This is a key issue given the ubiquity of 720p and 1080i/p cameras. There’s no doubt manufacturers are going to need to find new ways to attract customers, not by endlessly dropping prices but by improving quality and compatibility. Improving compression, low light performance, wide dynamic range, and developing video analytics and more open SDKs are important elements, although the image quality is the key.
“I think we will see the quality of images evolve,” Damjanovski said. “It’s not going to be stuck on the HD 1080 (1920 x 1080) standard for long, although many users are still dwelling on standard definition. Something called Ultra High Definition (UHD) has already been started by the broadcast television and production houses. They already started using so-called 4K cameras (4000 x 2000 pixels for an 8MP live stream). This is used for TV series and movie making. There is even an Australian broadcast company that introduced 4k sensor cameras in their line of products.
“The 4k trend is not the last development,” Damjanovski said. “Even higher resolution called Super Hi-Vision has been now experimented with. The Super Hi-Vision technology, also referred to as 8k, uses a sensor with 8k x 4k pixels, making a 32MP live streaming possible.”
“At this year’s London Olympics an 8K camera live stream and recording was made for the first time, as a joint experiment by BBC and NHK from Japan. Such video was streamed between London and Tokyo during the games. The transmission was done using a special compression via bundled internet broadband channels, at close to half a gigabit per second.
“So, an 8K live stream chip has been already developed, although as a prototype at this stage, using an extra high resolution fixed lens. Zoom was not used since fixed lenses can be designed easier to achieve the super high resolution, but also, a comment I have read was that there were so many details in the captured images, that optical zooming was not necessary.
“The end result with such a Super Hi-Vision is a total immersion in the display field of view, which apparently causes a feeling of actually being there, better than with the current 3D technology,” Damjanovski explained.
“I think it’s the 4K live stream cameras that will push the barriers in our industry, and will challenge manufacturers to do better and at lower cost. This same process was the case with the slow introduction of the 1080 HD standard. Initially, about 10 years ago, HD camcorders were prohibitively expensive, but today almost every smart phone can record in HD. I think if we can get affordable 4k (8MP at 25ips) sensors – that will be a great tool in CCTV. And there are already 4K monitors, which are 4 times the resolution of the existing HD panels.”
From Damjanovski’s point of view, the real key to the future is not going to be standardisation of performance parameters like resolution, because this will always evolve, but standardisation of digital interconnectivity and compatibility between technologies and brands.
“When I look around I can see a tendency towards simplifying things in terms of connectivity,” Damjanovski said. “Sure, every manufacturer wants their own edge but I think the future will and has to bring simpler interoperability with shared connectivity standards.”
“There is already some work being done in this area by various standards such as IEC, BSi, ONVIF, so that connectivity and interoperability between various cameras, recorders and software eventually becomes as simple as it was the case with analogue video. Encoding, PTZ protocols, aspect ratios – the trend is clearly towards connectivity and interoperability.”
