The HDcctv Alliance estimates that 26 million CCTV cameras shipped in 2008. As camera sales continue to grow at about 8% per year, it is estimated that around 41 million units will ship in 2014. The Alliance projects that the HDcctv product category will initially take a small share of the video surveillance market, growing to around 15% by 2014. With the future growth of the security and surveillance end equipment market set to soar in the next few years, Gennum already provides a flexible interface chipset solution (known as the GV7600 and GV7601) for HDcctv equipment where long distance transmission is required; supporting uncompressed, full-bandwidth high definition video up to 1080p HD format. Despite the growth of IP-based HDcctv networks, in the analog/HDcctv world, edge-based hacking attacks on the network are impossible since the hacker needs to gain direct access to the DVR. IP networked cameras, on the other hand, are highly vulnerable to edge based hacking since WiFi systems can be overcome using jammers and are also liable to denial of service (DoS) attacks by UDP packet flooding. Does this then merit the proven viability of using HD cameras over co-axial cables for security and surveillance applications? Let’s consider a few more aspects and key selling points for HDcctv over co-ax cables.
1) The vast majority of CCTV cameras used today are positioned well above ground level which means cables such as CAT-5/5e plus RJ-45 ethernet sockets and AC power outlets need to be provided in rather awkward and difficult to reach places. These sockets must also be well hidden in order to prevent tampering which is a labour intensive procedure that requires the services of professional IT engineers and electricians. Today, existing analog CCTV installations already have co-ax cables and AC power outlets at the ready so infrastructure upgrade efforts to HDcctv solutions are seamless.
2) New high performance dome cameras with PTZ, integrated IR and even 3D imaging features all require more power than the standard PoE can offer which means PoE+ must be adopted which becomes more costly and will only feature on the newer and more expensive Ethernet port hubs. PoE also suffers from voltage drops especially when going over long distances with CAT-6 cable (50-100m) so its is likely that a DC/DC converter will be required at the camera end. This not only adds to system cost but also generates heat which is not good for the thermal management aspects of the camera system design. HDcctv Power over Co-ax (PoC) plans to support up tp 30W.
3) Data, Voice and Video applications all have QoS requirements with Video having the greatest requirement for maintaining a quality of service. Careful attention needs to be paid to how “aggressive” the compression is, otherwise key features and details coming from the camera will be missed.
4) Security of video transport is absolutely paramount. IP camera based networks are vulnerable to edge-based hacking attacks using DoS flooding techniques and WiFi can be defeated using jammers. With HDcctv architectures it is simply not possible to mount an attack using cable from the edge devices. You need to be connected directly to the DVR. In the event that the DVR is attacked, the recording engine will still function.