Disqus - Latest Comments for Craig_Scott

Re: Dispelling digital signage myths

Craig Scott — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 22:23:12 -0000

The concept of "Fit for Purpose" is the single most important element of any investment in technology. Please define what is a "Consumer" grade TV and a "Commercial" grade Display? The concept of overpaying for things that you don't need is a rhetoric that is prevalent in the Digital Signage Industry. Right product, right configuration, right use case defines application requirement, pushing unneeded features to Customers and making them pay for them is not good for Customers. ROI is the key business driver, for pragmatic application and technology selection.

Re: IP network video surveillance is growth leader, but analog video still dominates the market

Craig Scott — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 16:25:35 -0000

Its obvious Analog is holding its market share, in fact in BRIC markets there is continued growth. Thats the trouble with US centric commentary, the Global picture is much bigger with the added complication that NONE of the US Security players are major designers or manufacturers of Security Camera's, DVR''s or NVR's for that matter...

Enjoyed the article Geoff, pragmatic balanced and on the money!

Re: gaming and hospitality systems - SecurityInfoWatch.com

Craig Scott — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 12:05:15 -0000

Wow, I wish people would stop saying that IP Camera's improve picture quality, IP in itself has nothing to do with Picture quality, HD Video can be delivered via a variety of transports of which IP is one of them!

It amazes we how factually incorrect articles like this are!

Re: Why the market has already tipped to IP

Craig Scott — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 13:55:41 -0000

The market has NOT tipped to IP, this is just more unjustified or quantified opinion rather than fact. The real discussion is movement from SD to HD, which can happen with or without IP. IP is a great remote command, control and view video transport but its just part of an overall architecture Analogue and HDcctv will still play significant roles in the Camera side of the equation for the foreseeable future.

Re: The Resolution to Your Confusion

Craig Scott — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 03:34:39 -0000

It seems that someone as qualified as Fredrik would know that HDcctv is a 100% Digital Video Transmission system. Also HD-SDi with HDcctv being the variation specifically intended for the CCTV Industry are based on Braodcast R&D spends that are an order of magnitude greater than the CCTV Industry. The article is bias and not factual!

Re: HDcctv Alliance builds momentum

Craig Scott — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 22:28:50 -0000

HDcctv is a 100% Digital end to end Solution.

Re: iPhone 4 photos suffering from a blue tint

Craig Scott — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 03:16:01 -0000

Point the Camera directly at a Fluro. Light Grid in an Office ceiling and you will see brown lines... just about every Mobile Phone Camera and a lot of Digital Still Camera's will have the same problem!

Re: iPhone 4 photos suffering from a blue tint

Craig Scott — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 03:14:30 -0000

Common problem for ALL affordable, high sensitivity CMOS Sensors using a Rolling Shutter with a Fixed IRIS and AES.. Progressive Sensors and DC/AI Camera's are much more expensive.....

Re: Techwell Acquired for Significant Premium

Craig Scott — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 04:54:22 -0000

Hope is does not reduce the demand for 1.3MP and SD IP Camera's!!! ;)

Re: Techwell Acquired for Significant Premium

Craig Scott — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 02:15:19 -0000

Gee I thought Analogue was on the decline.... Techwell dominate the A/D for DVR's with well over 25 Million Analogue Channels sold per year.... Hmm... Intersil must be seeing some value to pay a 6x on Revenue. Maybe Techwell's drop in revenue was due to recession not IP Camera take up, as I said before Mainstrean players in ANY market take bigger hits, than the niche players in a recession.

Furthermore Techwell announced at Secutech, a chipset for DVR's that will increase the TVL capture on the A/D's to well over 540TVL, as just about every DVR on the markets records less than 450TVL, this will be a SIGNIFICANT improvement in resolution, and as Techwell is the dominate player in this segment it will not be long before this improvement will flow throught into the PC and Embedded SD DVR segment. Combined with some of the new high TVL Progressive Scan Global Shutter SD Sensors, picture quality of SD Analogue NTSC/PAL Systems will have a SIGNIFICANT improvement, with little to no changes to system design, function or cost....

Resolution is the Number 1 Driver for Camera's in CCTV, End User's will always accept better resolution at same cost... :)

Re: Testing How Many Pixels Needed for High Quality Surveillance

Craig Scott — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 10:53:41 -0000

John,

Using Pixel/ft to measure required resolution and then applying it against a H and V Pixel Count on a Camera as a measure for performance while on paper sounds good, in reality is a little flawed. Camera function is a mixture of analogue and digital and the variables that control picture quality are much more complex than simple pixel count.

