Network Camera Scale Application Impact Factors

The domestic online video surveillance market has still not formed a scale. In the face of a huge market, various types of camera products have dazzled buyers, and most users still take a wait-and-see attitude. However, in some network monitoring systems that have been built or are under construction, there are still many technical and non-technical obstacles in the actual use process. Therefore, in terms of promotion and application, network cameras also face many challenges and obstacles. In this article, the influencing factors of large-scale application of probe network cameras, at the same time, the future development trend of network cameras is analyzed.

Scale application factors

As the core device in the network video surveillance system, the application and popularity of the network camera represent the degree and stage of the development of the network video surveillance. Needless to say, network cameras are gradually adapting to current and future diversified needs and will surely become mainstream products in the field of video surveillance. However, for most users, network cameras do not understand the performance, stability, and integration of the network camera clearly and thoroughly, and lack in-depth and systematic analysis and research. Therefore, when making decisions, there will often be more concerns and doubts, so that they dare not try. This has also greatly affected the popularity and large-scale application of network cameras and network monitoring systems.

Combining with many feedback information encountered by the merchants in actual promotion of network camera products, basically the influencing factors of the scaled promotion of network cameras can be summarized as application habits, core technologies, network transmission, procurement costs, application value, resource integration, etc. Aspects.

1, application habits

First of all, the user has formed a kind of inertia from the viewpoint that the current market has a large amount of liquidity, a wide range of applications, long-lived video surveillance products is the best choice, so it is still the market's dominant DVR analog camera It became the first choice for most users or engineering firms. Although many network cameras are also included in many bidding processes, the combination of DVR analog cameras is often the result. This perception of network cameras as a new generation of products will be brought into an erroneous zone invisible. Users will think that new technologies and new products must be immature, problem-prone, and impose performance issues. Instability, system installation and commissioning, external environment, large, difficult to grasp and other shortcomings.

It can be seen that the concept of change is the fundamental factor that restricts the development of online video surveillance. Only by changing the concept of viewing new things can the video camera be understood and recognized more quickly and comprehensively, and it should have its own advantages. Of course, there are also some users in the industry, such as those with high network penetration rates, IT applications in the education and medical industry, in terms of system design, deployment, and application, and network camera-based network monitoring system solutions are readily available. It is also a good start for investing money and other costs from the will. It will inevitably have an important impact on the popularity of network cameras.

2, the core technology

Although domestic network video surveillance products can be said to be a hundred schools of thought, most security vendors do not have their own core technologies, especially video and audio development, surveillance management software development and image processing technology, and they are still “taking in and outsourcing”. A low level of technology. Such a technical atmosphere that does not have a unified standard and is really close to the needs of the domestic market has added a lot of unnecessary trouble to security engineering companies and integrators. It is often necessary to look for various monitoring solutions for a network video surveillance system. The manufacturers of the equipment must be patchwork and must integrate design solutions. This not only wastes time and effort, but also increases the cost of procurement of technology and products, thus making it impossible to truly achieve competition and competition with international brand manufacturers, not to mention one stop. Type solution and service system. In addition, as far as the core video compression technology of the network camera itself is concerned, its development is constantly being updated, and it has not reached a mature stage.

At present, the widely used image compression technology in network cameras is M-JPEG/MPEG-4/H. 264 three ways, H. 264 can get the highest compression ratio, the camera itself has the highest processing platform requirements. In order to achieve higher resolution and achieve real-time transmission, mainstream manufacturers use H. 264 compression algorithm to achieve low-bandwidth applications, but the actual results can not be satisfied with the user, and due to technology and chip inputs and upgrades, but also simultaneously increase the cost of the network camera.

