AVTECH IP Camera Review (AVN304, AVN80X & AVN812): Unpacking...

AVTECH IP Camera Review (AVN304, AVN80X & AVN812): Unpacking...: Feb 7, 2012 After a week of collecting dust on my dining table, I finally got around to unpacking it. So, let's have a look... This ti...

Video Surveillance Trends for 2012~

[IMS RESEARCH: 2012年Video Surveillanc 10大趨勢]
The following 10 video surveillance predictions for 2012 serve to provide some guidance on the key trends and opportunities in each of these areas, which you might find useful in planning for the year ahead.
1.REFOCUSING ON IMAGE QUALITYWe forecast that by 2015, more than 70 percent of all network camera shipments will be of megapixel resolution. In spite of this, over the last 12 months, manufacturers have continued to push for greater numbers of megapixels. This trend plays to the common misconception that more megapixels/more resolution equates to better image quality. However, video quality is dependent on factors other than the number of megapixels on the sensor, such as the lens and image processing. IMS believes that for the vast majority of manufacturers, there will be a renewed focus on image quality in 2012.
To date, the market opportunity for ?igh-megapixel??cameras remains relatively niche. Manufacturers will need to further develop their points of differentiation. Likely advancements will be in well-established areas of need, such as low-light capability and wide-dynamic range; we will also see increasing adoption of P-iris lens technology and advances in live video.
2.FROM THE BRICS TO CIVETSGiven the Eurozone crisis that looks to potentially dampen global economic growth in 2012, where will video surveillance suppliers find opportunities for growth in the coming year?
Over the last few years, the BRICs have been the countries of choice for video surveillance vendors seeking new growth opportunities. Unlike the more developed markets in EMEA and North America, the BRICs were far less impacted by the recent economic downturn. IMS estimates that the total video surveillance equipment market in the BRICs was worth more than US$2.5 billion in 2010. With a growth rate exceeding 20 percent for the next two years, the BRICs will continue to offer video surveillance vendors solid growth opportunities, as the more established and mature video surveillance markets feel the impact from a potential second downturn. Beyond the BRICs, where should companies seek out new growth opportunities? The CIVETS (Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey and South Africa) are being touted as the next set of tiger economies due to their rapidly industrializing economies. The indicators appear promising as the current long-term GDP rate for the CIVETS is in line with that for the BRICs.
In terms of spending on video surveillance equipment, the CIVETS are a minnow when compared to the BRICs. However, in the mid- to long-term, as infrastructure development and social mobility increase, the CIVETS will provide a strong opportunity for growth. In terms of market size, the CIVETS will not overtake the BRICs for many years, if at all; however, IMS believes that manufacturers will begin to explore the long-term growth potential of the CIVETS in 2012.
3.HD OVER COAXSo, what are the three key things that need to happen in 2012 to give HD-over-coax (focusing on HD-SDI only) equipment a platform for growth?
A.STANDARDIZATIONFor HD over coax to penetrate the existing analog market, multivendor/brand compatibility is a must. Currently, there is little standardization among HD-SDI video surveillance equipment.
B.STORAGE COSTHD-SDI cameras transmit uncompressed HD video which can lead to high storage requirements and cost. For HD-SDI to breach the mainstream analog purchasing market, the price of storage needs to fall. Additionally, the supply of HD-over-coax compression ICs is effectively an oligopoly, as the market is perceived as niche and does not yet warrant other manufacturers entering the fray.
C.MARKET EDUCATIONManufacturers need to engage the correct market segments and promote HD-over-coax products as a potential alternative to analog or network video surveillance solutions.
IMS predicts that manufacturers will continue to push HD-over-coax equipment to the end user, increasing availability and choice. With the backing from large vendors, it is increasingly likely that a number of other large video surveillance brands will begin to introduce some form of HD-over-coax products into their portfolios in 2012. As with last year's predictions, we do not believe that 2012 will herald an explosion in demand for HD over coax. However, IMS forecasts that the HD-over-coax category will still see strong growth, with the market size nearly doubling, as increasing numbers of manufacturers begin to push this technology forward. [NextPage]
4.ANALYTICS TO THE EDGEIMS predicts that in the coming years, the types of applications that can be performed at the edge on the device's main processor will increase. This will mainly be driven by the availability of more powerful processors and partly by the refinement of VCA applications to make them less processor-intensive.
Basic analytics will become standard features, and more advanced, ?aid for??analytics will be performed at the edge. Over time, an increasing variety of analytics will be added as standard features, at no extra cost to the customer. Moreover, more powerful processors will enable multiple VCA algorithms to be performed at the same time to improve detection capabilities.
VCA is increasingly being used outside of the security realm, such as driver assistance cameras and interactive gaming consoles (such as Microsoft's Kinect). Some of these new markets for VCA offer high-volume potential, which is attracting the attention of chip makers.
5.MORE M&A ACTIVITYDespite the economic turmoil, M&A activity in the security industry has continued over the last couple of years. However, video surveillance acquisitions have not been at the forefront of these deals; generally, M&A activity has been on a much smaller scale. Most recently, March Networks announced its plans to be acquired by Infinova in a deal worth around $90 million.
IMS' annual report on the global video surveillance equipment market estimated that the market in 2010 was worth more than $9 billion in 2010, with nearly 40 percent of all sales contributed by the top 15. We forecast that network video surveillance equipment sales will exceed 25 percent in 2012, despite uncertainty in the Eurozone. While we will not see a spate of billion-dollar deals in 2012, it is likely that a greater volume of midsized deals will complete in the next 12 months.