Picture Fidelity /Quality is dependent on so many variables and sensor pixel count is just one factor...

- Interlaced versus Progressive Sensor Capture
- Interlaced versus Progressive Video Out
- Pixel Size
- Quality of Lens i.e Number of Line Pairs/Elements, MTB, Glass, Plastic, Spherical , Aspherical
- Quality of OLPF and IR Cut Filters
- Whether Frame Integration or Digital Slow Shutter is being used
- Shutter Speed
- Motion Speed
- Sharpness Level ( Sharp Edge crappy compression, or soft Edge good compression)
- Fixed Pattern Noise
- Random Power or Video Noise
- Color Artifacts
- Edge Artifacts
- White Balance
- Gama
- Wide Dynamic Range

My point is that ability to identify license plates, faces, small details, slight of hand, moving objects and other important scene information is about Picture Fidelity not resolution. We are in the moving pictures business with changing lighting conditions, static scenes with static lighting are not representative of the real world security applications that need to be serviced

Re: IP Video Sales Rebound, Analog CCTV Continues to Fall

Craig Scott — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 22:27:18 -0000

Anixter is a hybrid IT Distributor offering both traditional Distribution and S.I services on a Global basis Security and Video are part of their bundled offering. A large portion of their Revenue comes from services. "Anixter sells so many IP Video Products"... how do you know this?

Do Anixter breakdown their Revenue by Market Segment and Product versus Services? Also I believe Anixter is Axis's biggest Customer globally. So be careful about double dipping the revenue!

ADT problems stem from people not paying the monthy Alarm Monitoring charges due to the recession and slow down in new Customers for Alarm Monitoring... same problem the Cable companies faced with Premium Video Channels. recession = cost down = reduce subscription services...

John, you are the market research guy not me, your report does not cover the two biggest movers of Analogue CCTV Camera's in the US. My specialty is Camera's, the devil is always in the detail, what appears on the surface sometimes is no reflection of the underlying reality! DM, Everfocus and Geovision are all Public companies, the private companies are bigger than you think!

When competition is cut throat and ASP is dropping, of course the bigger companies have to offer something that is different with a high barrier to entry utilizing their strong financial and distribution resources... there are countless examples of big companies with large market shares trying to do this only to be crunched by a disruptive technology and faster moving companies. As I have said on numerous occasions over the past couple of years people are not interesting in IP anything, they are interested in Networked Video, the architectures for doing this require a mixture of Analogue, IP, and now HDcctv depending on the application. Analogue is still the most pragmatic solution for the vast majority of applications and will evolve to HD. The #1 requirement is Video Quality NOT IP.

Re: IP Video Sales Rebound, Analog CCTV Continues to Fall

Craig Scott — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 13:02:49 -0000

All because they are promoting "IP" does not mean its successful, the 2nd Tier Private Companies are doing much stronger than you think John, as I said before tracking Public companies as an indicator of the Analogue CCTV is a little flawed.

Anixter is a Systems Integrator of IT not just Video, they also integrate a lot of Analogue Systems as well, how can you possibly use Anixter as an indicator. They don't manufacture or design ANY CCTV Video equipment.

Re: IP Video Sales Rebound, Analog CCTV Continues to Fall

Craig Scott — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 03:30:51 -0000

So "Analogue CCTV continues to fall" maybe should have been "Analogue CCTV Revenues continue to fall". In a recession the incumbent technology used by the Mainstream (85%) ALWAYS faces accelerated decreases in ASP as vendors try to maintain volumes and revenue. Price discounting becomes the primary tool for making sales and retaining market share. The Early Adapter (15%) technologies dont face the same ASP declines and they tend to favor better funded and more strategic Customers. Everyone talks about growth rates in % of revenue, wow growing a 10,20,30,40 Million Dollar IP only CCTV company 10-20% is a lot easier than trying to maintain a average compound growth of 10-20% for 500M, 750M, 1B company. Lets start tracking the volumes NOT the revenue growth/decline percentages to determine the "death' of Analogue CCTV!

Re: IP Video Sales Rebound, Analog CCTV Continues to Fall

Craig Scott — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 03:15:40 -0000

John... still not mentioning the top 3 Vendors of Analogue Camera's in the US by volume, ASP is going down affecting top line, does not mean volumes are dropping. In such a heavily fragmented market you need to be tracking a LOT of companies as they are trading market share and facing declining ASP... the devil is always in the detail.

