Well plenty of banter on linkedin this week around the subject of price on HD SDI cameras verses the price of an HD IP equivalent. With some commentators now claiming you can purchase HD SDI products cheaper than their analogue equivalent the battle for HD supremacy is starting to hot up.
Of course in reality most installers and CCTV experts know that when you specify an HD camera installation there will be various different angles it can be approached but usually the ideal camera set up is easy to work out based on the site size and infrastructure.
The great thing for end users though is the desire for HD cctv solutions is driving the prices of all hd cctv cameras DVRs and NVRs downwards.
It has to be said though that the rise of HDcctv (HD over coax) is dramatic, the driving force has been the HDcctv alliance and camera manufacturers and chip designers have really bought into the idea. Of course some say that HD SDI CCTV is just a passing trend but its tolerance to criticism has so far been good and the products have become more diverse and indeed cheaper in a dramatic time frame.
Where will it all go from here? Well IP cameras and IP software solutions are giving us some fantastic images. Companies such as Arecont and Avigilon are showing us all the way to go with some excellent software and quality products but HD over coax has a huge market place using existing coax and fitting into many different applications. When the new HDcctv standard is released and we can also use CAT5 cable, who knows how quickly every camera installation will be HD quality and above.