Re: HD CCTV Camera

[Matt Ion <soundy106@xxxxxxxxx>]

Roland Moore wrote:

>>Okay, wanting to know if anyone knows of a CCTV-style video camera >with
>>actual HD output that could feed (preferably in 1080p) directly into an
>>HDTV receiver, whether it be component, HDMI, etc. - basically >something
>>that's JUST a video camera, relatively compact, no recording.
>
>
> We are not home theater (or home anything really) so I don't know what is
> out there in that market. For the record however, you know that most
> commercial cable TV feeds use the 720p (HDTV1) not the 1080p (HDTV2). The
> dish feeds use the 1080p. Most human eyes cannot tell the difference in the
> two. Sounds like you were after a number here and not a specific result. Are
> you going to fool us and say this was all for an ITS project?

Um, no.  All I want - or wanted initially, before the client started adding
things - is a straight video camera to feed an HDTV set.  That's exactly what it
says in my post you quoted above.  Is there some new reading disability that
causes you to read MORE than is there?

>>but we've worked out a system that should suffice using a hi-res IP camera
>
>
> That is exactly what an Arecont camera is, a "high resolution" (a.k.a. Mega
> Pixel) IP camera. It offers higher resolution than any current Sony IP
> camera designed for this market segment. Maybe I should be more to the
> point. You described in this thread a Rube Goldberg solution to the
> customer's request. Was all that perhaps because of a brand choice (like
> Sony) of camera and its limitations?

Um, no... the customer's request INITIALLY was simply a high-definition camera
to run a 1080p signal to their existing large flat-panel HDTV set (they've
consistantly refused to specify a brand or model; I'm not even sure if they ever
specified whether it was plasma, LCD or DLP).  A specific Sony HANDYCAM was the
only thing we could find in preliminary searches (and still the only thing for
less than several thousand dollars) that is a high-def video camera with a
high-def (HDMI) video output.  I have no specific love of Sony or the premium
you pay for the name, that's simply all we found available at the time.  Bass
came up with a super-duper-skookum PTZ videoconferencing camera... for US$9k.

Since we normally deal with CCTV, PC-based DVRs and hi-res IP cameras, our FIRST
suggestion was to simply stream an IP camera through a PC to the customer's
existing HDTV panel through its VGA or DVI input. Unfortunately, they then
realized that HEY! if we have it running to a PC, then we can record it and make
DVDs for people!  Oh, but it has to be REALLY easy to do... oh and hey, we can
let people watch over the internet as well!

I still maintain that the SIMPLEST solution is the Sony camera, HDMI straight to
the display, and parallel S-video out to a standalone DVD recorder, but the
client has now decided that a handycam doesn't look "pro" enough, and will
absolutely not go that route, so we're stuck having to mickey-mouse together an
OVERKILL system with a PC and IP camera (if this does go ahead, we'll probably
be using the IQEye cameras that we normally deal with, and don't bother selling
me on "higher resolution" because they have cameras up to 5MP and anything over
1.3MP is really overkill anyway) because that LOOKS much more PROFESSIONAL.

Despite the fact that it would mean a nice out-of-town trip for a few days and
be a bit of brain teaser, I'm really hoping that we DON'T get this job because I
see it as the source of endless headaches from an ultra-high-maintenance client...