Re: IP Video Sales Rebound, Analog CCTV Continues to Fall

Craig Scott — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 02:59:54 -0000

John,

As NO security company has more than 7% market share globally, the CCTV Industry is very fragmented, the second tier brands shipping in the middle low segments ship a lot more Camera's. While the comments from PELCO maybe true against their publicly traded competitive peers, the privately held and MUCH larger conglomerates that dont break down their numbers are not being reflected. The number one shipper of Analogue Camera's in the US market is a private company! The NO.1,2 and 3 by volume in the US are not even on your list....

Re: IP Video Sales Rebound, Analog CCTV Continues to Fall

Craig Scott — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 02:30:14 -0000

Hi John,

ASP of Analogue Camera's was reduced significantly in 2009, leading to neutral or negative revenue for some companies but for the most part numbers were steady or in some cases higher! Some major players in the US market saw SIGNIFICANT upside in volumes of Analogue Camera sales in the US but revenue was neutral. Using Public Companies numbers as proxies is little mis leading when 2 of the top 5 Analogue Camera shippers in the US have revenues which are impossible to quantify against volumes and BOTH had SOLID volume increases in 2009....

P.S Government projects are not huge volume in terms of Camera's.. Commercial/Industrial is the biggest volume segment in the US followed by DIY!

Re: IP Video Sales Rebound, Analog CCTV Continues to Fall

Craig Scott — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 06:06:04 -0000

Hi John, Analogue Camera Sales are NOT falling, there is a shift from expensive tier one brands to 2nd tier affordable value brands, this occurs in EVERY market during a recession. As most Analogue Camera;s are produced by non-public companies how are you tracking their sales?

Re: IT is Now in Charge of Security Systems

Craig Scott — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 03:57:09 -0000

Security is an Application, IT manages Infrastructure, to say that Security is now the domain of IT is a big statement. IT is usually managed by the CFO of a large organization and while they contribute to the decision making for application selection and deployment the ultimate decision is with the functional unit responsible for the day to day operation. Whether that be Sales, Marketing, Engineering, Manufacturing etc...

Re: Top 5 Reasons Analog Cameras are Easier to Install than IP

Craig Scott — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 23:56:48 -0000

Some comments:

1) Wireless Camera's using Wifi or Mobile Phone infrastructure are a non-starter for Camera's deployed in Mainstream CCTV Security...for as little as US$120 you can buy a Wifi Jammer that will knock out the the frequency making the Camera's useless. Please visit http://www.jammer-store.com/high-power-blockers...

2) No MegapIxel Camera can a) See around Corners, b) See through people, c) See through fixed objects, d) have multiple viewing angles to pick off faces or license plates facing different directions, so the argument that 1 MP Camera replaces 15 Analogue Camera's is flawed, not too mention the single point failure and risk management of a single Camera looking at one area of interest. The purpose of HD Video is increased resolution, wider viewing angles with the ability to E-Zoom in post event analysis NOT Camera replacement for the vast majority of applications.

3) Bandwidth issue ahhh no problem... just spend more money on Network Training, Network Infrastructure and setup. This approach to systems design is again flawed both technically and financially. We are in the business of delivering Video and our job is to choose technical solutions that deliver the best possible video and the lowest possible cost per channel. Application first, Product second, Technology LAST!

4) HDcctv is a well thought out Open Standard that has the Support of some heavy hitters in Broadcast Video namely SMPTE and Gennum. IP in all its glory still does not have an Open Standard and the Integration issues are years and years away from being resolved. If your requirement is high performance, high resolution video then HDcctv will offer better, cheaper, faster and easier total cost of ownership to buy, install and maintain.

5) Camera to DVR communications is better handled by either Analogue SD or Digital HDcctv and DVR to client viewing and command/control is better handled by IP. VMS companies need to be focusing their efforts of multi-vendor DVR command and control rather than Camera "plug and play". An Open standard VMS protocol for DVR Management is the killer app for IP in CCTV security

6) Camerman - Please respect the companies in the Industry that have been a part of the innovation process and have delivered 100,000's of systems throughout the world, that have served the intended purpose. You fail to get the point that the average CCTV systems is installed and operated by people who do NOT care about IP, they just want Video. DM have hit the mark for decades and deserve your respect.

Re: Hollywood's Negative Impact on Using Video Surveillance

Craig Scott — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 22:58:49 -0000

Infinite Zoom..... Patent Pending, Patent Holder: CSI :)

Re: Are 'Hot' IP Cameras a Problem?

Craig Scott — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 04:56:09 -0000

All CCD and CMOS Sensors are affected by excessive heat, this specifically applies to Camera's that are airtight for IP ratings namely Dome and Bullet Camera's.

Heat directly impacts the following:

- Fixed Pattern Noise (FPN), CMOS Sensors in particular see increased levels of FPN as the temperature raises. Why is this important? FPN makes a) the picture look terrible and b) Noise does not compress, so bit rates go up significantly!

