H.264 Compression Makes It To The CCTV Big Time
Security Systems and there uses are extremely far reaching nowadays.
CCTV solutions come in a variety of options depending on the budget, features and functionality required and include:
- A basic DVR recording box to capture video to a PC Hard Disk
- A PC Based DVR/NVR with advanced software features e.g. GeoVision
- A DVR/NVR with advanced features e.g. Dedicated Micros
- An IP Camera with built in storage, or connected to a Network Video Recorder (NVR) e.g. AXIS
But one thing that all digital security products have in common is their requirement for Video Compression.
Video Compression
Compression of the video is key to the success of the surveillance solution as it is this that can dictate the amount of video evidence you can store on your hard disk(s), the quality of the video you record and how quickly it can be viewed remotely. It’s no surprise then, that all manufacturers of Digital CCTV have been striving to meet that tricky balance of Quality Vs File Size.
MPEG-4
MPEG-4 was the CCTV Industry standard resolution and has done a pretty good job producing quality video, good frame rate and a file size smaller than something like Wavelet. BUT, all good things come to an end and it seems that today we need an even more agressive video compression solution for our cctv video now that we all want 25/30FPS and bigger and bigger video resolutions.
The IP Camera Effect
Today we are starting to see more IP Cameras being used and with the improved Megapixel video resolutions, it’s easy to see that IP Cameras are perhaps the next stage in the ever moving digital surveillance world.
One of the key ingredients for IP Cameras to lead the way in the future will be down to the compression of the video. The first wave of IP Cameras arrived with the same video compression you’d expect to find on a standard Digital Video Recorder – e.g. MPEG-4 or MJPEG.
This was fine when the IP camera was producing resolutions of VGA to say 1.3 MegaPixels but now we are getting into the 5+ Megapixel resolutions it’s starting to take its toll on networks, remote connectivity and frame rate.
Megapixel IP Camera
H.264 Compression
So what’s the solution? Well, a lot of manufacturers of DVR’s (PC Based & Standalone) now offer H.264 Compression as standard. H.264 is part of the MPEG-4 Compression Part 10 and offers a reduction in file size of around 50% compared to MPEG-4 Part 2 (the current CCTV compression standard).
The H.264 Compression algorithm can even apply a deblocking filter to help remove blocky images that might appear with MJPEG and MPEG-4.
H.264 is becoming the new CCTV Compression Standard as everyone tries to get better video quality and smaller file size on a hard disk, therefore making the system more economical with faster remote viewing/monitoring.
Funnily enough, IP Camera manufacturers have followed suit and are releasing H.264 compression IP Cameras which should help alleviate the strain of a network that is chucking multi megapixel video streams down to a DVR (NVR) and also help speed up remote viewing. Not to mention the exorbantly large file sizes produced by megapixel which might finally start to be squeezed into something more manageable!
Is H.264 Compression Used Anywhere else?
If you’re still not convinced about H.264 then how about BBC’s iPlayer and Sky HD? Yep, you guessed it! They use H.264 compression as well!
So what’s the downside to H.264?
Well, the trade off (and there is always one in compression!) is that as the compression technique is better, it requires more processing power to achieve. So this means that the DVR, NVR or IP Camera is going to need a higher specification in order to take full advantage.
Time will tell on this one but it looks like H.264 has already been given the (unofficial) crown of new CCTV Compression Standard and it’s easy to see why!
Check out our new range of H.264 Compression DVR’s and GeoVision H.264 Solutions
