Hard Disc Drive Storage for CCTV Surveillance
Saturday, January 10th, 2009
Veracity mentioned this article on their website in an email I received recently; it’s a good write-up on the use of hard disc drives in modern CCTV video storage. The article isn’t new but it provides a lot of useful information and we think it’s worth pointing it out to you:
The most obvious current trend in video surveillance is the slow evolution from analogue cameras to IP cameras. Industry vendors of recording systems appear to be divided into two camps : the sceptics, who are wondering when the IP video revolution is really going to take hold, and the informed, who know it is already here and are just getting on with it.
Although the IP video segment of the UK market is currently only around 15%, it is growing rapidly. In Europe, where analogue CCTV cameras are not so entrenched, the growth rate is even steeper.
One of the things that has held back IP video systems up to now is the lack of any real reason for users to switch, even for new installs. What would they have gained, bar a little increased flexibility ? Now, in 2007, the story is quite different : most well-designed IP cameras are progressive scan, at long last leaving behind the problematic interlaced image legacy of the broadcast TV standard. Further, and more importantly, mega-pixel cameras (with resolutions way beyond HD TV) are now here and affordable. At long last, mega-pixel cameras provide the compelling reason to switch to IP-based systems. The improvement in image quality offered by high-quality mega-pixel cameras in nothing short of dramatic, even breathtaking. Another problem which has held back adoption of IP cameras is the vast amount of legacy co-axial cabling installed in existing systems. However, several vendors are now offering Ethernet over-coax solutions, so this is no longer a barrier at all.
Well worth a read, to aid your understanding of the use of big HDDs, RAID storage and potentially high disk failure rates.