6.LOOKING UP TO THE CLOUDAt the end of 2010, IMS forecast the increased traction of cloud-based video surveillance, also known as VSaaS. The market certainly picked up in 2011, with notable sales growth of around 20 to 30 percent. However, the market is still emerging, developing and evolving. IMS believes that there are a number of potential avenues for suppliers of VSaaS to explore in the coming year.
A majority of the security cameras used in small and midsized enterprises are solely used for security reasons. However, some of the more tech-savvy users are beginning to leverage and monetize video from their existing systems. Rather than simply leaving video dormant on a hard-disk drive (HDD), business owners could post or stream video to the Internet, allowing customers to see real-time footage of the place they intend to visit. Video could be integrated with Groupon, TripAdvisor, Yelp or even Google Street View. Prior investment in security equipment could be transformed from an expense to a revenue-generating tool. IMS estimates that nearly 65 percent of the DVRs sold in 2011 were Ethernet-enabled, demonstrating the potential market for video to be distributed to the cloud and used for nonsecurity purposes.
7.TURNING POINT FOR SPINNING DISKSThe average price of HDDs has been falling for more than two decades. Now faced with the consequences of the recent flooding in Thailand, the video surveillance storage industry could well see the effects of a change to this trend.
The reported extent of the disruption to HDD production differs from vendor to vendor. Official statements of predicted price increases vary from 0 to 180 percent. The net result for 2012 is likely to be a softening to the trend of falling storage prices.
8.VMS, NOT AS WE KNOW IT IMS predicts that 2012 will see a raft of innovation in the VMS space, as vendors attempt to stave off the threat of commoditization.
For the more established VMS vendors to continue to enjoy the historic high growth rates, they need to accomplish two key things: (1) maintain and increase presence in the upper market tier and (2) grow in the middle and lower tiers of the market.
The key selling feature of many VMS systems has been ?penness,??and while the ability to integrate to a broad range of video surveillance brands is still desirable, this has become more of a basic expectation. IMS believes that VMS vendors will work on the following innovations in the next 12 months.
A.USER INTERFACEWhile different VMS solutions do contain unique features, user interfaces in general are fairly similar. Manufacturers will seek to develop simpler and more intuitive user interfaces in the coming year.
B.MOBILE APPLICATIONSApplications for mobile platforms, such as iOS and Android, will be the front of many VMS manufacturers' arsenal in the coming year. The market for mobile video surveillance applications is still relatively immature; this is true for both the technology and the market demand. Simple concepts, such as leveraging location services, would provide enhanced user experience.
C.SITUATIONAL AWARENESSThe integration between access control and video surveillance systems has been a well-trodden path in the last few years, and this trend will persist through 2012. VMS vendors will look to further develop their offerings from pure-play VMS platforms to security management platforms. VMS vendors have already sought to bridge the gap between supply and demand for situational awareness by implementing ?SIM-like??features in their platforms (such as enhanced functionality with Google or Esri maps). IMS believes that 2012 will see an acceleration of this trend. [NextPage]
9.BEYOND H.264H.264 has become the de facto compression technology for video surveillance systems. However, a combination of factors in 2012 could lead to advancements in video surveillance compression: (1) the flooding in Thailand; (2) the global economic climate; and (3) the phenomenal growth of HD and megapixel cameras.
In 2012, shipments of HD and megapixel cameras are forecast to increase by more than 70 percent, compared with the previous year. While the accelerated proliferation of high-resolution security cameras provides end users with benefits, such as greater clarity when viewing live video, the storage costs can be significant due to the larger file sizes. Some of the potential compression alternatives are as follows.
A.H.264 SVCWhile there are many different variants of H.264 available on the market, the scalable video coding (SVC) variety, despite being well-established in other industries, is still not commonplace in the video surveillance industry. The key benefits of the SVC variant include a reduction in bandwidth (leading to a reduction in storage requirement) and dynamically resizable video.
B.WEBMAn open and royalty-free video compression format based on VP8, it is debatable whether WebM is more efficient or performs better than H.264. However, WebM is optimized for HTML5 video, which could be a key consideration in VSaaS applications. The stumbling block is that WebM currently does not have an associated real-time streaming protocol.
C.HEVCHigh-efficiency video coding (HEVC) is still under development and is seen to be the evolution of H.264, providing increased compression efficiency. Ratification of this new standard is not scheduled until late 2012/ early 2013.
So, what will happen in 2012? It would be fair to say the video surveillance industry is not on the cutting edge of technology advancements in video compression. Longer term, HEVC is perhaps the most likely successor to H.264, but that will depend on just how much better it performs and its suitability for video surveillance applications.
10.INTERNET OF THINGS IN CHINAOne trend which is unlikely to have a big impact on the video surveillance market in 2012 but will receive more publicity and have a longer-term impact is the Internet of Things (IoT).
IoT is a concept in which individual objects are electronically identified and categorized virtually in an Internet-like structure. To be identified, such objects need to contain a tag such as an RFID tag. Once categorized, supply could more easily meet demand, waste would be reduced, and it would be possible to find objects when they become lost.
IoT is receiving a lot of attention in China. The Chinese central government is strategically focusing on the development of seven emerging industries. These industries are expected to enjoy preferential policy treatment in a number of respects. New generation of information technology (NGIT) is one of these industries; and IoT is one of the most important parts of NGIT.
China has installed millions of video surveillance cameras over the past 10 years, and these cameras could provide a source of information to verify the categorization of objects for IoT. It is questionable whether IoT will drive new investment into security cameras. However, the expected benefits of IoT will help justify public expenditure on video surveillance equipment.

