Month: July 2012

Norbain, what does the future hold now?

So Norbain  have gone into administration. At least Norbain were in administration but  now it seems everything is back to normal with the intervention of Newbury Investments (UK) Ltd. The status quo resumed???

Well this is how the people at the helm would like it to appear of course. What though has really gone on? Why would a company with the might in the world of CCTV that Norbain posses succumb to the point where they can no longer trade at a profit?

There are two lines of thought on this. The first is they left the move into IP CCTV way to late. Barry Shakespeare their forward looking M.D was tasked with taking the company to the next level and IP was his favoured route pretty much to the exclusion of all other CCTV solutions.

The second line of thought is that the failure of the CCTV industry to adopt IP in the quantities that had been predicted is the reason Norbain fell on hard times. IP has failed to capture the imagination of installers and the net result is poor sales and loss of market share from the CCTV industry to IT integrators.

The losers in this whole thing will of course be the creditors if they fail to get paid out in full, victims of a pre-pack agreement? We don’t know, however we feel very sorry for them if this turns out to be true. Also what will happen to installers with warranty on goods? Will these be honored? What about on going projects can orders for these still be met?

Its very early days of course and we will see how things pan out but this could prove that IP was not the way forward and that HD CCTV and HD SDI products will benefit from this. lets wait and see however Norbains line has been reiterated as follows……..

…………”Norbain has issued a release describing the sale to Newbury as an “acquisition”. Barry Shakespeare, managing director of Norbain SD Ltd, stated: “We are confident that Norbain’s best in class operations combined with Newbury Investments’ financial strength and complementary distribution experience will secure our future growth strategy”.

Lets hope this turns out to be the case.

 

Paxton Net2 entry

Paxton have always been innovators and their latest entry solution is no different. The Paxton net2 entry is slick in design and keenly priced. The Net2 entry offers an excellent solution for installers and end users alike.

Priced to compete with the very best in door entry systems, Paxton have a little gem here.

This is what Paxton have to say about their new market “entry”

Net2 entry

“Net2 Entry is the simplest door entry system available, comprising just three components that offer a true plug and play solution.

Amazingly easy to install, but with high design specifications, its stylish and discreet design means that Net2 Entry looks good in any environment. Customers will love its intuitive and easy to use features that are accessed via an attractive touchscreen monitor.

Break into a new market and make the most of the new sales opportunities with:

  • Units that auto detect on setup for easy installation
  • Plug and play expansion for large sites
  • Intuitive, easy to use touchscreen monitor
  • A smart and robust panel
  • Infrared camera for low-light use
  • IP55 rating for use in all weather conditions”

 

HD CCTV white light illuminator

All end users want good colour images at night, to achieve this its important that a white light illuminator is your lighting solution of choice. A good white light illuminator will be able to  produce around 2700 lumens in darkness, ample for good colour night time images. The best thing about led lighting though is its tough and it’s reliable. A life of 10 years or more can be achieved.

CCTV lighting has always been overlooked sometimes conveniently by sales to keep prices low, but most crime takes place at night and  all cameras need light to produce an acceptable image. HD CCTV needs more light to work, street light will be insufficient for mega pixel cameras or HD SDI CCTV. Remember that good lighting will save space on your hard drive ridding your images of background interference that often increases the memory consumed on your hard drive.

CCTV lighting is becoming even more important now with the growth of HD SDI CCTV and mega pixel IP cameras. In the past CCTV lighting has been done using either IR bulbs or halogen lighting. An expensive way of doing things, with halogen an unacceptable way forward now. It pollutes and must be phased out. This opens up the path for white light illuminators in particular all in both the electrical and CCTV industry agree this the way forward if we can get the costs down.

sirius CCTV lighting solution

So what do the experts say? …….. “what is the price of an illuminator compared to a halogen? Well right now price wise there is no comparison. While a 500 watt halogen can be purchased for as little as £5, an illuminator that is going to give the same sort of light spread will be well over £200 and very often more. This is hampering the change over of CCTV lighting from old to new technology. However the end user must be educated in the the TCO of an illunminator and the benefits of upgrading his CCTV lighting. While a halogen light might do you for a year without burning out , it wont last too much longer on average. Then it will draw 5 times more energy, this can be costly when having to pay the electricity bill. You must also consider access to the light for maintenance, a cherry picker these days is going to set you back at least £250 for the day so that halogen is far more expensive than you think. Finally if you are upgrading to HD SDI CCTV or a mega pixel IP camera then the extra money you have paid for quality images will be wasted as night time recordings will be disappointing

So for crisp clear colour images from your HD SDI CCTV system at night go green with a white light illuminator”

 

Argus HD SDI DVR AHD-004

Argus have been producing DVR’s since 2001. A leading exporter of DVR’s from Korea they used IFSEC 2012 to launch the AHD-004 HD SDI DVR. This 4 channel unit has been produced as HD SDI technology is taking off in both Korea and the UK in particular.

Key features include

4 HD SDI 1080p video inputs

HDMI and VGA full HD outputs

120 fps in 720p and 60 fps in 1080p

supports 4 internal HDDs

Smart phone viewer for both iPhone and android

h.264 compression.

This smart looking unit is another example of an HD SDI DVR that is taking full advantage of the trend towards CCTV installers using HD over coax in preference to IP products.