Hardware Compression

[cctv_down_under 0]

Can anyonel list the known manufactorers that offer hardware compression boards and what compression they use?

[501 0]

It would be even better to get some real world video samples from these hardware compression systems. To see the quality difference as compared to software compression especially.

[phred 0]

Don't have a list but here is one to add.

 

 

Chateau Technical Corp. Taipei, Taiwan.

 

Their cards run true H.264 on TI DaVinci chips.

 

The best I have seen so far ( I don't sell them btw)

 

 

Also see this thread http://www.cctvforum.com/about8126.html

 

 

The Chateau Tech cards have much better software and give similar quality video but with a tenth of the file size.

[cachecreekcctv 0]

I was told by the Avermedia Techs at ISC West, that their NV7000 series boards use Hardware Compression, versus the other boards they sell, which use software compression. I believe that this board can also use H.264. Not sure if they sell it on their website, or you have to purchase it elsewhere. Never purchased one, yet. Their display screens showed a lot of different options, as far as motion sensing, etc.

[iSpyVision 0]

You are correct CashCreek. The Avermedia 7000 series is hardware compression with H.264 . We have sold and tested this card with great rersults. Excellent image and small file size.

[phred 0]

NV7000 uses older MPEG4 hardware encoder.

 

The NV7000H is the one that will do H.264

 

8 channels and total 50fps at D1 PAL

 

Extraordinarily expensive in the UK

Edited April 1, 2007 by Guest

[imcclendon 0]

Sal with Digital Watchguard has this card for a decent price. Not sure if he ships to the UK though.

 

*Just a suggestion, I am not affiliated with Digital Watchguard

[501 0]

Ya, the NV7000H is about the same price as the GV2008....... High!

[phred 0]

Chateau's 4 channel will do 100fps D1

8 channel with similar spec is the same price.

 

Less than a third of the price of the NV7000H in the UK

[cctv_down_under 0]

Arent there more hardware compression boards than these?

[rory 0]

GeoVision ofcourse .. GV2004 and GV2008

[phred 0]

OSC 9600 series see them at www dot dvr.com

 

IL DVR

 

Vangold - Shenzhen Vangold Electronics

[griffonsystems 0]

i use the chance-i hardware board - mpeg4 compression

[CollinR 0]

You also need to look at what hardware they are actually using, technically most cards have some sort of hardware compression. Once you get past 4 channels it's a must, you just don't have enough CPU left for anything else.

 

The NV7000h can natively compress H.264 with hardware.

 

The much cheaper and more available NV7000 is still a hardware solution it just doesn't support H.264, so it's more of an issue of DVR $ vs. storage $ for the NV7000 vs. NV7000h.

 

GV250 through GV800 have the ability to compress to MPEG2 with hardware, however the software doesn't allow it. The GV2004 and 2008 can and I am not sure what other codecs as well. I don't use combo cards so I can't help much after that.

 

Basically whats happening in most is hardware to MPEG2 PS and then software to transcode it to MPEG4, H.264, ... You know you have a 100% hardware solution when you have XP and your DVR running headless and solid on a 600mhz CPU. With a display connected and rendering the video you should have less then 25% total CPU utilization on a modern P4. If it's more then that something is happening in software.

[phred 0]

You also need to look at what hardware they are actually using....

 

Yep, There is no surer way.

 

Just to add to those comments -

 

One of the benefits of the H.264 cards is that they have to have good

chips. There are few to chose from with enough power to encode H.264 in

realtime. The TI DaVinci (DM64x) chips seem to be what most people have

turned to and they offer very high performance (probably still the fastest DSPs on the planet).

 

Mpeg4 cards are more of a problem as everyone and his wife got on the

bandwagon, buying in cheap mpeg4 encoder chips. There are some good

ones amongst a mountain of dross.

 

 

Like the man says - you know for sure when you have full hardware

compression running, I managed to run a 4 channel H.264 card, recording

100frames/s 720X576 on a Semperon 1.8Ghz with very low %cpu.

 

The one thing you have to be careful of is the H.264 codec used. The TI

chip is not an H.264 ASIC. It is a complex 'system on a chip' that can run

any codec you can write the code for.

 

 

Writing code to run H.264 efficiently on the TI chip is a job for DSP

engineers and is well beyond the reach of your average programmer.

 

 

Those who buy in cards, write a GUI front end and use an off the shelf

H.264 solution will offer poorer performance than those prepared to do

the hard stuff.

[rory 0]

Ive yet to see any decent video from an H.264 DVR yet.

[FLYBOY 0]

I am looking for a DVR with H.264 compression Technology. What is the best brand and model to get? I would also consider getting a PC Card also.

[phred 0]

Don't know every card so can't say for sure what is best.

 

Best bang/buck I can find in the UK is the VGuard RT4.

 

Google VG4C-RT4 and you should find the same card re-badged under

different names.

 

All use the same software.

 

Prices vary considerably.