- Reliability - Due to the persistent cost down pressures the temperature rating of in particular Capacitors on Power Supply circuits, causes premature failures due to constant high temperature operation. In fact Capacitor failure due to either excessive temperature, poor quality or low temperature ratings is the cause of a lot of Camera failures. 105c or higher Capacitors are a minimum spec requirement for a Camera, no if or buts!

- POE - The DC to DC Convertors need to take 48VDC and drop to 12VDC/5VDC, the voltage drop produces lots heat.

- Once most Camera's have started they generate enough heat to work down to around -22c if the housing are designed correctly. The issue is Cold Start not Operating, IP Camera;s are much more difficult to cold start in temperatures under -22c as the Encoder components are rated to only -10c and the In-rush current to start a IP Camera in cold conditions is MUCH higher than Analogue Camera's, thus Power Supplies need to be bigger and more expensive.

There are many more "high" temperature installs than "cold" temperature installs, but you do have to plan for both. It is easier to deal with cold temperature operation than high temperature operation.

Encoders

The more aggressively you run the Encoder, the more heat it produces. A high frame rate, high bit rate Encoder is working harder and producing more heat!

Re: IP Video Surveillance 2010-2012 Forecast: 200% Growth

Craig Scott — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 03:27:39 -0000

Hi John,

Managed DVR's are not a new concept, the challenges is that due to lack of standards in VMS and DVR, interoperability has been always an issue combined with challenge of routing through firewalls particularly when using public broadband. The concept of each Camera managing its own storage while having vertical niche market applications, will not be able to compete with shared Video recording offered by a DVR.

In a cloud computing video application what happens when the Internet Access is severed? Streaming Video from a Camera to an offsite NVR for storage is not exactly a good idea for a small business who has no control of the broadband connection in terms of bandwidth or uptime...

A DVR with remote Access using a shared Application ISP model using an Open Standard VMS Protocol makes sense, there is absolutely NO need to have Camera to DVR connections being made via IP, the cost and implementation issues offer zero benefit to the Customer.

I have openly been discussing this issue for over 5 years, Network Video is the requirement NOT Network Camera's!

John I am a big supporter of IP VMS Systems with Open Standards but the IP Camera Developers and Manufacturers are in denial right now. Very few people are aware of the end to end hardware development, software development, performance validation testing, manufacturing, deployment, equipment and infrastructure costs of deploying IP Camera's. I have developed SD, IP and HDcctv Camera's and know first hand these issues, the whole premise of cost down for Network Camera's to cheaper than Analogue or even HDcctv is just not going to happen. High performance HD Video Encoders for Camera's are the SAME chips being used in DVR's, this is NOT going to change in the foreseeable future. The Custom ASIC's (AXIS, IQInVision) are being produced in such small numbers that they will not reach the economy of scale of high volume Silicon that is being using in Consumer and Professional Video markets.

Growing a HD Network Camera company with double digit growth rates is easy when you are doing sub 20 Million in sales with a total current annual market around 150,000 or less unit The growth rate is not important the real unit numbers and penetration into the Mainstream is the real indication of adaption. IP Network Camera's have never broken into the Pragmatic Mainstream market for SD and now HDcctv and IP are vying positions for HD... Cost/Performance/Quality/Ease of Installation will drive the Pragmatic Mainstream on which technology to deploy...

Re: IP Video Surveillance 2010-2012 Forecast: 200% Growth

Craig Scott — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:11:39 -0000

"The goal is to combine IP cameras with inexpensive on-site storage to reduce overall costs and overcome upstream bandwidth limitations." this sounds awfully like a traditional DVR architecture.. so for host/manged Video services the question begs why does it make sense to use IP as a transport between the DVR and the Camera? It costs more, the frame rate is slower, the picture quality is worse, there is no quality of service, its harder to install...

Re: Examining HDcctv's Bold/Dubious Claims

Craig Scott — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:18:44 -0000

Hi John,

Just picked this one up, while the HDcctv Alliance is aggressive on our market share in the future, the Bold and Dubious claims of IP Camera capturing 50% market share year after year would be classifed as? The Research Firms continue to put AXIS at 30-35% market share with at most 50,000 Camera's per month. This means around 150K Network Camera's total per month and 1,800,000 units total per year or around 5.1% market share of say a total of 35,000,000 Million CCTV Camera's sold...

HD is green fields and with IP still around 5% share of the market, the dubious claims of 50% share by 2013 are even more interesting than HDcctv gathering 30% by 2015!