Digital Watchdog Multi Sensor Camera

My wife thought it looked goofy and my 3 year old thought it looked cool because of the circles. I personally don't like bullets and almost never install them so I already have a predisposition since this is more in the bullet category. It's not my favorite look by any means, however, there are some clients that value the view and what the camera allows them to see more than they value what it looks like. All kidding aside, this leads me to my questions from reading the spec sheets and looking at the demo.

The spec sheet says that it delivers a panoramic 1080p image. Looking at the technical webinar, this camera seems to support presets and the ability to see each sensors image at full resolution. What is actually recorded though? Is it simply one 1080p stream with 3 stiched images or do you have the ability to record three 1080p streams from each camera? How many licenses in Spectrum does this take up? If it takes up 3 licenses for three 1080p streams than this differs from many of the other VMS system out there. If the camera only records one stiched 1080p image, than the camera would be worthless as it would be wasting resolution and I might as well install three individual cameras.

I cannot answer the above questions looking at the spec sheet, the webinar (not to be critical but look into a way to get better audio quality), or the press release. The current press release seems to be much different than the other older press release.

It would seem the camera should be able to output a higher resolution as seen here, but the DW spec sheet doesn't list a resolution of 5940 x 1280. Secubest lists a resolution of 6MP total. Did something change from the original plan for this camera or does this camera record 6MP or 8MP? I even have about three DW emails stating that the new 6MP panoramic bullet and dome were coming soon. The one from November 2014 stated "6MP IP66 Bullet with IR available now." The wording on the last few emails changed to "Three-Sensor 1080p,30fps, IR Panoramic Now Available".

Is this simply a poor marketing error or a change/reduction in capabilities. I apologize for nit-picking, but I'm highly skeptical of spec sheets because I know marketing is typically deception by omission or things are over-hyped because the sales/marketing people don't want to listen to the engineers.

You are not nit-picking and yes we marketing people have learned a lot about this camera since it was first announced. We tried to be very clear about what this camera does in the last webinar and I apologize for the poor audio quality of that recording. We need to get one of these cameras to IPVM and then they can explain it without any bias. But if you will bear with me, and understand I am not trying to argue, the following might be of value.

A little history: The two four-sensor panoramic cameras that are most well-known on the market push the four streams through to the VMS as four separate streams. They are displayed in four windows as four independent 2.1MP streams (8MP models). In most VMS platforms they come in side by side to create the 180-degree panoramic view, but you can also consider the streams independently. Image stitching is a whole other conversation that I would be happy to discuss at some other time.

I am trying to make two points: 1. You would need to place four 1080p monitors side by side to get the actual visual value of what the cameras are delivering and 2. That should help you to understand why the frame rate is so slow. That is a lot of data down one pipe.

Once you understand the legacy multi-sensor cameras on the market, you will realize that some engineers really thought through what I am about to explain about the DW three-sensor 180-degree panoramic cameras.

It was not a mistake to call them 6MP cameras, but it was misleading and that is why we changed our description. The three sensors are 1080p sensors, but the cameras have been programmed to send a stream at a maximum size of 1080p. What you get in the VMS is a stitched 180-degree view in a letterboxed 1080p window. Before you do a kneejerk about that, think about what you see when you bring in the four streams from an 8MP panoramic into your VMS – a letterboxed panoramic image.

There is practicality to why the engineers designed the camera in this way. You can "zoom in" to the extent of any of the sensors -- 1080p. When you do that, the image will of course now fill a 1080p monitor (without pixilation).

The camera does not deliver a 6MP image or stream. It always delivers a 1080p image and stream. That is why we also boast that it can produce streams at up to 30fps.

For wide area surveillance, this camera is a viable and affordable solution. The operator can see the whole field of view and has additional resolution to zoom in. And as you said, it also can be used as a digital PTZ with presets or custom tours around the overall field of view without pixilation (again, download DW Spectrum, it’s free).

In addition, we are also still on track to be shipping two additional panoramic cameras by April. They will each have four sensors with total resolutions of 8MP and 32MP at 30fps. These use a different technology than the three-sensor panoramics and anything else currently on the market. Later in the year, there will also be user-configurable versions of these cameras where the user can move the sensors within the housing.

The more I learn about the three-sensor panoramic, the more I can see its value. I hope that I have helped you to see it.