I forgot to mention the HD CCTV Alliance’s website in my previous Post – http://www.highdefcctv.org/

The following extract lists the benefits offered by HD CCTV:

HDcctv offers several advantages for the end user, compared to alternative ways of achieving high resolution.

• Surveillance-Grade Reliability: Video is not broken up into packets and then transmitted via an occasionally congested network.
• Plug-and-Play Resolution Upgrade: Transition from CCTV to HDcctv is very easy; just upgrade the DVR and selected cameras.
• Familiar and Reliable User Interface: For the installer/operator, the only difference between HDcctv and CCTV is that the DVR recording configuration screens show higher values (1280 x 720 and/or 1920 x 1080) in the pull-downs for record resolution in addition to the conventional CCTV values.
• True HDTV Live View: HDcctv video signals are not compressed or packetized before transmission, so no compression image artifacts or frame interruptions are observed.
• Real-Time Speed Dome Control: HDcctv is compression-free, with none of the signal delays associated with compression. Therefore an HDcctv system operator experiences no delay between a joystick command and the corresponding speed dome (pan/tilt/zoom dome) response.

Best Possible Input Format for Analytics: HDcctv systems digitally deliver crisp, unadulterated video from cameras to DVR for the clearest possible analytics input.

The HD CCTV Alliance was formed in May 2009 to champion the cause of HD CCTV (over co-ax) in preference to IP CCTV.

info4Security have just published an interview with Todd Rockoff, the Executive Director of the HD CCTV Alliance.

Todd says:

The basic proposition is straightforward: replace standard definition cameras and DVRs with high definition-capable equipment, and use currently installed coaxial cable for transmission. Repeaters would be used for cable distances of over 100m. And that’s it.

And:

People are rethinking the idea that IP cameras are about to take over the world.

It’s not only about installers using coax. The user interface of a security system is based on the DVR. And that fact seems to have been forgotten by so many of our colleagues in the industry.

And:

Rockoff says there is still a reluctance amongst installers to get involved with IP cameras and networking. And he’s got an interesting possible explanation as to why…

In the end market, I get the sense that… When I was in school, I don’t know about you, but when I was in third grade, I was the guy who wanted to thread the film in the projector, and I was the guy in the sixth grade who was writing Star Trek computer programs and stuff; and I’m the kind of guy who goes to Carnegie Mellon and gets PhD in Computer Science – and I’m the kind of guy who’s out there selling IP cameras, right?

Well, the guys who install security equipment, they were the guys who were, like, throwing spitballs at me in third grade, and they were out playing football, and dating the girls… They don’t wanna have to be geeks.

So there is a sense of, IP cameras are for nerds. And real security guys don’t do this.

The HDcctv Alliance plans to release v1.0 of its interoperability standard next month, with full product launches taking place by April or May of next year.

Follow this link to read the whole interview about HD CCTV.