenges increased and technological innovation grew apace, analog systems proved ineffective and inefficient for all but the smallest security environments. Digital video recorder technology emerged in the mid ’90s to provide end users a high-performance, cost-effective alternative to the VCR. The DVR offered a number of compelling benefits over analog recording, including image superiority, increased storage space, near-instant access to key information, reduced maintenance time and costs, and flexible recording control.
The DVR at Its Apex
The 2003 J. P. Freeman Co. Inc. CCTV report estimated that DVRs comprised 75 percent of all new installations last year. There are now hundreds of manufacturers with proprietary DVR architectures. In the last few years, end
users with analog CCTV systems hastened their migration to DVR technology because of its many improvements over analog. However, DVR technology is actually a hybrid—part digital, part analog.
The DVR is a PC and hard drive based VCR replacement; thus, it requires analog coaxial cables. The signal is converted from digital to analog in the camera, then transmitted over a coax cable, then converted back to digital at the DVR. This conversion process slows down performance, and the cable increases system costs.
DVR technology also presents some challenges for end users in the market for a multi-site, multi-building enterprise solution, because many DVRs have a limited number of control inputs and outputs for interfacing and integrating to various systems and devices. Most have no matrix switching functionalities for security communication and surveillance control centers. The DVR industry, as yet, has no clear software standard for digitization and compression, and most manufacturers use closed source codes that limit third-party application development and highlevel integration with other systems.
Read more - Click here
"Reprinted with knid permission from the September issue of Security Technology & Design magazine, http://securityinfowatch.com"
DVTel
|
