In a vacuum IP cameras are more powerful than their analog/CCTV cousins. However the strength and reliability of a network can bring an IP camera to its knees if the proper amount of bandwidth is not available to handle the information being processed.
A reason why IP cameras are gaining in popularity is because network infrastructures are constantly growing in size and capabilities as are internet speeds. Just like uploading or downloading images or video to/from the internet, speed plays a crucial role in the quality of that experience. The same goes for accessing stored or live images from your computer’s network or, accessing them remotely via the internet.
Were it not for compression formats known as codecs (coding-decoding), digitized video which consumes hundreds of Mbps (mega bits per second) worth of bandwidth, would not be practical to transmit over an IP based network and would be costly in terms of amount of space need to store the data.
So, various compression formats have been developed to reduce large amounts of redundant information.
The most common video compression formats used today are:
Many IP cameras are designed to handle multiple compression formats for different applications such as the Axis M1011-W with individually configurable video streams in Motion JPEG, MPEG-4, and H.264.
Another example is the Sony SNC-CH210 which also supports all three codecs and offers “Dual Streaming” capability which allows for any combination of JPEG/MPEG-4/H.264 including multiple streams of the same format.
An important aspect of compression formats is the bit rate used and oftentimes it is possible to select the rate: constant bit rate (CBR) or variable bit rate (VBR). Bit rate is simply the rate (in a given amount of time) at which bits (data) are transferred from one location to another.
With limited bandwidth the preferred mode is CBR because this mode generates a constant and predefined bit rate. The downside is that the image quality will vary depending on the amount of motion in the video scene. No motion = high image quality. Increased motion = low image quality (the more movement in a scene, the more data being transferred).
When there’s a need for high quality images and the network infrastructure has a high capacity, VBR is the desired bit rate. When there is motion in a scene image quality can be maintained because the bit rate is allowed to vary to achieve this high quality and because the network has the available bandwidth to handle it.
Depending on the level of quality you’re looking to get out of your surveillance system, different compression standards and configuration can and should be considered. No single standard fits all solutions.
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This is a great articule, very useful. Thanks
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