3, network transmission

The signal interaction of the network camera must rely on the network, but at present there is a very lack of a good network environment in the country. This is a very objective and realistic problem. The network video surveillance system, as its name suggests, is a universal network for video surveillance system deployment and application implementation. The network environment is the basis and the carrier of the network video surveillance system. A good network environment can provide a good guarantee for the fluency and real-time performance of the network video. Digital video transmission requires a large amount of network bandwidth resources. In the LAN and private network environment, it can basically achieve 100 Mbps access, and the degree of Gigabit convergence. With the corresponding network transmission quality assurance measures, the network bandwidth can be completely Guaranteed, network video surveillance system can also fully express its characteristics; However, network monitoring needs to meet a wider range, more branches, more areas of application needs, which requires network video needs to be transmitted in a wide area network environment. However, the current status of the domestic network is very irresistible. No matter whether it is dedicated line, ADSL, CDMA, 3G, etc., the bandwidth is very limited, and the actual and theoretical values ​​are quite different. Compared with advanced countries, the domestic so-called broadband is extremely large. Most of them can only be defined as narrowband, and digital video transmission will face the dilemma of multiple narrow roads, which will result in picture quality degradation, picture interruption, and excessive delay. Therefore, without good network resources, the effect of network video surveillance systems will be limited, and the advantages of network video surveillance systems will not be realized.

4. Construction cost

Users have deep misunderstandings about the construction cost of network cameras and network video surveillance systems. They believe that the price of network cameras is high, and compared with network video surveillance systems, the construction cost of DVR systems is much lower. Admittedly, DVR devices are experiencing widespread price reductions, and their code-and-storage features all have absolute cost advantages in many small-to-medium-scale, low-monitoring projects. However, as users' demands gradually evolve toward the direction of network, high-definition, intelligence, centralized management, and system integration, DVR systems are inherently ineffective. In fact, we have analyzed from another angle. In terms of function, the network camera has already had the function of analog camera and DVR coding, and it has no comparable price to the analog camera.

If the cost of building a network video surveillance system, including hardware costs and implementation costs, is analyzed and accounted for, the cost of building an online video surveillance system is basically the same as that of a DVR system under the premise of meeting the needs of high-end applications. However, considering from a practical point of view, many users already have DVR systems in use. If a system-wide network transformation is to be carried out, a large number of monitoring devices will have to be abandoned. This does cause huge waste of original investment, which is difficult for users to accept. Therefore, although the advantages of the network camera are obvious, it is also necessary to protect the original investment of the user as much as possible in actual product procurement and system construction. It is gratifying to note that domestic companies such as Xingjie Ruijie, Keda, and Haikang have launched products such as hybrid DVRs and multi-system management platforms, which can be implemented without changing the structure and products of the original system. To achieve network transformation, to ensure that the user's upfront investment, to meet the comprehensive needs of economy, compatibility and advanced nature.

5, application value

At present, the network cameras in the market are dominated by megapixels. Many international and domestic manufacturers have launched full-line network camera products, and some manufacturers already have network cameras based on 3 million and 5 million pixels. However, high-definition network monitoring in the country, is not it will be applied to various industries and fields, is still a real problem. For example, high-definition video low-light processing, noise processing, the camera's internal ISP and SOC processing performance requirements are high, for a more complex monitoring environment, the nighttime effect is poor, and in fact the nighttime security level should be higher than during the day, this There is also a bottleneck for bank ATM machines and other areas with high monitoring levels.

In road monitoring, megapixel network cameras need to capture high-speed vehicles to capture real-time facial features and vehicle details. They are actually used to fill light, flash, exposure time, and stream mode conversion of bayonet. The application is also not mature. It can be seen that there are indeed some flaws in the nature of the network camera products, and it is still not universally applicable in industries with large demand and high security levels. Moreover, users are generally more accustomed to real-time video transmission, and the actual monitoring process, especially financial, energy, production companies, etc., also have high requirements for real-time monitoring. In addition to the current demand for many wireless video transmissions, network cameras cannot meet the comprehensive requirements for high-definition and smooth video quality and smooth video effects. The delay problem is serious and cannot be used in places with high real-time requirements. Therefore, network video technology can solve the problem that the monitoring industry must see clearly. However, in practical applications, there are still technical problems that need to be solved in various practical applications.

6, resource integration

As the trend of IP monitoring is increasingly accepted by manufacturers, channels, and users, network cameras as a new trend of monitoring products, so that more manufacturers to participate in entering the IP market. However, the complex technology of network cameras also makes the cooperation relationship between the manufacturers of the industrial chain more close. Lens, sensor, and compression processing chip are all indispensable. We must cooperate closely to improve compatibility and understand each other's characteristics and limitations in order to obtain better image quality.