2007-2011 安控上市興櫃公司營業統計全數據

3S Market 寶島安控市場資訊網: ‧ 2007-2011 安控上市興櫃公司營業統計全數據: 【3S Market】 以上數據單位 新台幣千元 以上數據單位 新台幣千元 以上數據單位 新台幣千元 以上數據單位 新台幣千元 以上數據單位 新台幣千元 ...

IP Camera的春燕來了！！？？

在CCTV各廠皆苦哈哈的情況下，專職IP Camera的vivotek業績大幅成長，代表春燕來了！？嗎？

好東西分享啦 -《i-Glove》Multi-touch電容式螢幕觸控手套

話說十二月二十五日那天晚上，我家女王蓋著暖暖的棉被，拿起 iPad，努力研究2012的股票走向，看看有沒有好的投資標的，就這樣看著看著，突然間，偶聽到一聲"令啊~"，我還以為女王在表達2012的股市前景"令啊~"，轉頭過去瞧瞧，只見她雙手不斷磨擦，啊~原來是手粉冷啦！

一向善體人意的我，怎可能讓她"令"下去，這時，腦中浮現之前在三立新聞看到的一則新聞，好像有介紹到一款手套，可以在帶上後還能夠操控觸控螢幕，不過，時間有點久遠，所以還是先請出股溝大嬸出來，0.5秒的時間就跑出一堆資料，眼尖的我很快就找到那支三立新聞囉！-->i-GLOVE觸控手套，從影片中就可以找到i-Glove這個產品的圖樣，再請出大嬸，GU一下"圖片"，就可以找到啦，很簡單吧~~

查了一下台灣網上有在賣的地方，嗯，很集中，大多指向影片中的鹹魚爸網上賣場，稍稍分析一下$$，C/P比算還合理，於是給他買下去孝敬我家女王囉！(她開心了…一整晚)

經過一天，我就收到啦，但一直沒時間開個箱，現在就補一補啦，尤其現在天氣越來越冷，大家一定會用到的啦！

(對此產品希望更了解規格、官方說法的，請直接連鹹魚爸網上賣場)

由於我家女王很不喜歡花花綠綠的顏色，再加上我也可能用到，所以就訂個中性色，求個保險。打開包裹，第一眼的印象是：啊~看起來就是一支手套麻！(廢話…呵呵)
摸起來的質地還不錯，雖看它的產地是CHINA，不過看來品管做得還不錯，算是沒有被欺騙的感覺，這付的色彩搭配也不賴，合我的味口。

