It’s time to face the facts. Despite the notion that some may be looking forward to the death of digital video recorders (DVRs), especially with online on-demand programming becoming the next best thing after Tivo, DVRs aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. Rapidly evolving technology of the DVR, making them smaller and easier to use, is a plus for those that are becoming more in-tune with these technologically evolving devices. Today almost anyone can record their favorite sitcom on the DVR. For the security scene, the evolution of DVRs is already the here and now. From the simple recording devices they used to be, now the latest DVRs feature such capabilities as motion detection; H.264 compression technology and encoding algorithms; onboard RAID-4 technology; working within a hybrid environment versus as a standalone and much more. It’s clear that manufacturers of these devices see the future as they continue to evolve this product to become part of the integration movement security is already seeing. Read on to hear more about what DVR industry experts have to say and see what technologies they are bringing to the market.
“The market will begin to see DVRs capable of metadata recording and search, allowing text data from disparate devices such as ATMs, POS terminals or license plate cameras to be recorded along with associated video.”
- Christopher Johnston, product marketing manager, Bosch Security Systems Inc. Fairport, N.Y.
“As DVR products gain functionality, it is becoming more important to be sure that stored video on distributed DVRs can be easily shared and centrally stored for long-term retrieval and disaster recovery. Architects should look for DVR solutions that easily integrate with central shared storage from open-systems companies.”
- Lee Caswell, founder, Pivot3, Palo Alto, Calif.
“New features added to the DVR include the use of H.264 (high profile) encoding, which provides very efficient compression compared to MPEG-4 while maintaining image quality. The DVR’s option to expand up to 31 Terabytes of hard disk storage capacity enables users to store longer periods of real-time video.”- John Centofanti, regional sales manager, Panasonic System Networks Company, Secaucus, N.Y.
“The features and performance of Vicon’s new generation of Kollector DVRs are a response to the market trend that requires DVRs to work within a hybrid environment and not just as standalone units connected to analog cameras.”- Margie Gurwin, director of Marketing, Vicon, Hauppauge, N.Y.
Nuvico’s Apex AP-D1600 16 channel DVR provides users with a minimum of 30 ips, in full screen, in real time and features MPEG-4 compression. Additional features include a 4-main, 1 VGA monitor output and Quadruplex functions with mouse GUI.
“One of the fastest growing technologies to impact the DVR market is the H.264 encoding algorithm. By 2010, we plan on introducing an entire line of mid-range and enterprise-level H.264 DVRs replacing the MPEG-4 compression method.” - Luke Lee, sales director for North America, Nuvico, Englewood, N.J.
“Being able to stand alone or be networked, the V3009 DVR is a catalyst for migrating from analog systems to hybrid and digital systems, especially for those applications that need high resolution video.”- Mark Wilson, vice president of Marketing, Infinova, Monmouth Jct., N.J.
