Why Bother with HD?
High definition television has become something of a phenomenon in the consumer market-place. After many years of standard definition imaging, video- based products simply won’t sell nowadays unless they are in some form able to handle HD video signals. Televisions, camcorders, PCs, monitors, tablets and even mobile phones have to be able to tick the HD box if they are to be taken seriously. With so much hype around, you sometimes have to ask yourself how HDTV will affect security.
sector, it is here to stay. Indeed, in many product sectors it is now considered the de facto standard for minimum performance, and products that don’t achieve it are increasingly harder to sell. The trend towards widespread acceptance
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of HDTV has been slow for the consumer sector, with the technology moving from
DTV has well and truly entered the national psyche, and judging by the way it has spread across the entire consumer
specialist applications into the mainstream market in around 2005. Initial acceptance was slow, predominantly because broadcasts in HD were few and far between. Obviously, the number of high definition broadcasts has grown, and whilst they still represent a minority share, HDTV compatible equipment has become dominant across the board. It is not only televisions that have switched to the various HD formats. Everything from camcorders through PCs to mobile telephones have taken on the trend for HDTV compatibility. HD is everywhere, and while it could be argued that increased resolution and a widescreen format aren’t everything, the reality is that HD is building foundations from which future technologies will evolve.
Moving the goalposts
HDTV will have a significant impact on video across the board, and specifically on video surveillance, because it moves the goalposts with regard to basic specifications. Traditional composite video using the PAL standard delivers interlaced video streams made up of 25 frames per second. Images are typically 704 x 576 (4CIF) or 720 x 576 (D1) pixels, and
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