The video compression part depends on the close cooperation between the chip manufacturer and the camera manufacturer. The adjustment and continuous optimization of the software program require closer cooperation between the two parties in terms of detail. Facing the problems raised by the camera manufacturers, chip manufacturers have the ability to respond quickly to problems and will become even more prominent in network cameras, especially in the era of megapixels. Moreover, the openness and integration of network monitoring systems have also created more requirements for unified management and linkage alarms. The core of the network monitoring system is the compatibility and integration of management platforms and network cameras of multiple vendors. This requires network cameras. Manufacturers and platform vendors will join forces and cooperate with each other to complete the overall construction of network video surveillance projects. At the same time, we must also soberly realize that the video surveillance system is also engaged in a technical standards battle.

Different from the closed system of analog video surveillance, the system compatibility between products and products of digital video surveillance systems has become a serious problem in practical projects. Different technical standards will lead to difficulties in the interaction of device search, real-time video, audio, metadata, and control information. As a result, discussions on standard issues are increasing, and standard drafters can guide and control the development of the entire industry. This is also the most lucrative link. To this end, the two major standards organizations ONVIF and PSIA are competing with each other. In response to this situation, monitoring companies such as foreign ACTIs and domestic starnet.com have increased their investment in R&D and adopted strategies that are fully supported by both standards to meet the status quo, so as to dispel the concerns of users and eliminate the risks that affect the normal operation of the system. .

Future trends

The network camera is a new generation camera that combines the traditional camera and network technology. It can transmit the image through the network to the other end of the network connection port, and the remote viewer does not need to use any professional software, as long as the standard The web browser can monitor its image. The future development trend of network cameras can be explored from the following aspects:

1, high-definition image requirements

At this stage, the webcam of finished product sales can achieve a maximum of D1, that is, a resolution of 704×576, which is converted into more than 400,000 pixels. Compared to the domestic digital video cameras with millions or even tens of millions of pixels, domestic customers have higher expectations for image clarity. The current network cameras use lenses, CCD sensors, and network coding modules. The integration of the network camera video quality is mainly determined by the quality of the lens and CCD, is the mainstream product on the market.

2, intelligent demand

From the experience of foreign markets and people's expectations for network cameras, intelligent analysis technology and network camera technology have found a focus in the same historical development trajectory. The network camera is the latest representative of the third-generation network video surveillance technology. It fully integrates imaging technology, video coding technology, and a number of technologies including cloud mirror control technology. It is the focus of future online video development, so in such a In the historical period, network cameras became the best carrier for intelligent analysis technology.

3, product classification refinement

The initial concept of the network camera seems to be limited to the gun-type network camera. However, as the technology matures and the user needs become increasingly clear, the network camera also derives multiple types and gradually subdivides the market. At present, we can also see infrared integrated network cameras, gun-type shield network cameras, fast ball network cameras, variable-speed ball-type network cameras, and wireless network cameras and other products, network cameras are gradually easier and easier Use the direction of development.

4, algorithm improvement

The core technology of the network camera is its video coding technology. At present, the network camera mainly includes two major implementations of general DSP chip technology and ASIC chip technology. The latter is relatively difficult to develop, and can be developed directly on the chip as a PCI interface. However, the algorithm has less room for optimization. The flexibility of the former is higher and the system functions can be customized. However, the manufacturer needs to do the algorithm itself. At present, the M-JPEG algorithm used by the foreign network camera products is more, but the domestic users are more sensitive to the bandwidth and frame rate requirements, and it is still required to meet the transmission rate of 25 frames under low bandwidth. Therefore, the MPEG-4 algorithm is particularly H. The 264 algorithm has a great market in China.

5, the need for platform integration

As a monitoring terminal product, the network camera must be inseparable from the support of the backend platform software. In the current network monitoring system, the number of monitoring points and the number of system users have both increased exponentially, and the number of system levels has also increased. A large-scale network monitoring platform is the key to uniting hundreds of network terminals into a whole. At the same time, in a system we cannot expect only one product of a network camera, and the system should also be compatible with more network video servers, DVRs and other product lines. With the construction of safe cities in China and the introduction of telecom carrier-grade product quality requirements, the system platform should be able to be able to have network management, disaster resistance, prevention, and recovery.