juanggomez

I made a test comparing the video quality I got after the encoder compressed the signal vs the analog signal directly from the camera. I tested it using both the decoder and the software, and both outdoor and indoor. Just do it yourself and you will see how badly compression affects the video quality with DVTel encoders. For my applications it was completely unnacceptable. This is far away from analog quality. Of course if you are using a powerful lens and the numbers are big enough you will be able to read anything anyway. But try to read a plate with as few pixels as possible and you will see what I mean about not reading numbers. I tested the system at 4CIF and is very noticeable that it drop frames from time to time. But even DVtel will not guarantee the system to not drop frames if you ask them for. Just ask them.

DVtel uses Smartsight/Verint hardware and Genetec software. As with Smartsight/Verint you get low quality video that filters numbers, faces and other details, it drop frames when there is high movements in the image, the video quality is affected when there is audio, alarms or PTZ movement. Bandwidth is high and storage space is huge because of the DSP implementation. Compression must not mean bad video quality if done properly.

Indigovision was known to have a full 30 fps 352x240 (CIF) solution for many years. Now, IndigoVision 8000 transmitter encodes full 30 fps at 704x480 (4CIF) in NTSC (or 25fps 704x576 in PAL) in real DVD quality. Yes, you can compress a dvd movie in real time with excelent quality. As for bandwidth, many video IP transmiters could be limited to 1.5 mbps, but you must always measure quality vs bandwidth for each transmiter using the same input signal (it's very motion dependent). For example you can limit indigovision to display 30 fps at 704x480 using 512 kbps. And the quality is good for many surveillance applications. As per the test I made with the same camera as the source, at 1.5 mbps the video quality of the acti encoder is very low compared to Indigovision. To get similar video quality you need at least 3 or more times the bandwidth usage with Acti than with Indigovision.

Rory, sorry but you are wrong this time. I took Indigovision training in Edinburgh, UK some time ago and I have seen that they design everything, both hardware and software. Even the compression chipset, an ASIC, is done by them, check http://mainstream.indigovision.com/ for more information. Everything is designed by them. We installed some big projects with their products and everything was superb. Their own ASIC chipset is the key to use much less bandwidth , much less storage space and much better quality than any than any current competitor in the industry. I have also used Acti. Acti solution is far away from them, I see it as a low end solution, the Acti quality is lower, it drop frames, and uses much more bandwidth at similar video quality than Indigovision. And you can't compare the software. Also Acti solution is based on a chipset and solution provided by Micronas (www.micronas.com) so they really didn't do so much. [/img]

Of everything I tested IndigoVision is the best Video IP system in the industry up to now. No doubt. And it's not a software, but an end to end solution.