HD CCTV has been around now for at least 7 years but how has it developed and who can be considered the market leader in the field of HD CCTV today?
In the beginning there were two main contenders of note. This was Arecont and Avigilon. Both these manufacturers used the development of IP technology to advance their products. Of course early attempts at HD CCTV were thwarted by lack of bandwidth, it meant that no matter how good the cameras were the systems were only as good as the available bandwidth. IT departments were a constant barrier to HD CCTV. This did not stop our friends at Arecont and Avigilon from developing ever more powerful cameras though. Arecont came up with their 10MP version only to be out done when Avigilon produced a 16 megapixel camera that blew the socks off those who saw the images. There was no doubt the cameras and the software on offer were incredibly impressive but was there a real market place for it at the price these cameras were coming in at?
Much thought was being given to this conundrum by all involved and the consensus seemed to be that HD did not have to reach the heights of 16 MP, even 10mp was considered over the top when to most a 2MP camera satisfied the needs of most applications in the market place. This was where the likes of Brickcom and March networks felt they needed be. So the market seemed to know what it wanted but how were the end user going to decide what to buy ? would it be price driven or product driven?
All and sundry put their efforts into developing user friendly software and the market split somewhat. There began to develop a distinction between enterprise level equipment and cameras and software that were just HD. Hikivison and Brickcom decided to compete on price whereas the likes of Panasonic ,Bosch and Avigilon went for high end enterprise level equipment.
Just as this competition reached a peak, on to the scene came HDcctv over coax. An HD product that worked over coax. The idea being that coaxial infrastructure was in place in many installations so why not use it. Everfocus pioneered this approach and to this day in the field of HDcctv over coax they are the current market leaders.
So back to HD over IP and the race goes on. If you had to choose the market leader right now you would have to pick Avigilon. Overall the cameras are the best value for money and the software is second to none and the variety of cameras covers from 1 MP to 29MP, by far the greatest range of any manufacturer. Many are hard on the heels of Avigilon but right now for enterprise projects it would be wise to go Avigilon, for anything else, value for money is served best with Hikivison.