Product / Tech Roundup ISC West 2014

This note focuses on products only, no marketing or gimmicks and is a recap of information gathered from booth visits to:

• Arecont
• Bosch
• Genetec
• Hikvision
• OnSSI
• ONVIF
• Panasonic
• Schneider Electric
  

This information will eventually find its way into upcoming reviews and tests.

For our marketing commentary, see the Live from ISC West 2014 post, and for videos, see our 20 Manufacturer ISC West 2014 Booth Videos.

Arecont

Arecont Vision is showing several new products (or technology demonstrations):

Panomorph Dome

Arecont has announced a version of their Megaball 2 dome equipped with an ImmerVision M12 lens [link no longer available]. Though Arecont is known for their multi-imager panoramic cameras, this model is intended for smaller areas which do not require the higher resolution of the SurroundVideo line, at a lower cost. Pricing is expected to be in the ballpark of the existing Megaball 2, which sells for about $650 online.

New Generation Dual Imager

Surprisingly, they have also announced a new generation of their dual imager day/night cameras, this time featuring "advanced monochrome" performance at night, and WDR on the daytime sensor.

Stellar Low Light and 4K

Arecont also featured two "technology demonstrations" in their booth, one for their "Stellar" low light cameras and one for their 4Kp30 camera, aptly named "MegaVideo 4K." Neither were actual product, instead only demonstrations of future planned development.

Bosch

Bosch displayed the production model of their 4K UHD camera, the Dinion Ultra 8000, first announced last year at ISC in a prototype form. The camera is expected to ship early in Q2 2014, with two fixed lens options, 70 and 120 degrees and an MSRP of ~$2,500. Bosch was prominently displaying the bitrate of this camera on the floor, somewhat ironically aimed at Axis's 4K display, which averaged about 8 Mb/s in their demo (though of course we do not know what settings were used to reach this bitrate).

Also on display was their low light 5MP camera, the Dinion Starlight 8000 5MP camera. This camera is claiming low light performance beyond existing competitive 5MP options, addressing one of the key objections to multi-megapixel cameras. MSRP is ~$1,800, not including lens.

Genetec

In the Genetec booth, the most interesting new integration was with Vidcie, a wearable camera manufacturer. Vidcie was demonstrating this integration with multiple models in their booth, including headworn and bodyworn models, and tells us a covert buttonhole model is also under development.

The SV-32, the latest appliance from Genetec, was also displayed. For those familiar with the SV-16, this new model is a little more than twice the size (~10" x 6" x 2"), with the case acting as a heat sink. The SV-32 has an Intel Core i7 processor, compared to Atom in the SV-16, and allows for viewing and/or recording of up to 32 cameras (vs. 16 with the SV-16).

Finally, Genetec announced pricing reductions in their Stratocast VSaaS service. These reductions range from ~3% in the edge storage plan to 20-25% in their higher capacity cloud storage plans.

Hikvision

Hikvision displayed two new fisheye models which address two key problems in panoramic cameras: WDR and low light performance. The 3MP WDR model ($1,124 USD MSRP) and 6MP true day/night version with built-in IR ($1,378 MSRP) are expected to ship this month.

Also on display was the DS-2CD6412FWD-10 covert camera, claiming WDR capability. This could address a key performance issue in ATM installations, which often have intense backlighting. These cameras are shown here, alongside a standard bullet camera for size reference.

OnSSI

OnSSI announced version 4.0 of their Ocularis Video-Centric PSIM VMS. New features include:

• Support for Axis edge storage directly from Ocularis, recording on the camera full time, for failover, or downloaded on a schedule.
• Axis A1001 integration, which displays access events including cardholder information alongside video in Ocularis client.
• Critical camera failover, which functions on a per-camera basis, repopulating a viewing tile with an adjacent camera in the event of one going down, or shifting cameras from one NVR to another in the case of server failure.

OnSSI also marketed PC/servers from partners Seneca Data and Razberi, pre-installed with Ocularis PS, in IP only and hybrid models. OnSSI has marketed them as appliances but the hardware is from a third party.

And of course, everyone's favorite, the LiVest was in full effect:

ONVIF

This year was ONVIF's first as exhibitors at ISC. Their booth demonstrated 20+ members (cameras, VMS, and access) operating together, with periodic integrator-focused presentations explaining the benefits of ONVIF.

On display specifically were Profile S integrations, showing numerous cameras working with multiple VMSs (as well as FIKE's video smoke detection analytics [link no longer available]). Additionally, three Profile C access control products were shown, from Axis, Honeywell, and Bosch, working with a Siemens Profile C client to monitor access events, lock and unlock doors, etc., shown here:

Panasonic

Panasonic's main camera announcement is their latest generation Series 6 cameras [link no longer available]. Most models are dome form factor, include IR illuminators, and claim improved Super Dynamic WDR.

Additionally, Panasonic is announced their first entry into thermal imaging, with 640x320 and 320x240 models, each with multiple lens options.

Both of these lines are expected to ship in Q2 2014.

Schneider Electric Multisight

Scheider Electric (no Pelco branding in sight) has announced Multisight, a VSaaS platform. The system consists of compact (3.5" x 2") HD 720p cube style cameras and an on-site gateway which connects up to 12 cameras to their cloud services. An 8-camera system starts at $167 per month, including installation, maintenance, and upgrades.