IP Cameras Are Rarely Used?

Maybe it's a unique business model, but most of the time when we do sell customers on IP cameras, especially our regular customers, they're not going with them because of the cost, but because they want the integrator, and they trust the integrator (through experience!) to provide them the best cameras for the purpose. Since we don't have to compete on margins, then we can make better margins :)

I think Todd has made some good points, there are some situations where Analog/HDCCTV would possibly do better than IP, I know a few customers of mine who just need a handful of cameras, maybe a few outdoor cameras and in my brief research to get outdoor rated cameras to handle the -40C weather we get gets expensive for IP. So analog is more appealing for those people who just need video, and don't need high resolution. And need to save money on outdoor.

But other than that, his general attitude is horrible and makes me not even want to look at HDCCTV lol

Syed, if you dont mind disclosing it, what manufacturer of ip cameras do you sell(I dont need to know your discount, just curious what brands have small margins) ? I sell Axis and Panasonic cameras and the base margins are anything but small. Granted you might have to drop your pricing in bid situations, but even at that, if you are getting the jobs registered there are even more points of margin to be made...

I've almost grown to accept Todd's crazy antics and statements as the founder of his "Alliance"... On the other hand Craig" Keep your Chin Up" Scott's psuedo-technical and misleading "sales-engineering" train wrecks annoy me to no end. I unfollowed both of them by association months ago.

I pity anyone still selling any form of analog or hdcctv as their primary business. Maybe Todd knows where I can get the latest Adele album on MiniDisc?

I agree with Brian, dealing with "spin master" Todd is no longer fun.

The best part of moving the IPVM discussions off LinkedIn is removing the HDcctv hijackers from the threads. They are brutal in the threads - with the private messages they send being even worse.

Imho it is always a question of terms. In oil&gas the world is still analog for field equipment and become ip at the "center" with encoding. Long life to analog!

As revenge, Todd has hijacked a thread of an integrator looking for advice.

Sean, essentially, HDcctv is HD-SDI plus greater interoperability and additional features (in newer/future versions). Problem is very few people are getting the HDcctv logo / stamp (less than 20 cameras even today listed). To compensate, anytime some one mentions HD SDI now, Todd claims that as an HDcctv win, further increasing the confusion.

The current HDcctv specification overview page is a good example of this bizarre situation. What version of HDcctv are they on?

"HDcctv 1.0 is current. The high-level specifications for HDcctv 2.0^®, HDcctv XR^®, and HDcctv CX^® are complete, with the full specification suite on track for ratification early in 2013."

This despite them saying for years that 2.0 on the verge of being ready. Still on the verge.

In terms of use, they say, "more than 200,000 HDcctv cameras were sold worldwide in 2012." Who knows where that figure comes from? Typically they talk about booming China sales, certainly not big in the USA. And then they are back to the card trick:

"Many of these cameras are certified HDcctv compliant, and a second generation of HDcctv products is in preparation."

In other words, however many non IP HD cameras are being deployed, they are essentially all HD SDI vendors who have no interest in mating their brands to ToddCo.

I still get confused that there is even a difference between HDcctv and HD-SDI. I always thought they were the same.

Classic Brian!

Oh I agree on that. I just disagree that there's "no" margin in it.

Well, the margin criticism is worth discussing. Any successful market, especially in the Internet age, faces margin pressure - whether it's analog, IP, etc.