放大標示看一下，這個LOGO設計擺明就是朝著APPLE來的，現在啊，只要冠上"i"字，就屬apple相關週邊產品，多少廠商因apple而富啊~~

重點來了，先來個局部特寫，這個就是在十支手指頭頂端密密武器-導電紗，看起來與其他部位好像沒有兩樣，不過材質上鐵定特別研究過，這就是knowhow所在囉，只是我也不是搞紡織的，就不再研究下去了。

這是拆開來的樣子，如果與市面上其他毛織手套混在一起，實在也感受不到它的神奇魔力！

戴在手上後，感覺暖暖的，與皮膚接觸的部份不會讓人有毛毛刺刺的感覺(我最討厭那種感覺了)，到目前為止，感覺良好。以下就開始針對"使用"狀況說明啦！

首先搬出的是大螢幕的iPad，先玩玩"拉"畫面， 嗯，很順，還不賴，輕輕一拉就動了，沒有卡卡的感覺，+1…

接來下是打字的考驗，就打個happy new year!好了，也不錯，點觸控的部份過關，沒有誤觸或NO反應的情況發生。 +1…

再來當然不能錯過玩GAME的部份，YA，一切隨心所欲，沒有"頓爹"的狀況出現。+1…

看完iPad，再進入小螢幕的測試，我也不拿速度快得嚇人的iPhone4S出來測，直接用3GS來試看看~~~此時心中突然跳出：若再試與iPad一樣的動作，會不會被網友說是充版面??
於是想到，啊，對喔，那就測一下同樣由鹹魚爸那邊買到的好東西，AVN80X與AVN801兩支網路攝影機好了。沒錯，就麼辦！

嘿嘿，要測這個，就要請出"鳥頭版"EagleEyes軟體，找到啦，就在左上方…給它輕輕點下去吧！

第一關過關，進入第二關，就看一下辦公室DEMO SITE的地方好了，嗯，上下滑動頁面的感覺良好。+1…

出現了，再給它點兩下，放大一下畫面。也不錯，敲兩下的放大指令，iPhone完全準確接收。+1…

再來再來，玩瘋了，AVN80X與AVN801最大的賣點是"PUSH VIDEO"，怎可以放過呢？
來囉來囉，看到PUSH MESSAGE了，給它輕輕點下去~~~

也OK啦，VIDEO的部份馬上回放出來，很即時。到目前，一切美滿幸福！

最後，看到這張照片，會不會以為是有不可見人的照片被SHOW在手機上呢?呵呵，可別想歪，我只是想要再說說它的兩個好處：一是，不會在鏡面上沾了一堆手指印，而第二個好處呢，就是這張照片要表達的~~可以當擦拭布用啦！Orz，冏了，這個用法大概就只有我這個大懶人才會用到吧。  THE END…

2012監控爭戰好戲上場 - 網路攝影機+儲存設備之雲端大戰

今日跨年前在誠品翻了一下2011年最後看到的一本雜誌，其中最令我感到興趣的是一篇報導DLINK 2012之後的公司發展方向，真的與監控密切相關，監控廠不得不注意。它將由網通正式佈局進入IP監控，對於網路的了解，它確實會較目前CCTV廠商有利，不論在技術上還是通路結構上，皆有別於目前的CCTV廠商，但同樣會有盲點，由網通入監控，在傳統監控特殊通路結構上，不見得會如意贏得，且監控通路有別於市面上的CONSUMER產品，在多數要求層層高毛利銷售的前提下，一般打低價位的電子產品不容易得到CCTV既有通路之青睞，加上專業CCTV產品的設計與一般消費性電子產品在思維上並不相同，需轉化腦袋改變思維，方有機會與既有的廠商一較長短，否則仍會有一段漫漫長路要走(也許有一波CCTV人才轉進網通的可能性)。不過，網通廠的加入，也許可擴大此產業的能見度並共同實現未來大家心中預期的美好前景。在書中提到，DLINK將用三朵雲來加入市場：路由雲+監控雲+儲存雲，看來，2012年的IP監控市場將是熱鬧非凡，而已在此領域深耕多年的IP監控三雄：晶睿、奇偶、陞泰，何者能勝出？亦或合作與網通業者一較長短，真是令人期待！

以下文章連結正可大略了解IP 監控產業目前情況，在2012年的第一天參考一下囉。
[網路攝影機異軍突起，再紅5年!!]