The CCTV industry is all abuzz with talk of an IP (“Internet Protocol”) camera takeover. Yet reports of the death of analogue cameras are premature. While some IP or ‘network’ cameras can potentially deliver high definition megapixel images, analogue CCTV cameras continue to offer greater efficiency, lower cost and higher overall reliability.

An analogue surveillance camera begins with a CCD sensor and then digitizes the image for processing. But before it can transmit the video, it needs to convert it back to analogue so it can be received by an analogue device, such as a video monitor or recorder. Unlike IP cameras, analogue have no built-in web servers or encoders and require no technical maintenance. These functions are implemented in the recording and/or control equipment.

Unlike HD-SDI or HDCVI system which also over the coax system, the main difference is in the DSP interface. HD-SDI and HDCVI can transmit at speeds of up to can transmit data up to 2.97 gigabit of data, while analogue transmit at signal with up to 270-325 megabits of data.

ADVANTAGES OF ANALOGUE

• Analogue CCD cameras perform well across a variety of lighting conditions and manage motion well.
• Analog cameras and peripheral equipment are significantly lower in price to their IP counterparts.
• Analogue cameras do not have capabilities above the NTSC/PAL standards, although now there are analogue cameras that utilize CMOS sensors with 1200 TV lines (1.3 Megapixel).
• As analogue compresses the video in the DVR there are more hardware and software resources available to provide increased video quality and frame rate.
• Analogue cameras are unmanaged devices. No IP address to manage, no worries about programming, software, IT skills, etc. It either works or it doesn’t. Once installed, they require no “skilled” maintenance, if any.
• Analogue video traffic is not subject to any networking issues or risks. The bandwidth is virtually unlimited. It is a passive connection, similar to an analogue telephone connection, and cannot be interfered with due to problems external to the video surveillance system
• Analogue devices are limited to failures of the individual cameras or the individual devices at the point of concentration and as such the loss of a single piece of hardware will not cause a substantial degradation of the system.
•  The video transmission is typically a “passive” connection, and once installed, requires virtually no maintenance. Analogue cameras are very mature and have a long track record for reliability.