Questions and Answers from the Top: with Adam Cohen
There are many companies that claim
to have designed, assembled and tested
their products in the United States,
but for most of them, it is not true.
DATUSA™ is a qualification created by
USAG that certifies a product was fully
designed, assembled and tested in the
United States. There are many benefits
to buying from a DATUSA supplier—and
once users realize the benefits, it will be
easy for them to spot the box-moving
manufacturers.
Q. What is DATUSA, and how
does it benefit installers and
integrators?
A.DATUSA is an acronym for designed,
assembled and tested in
the United States. It not only ensures that
you have the best made cameras, with the
lowest failure rates on the market, but also
that various components are assembled in
such a way that maximizes performance
every time. For example, many cameras
with varifocal lenses when zoomed out
have black rings around the picture.
The reason users see the black rings is
because the camera was poorly assembled
and the full potential of the camera's zoom
range is lost. The specification sheet says
"4 to 9 millimeter," but that is inaccurate.
DATUSA suppliers supplement the
wide array of solutions with unique features
like WeatherGuard, which seals the
inside of the camera with SAE-AS-8660
military specification sealants. End users
don't have to seal the cameras themselves
or worry whether the cameras were properly
sealed.
DATUSA also saves time and money
because technologies operate consistently
across all models. For example, the ultralow-
light solution will have the exact
same capabilities, and have the same onscreen
display options, whether it is in an
indoor dome camera, a bullet camera or
some other model.
Q. What should installers and integrators
look for in an IP solution?
A. The integration of a CCTV system
on an IP network will invariably
create design and support issues. Inhouse
expertise is required to turn design
obstacles into opportunities and discern
whether technical support issues arose
from the network side, the CCTV side of
the equation or both.
There will be times when end users
need to bridge the gap between IP and analog
systems to lower the customer's total
cost of ownership. You need a partner
that can deliver a powerful solution that
works simultaneously with IP and analog
cameras. Hybrid video recorders are both
powerful and cost effective, and you can
have up to 32 analog and 32 IP cameras
connected on the same system.
Setting your customers' expectations
is of paramount importance. For example,
integrators should communicate the limitations
of megapixel IP cameras before installing
such a system. There is no doubt
they have their uses, but it is important to
let customers know of the limitations.
Frame rate is one thing, but you are not
going to get real-time display or recording
at megapixel-level resolutions without
the most costly solutions. The processing
power is just not available. Another issue
with most megapixel cameras is they perform
poorly under low-light conditions.
Q. You believe low noise lowers
total cost of ownership. Can
you elaborate?
A. Low noise provides many benefits
to the customer, including more
storage space. Picture noise wastes massive
amounts of storage when recording
based on motion detection because the
changes from frame to frame are actually
recorded. Noise introduces a massive
amount of change between frames.
DNR3D2 allows users to store far more
video data on the hard drive. It also includes
faster searches. Customers will not
need to spend time searching through the
extra noise data recorded in motion detection
applications to find the video data
they need.
There also is less wear and tear on a
DVR/NVR. The more you are recording,
the more you are wearing out your video
recorder. Finally, there is less bandwidth.
On IP systems, noise becomes a bottleneck,
taking up bandwidth on the network
and bogging down the system.
In addition to lower total cost of ownership,
reduced noise allows users to set
motion alerts without worrying about
false alarms due to picture noise.
Q. Where do you see the future of
the industry?
A. You can adapt to change faster by
partnering with a reliable provider.
When the next generation of sensor technology
comes out, a reliable partner will
be able to test the technology in-house and
implement it in its current models quickly.
IP certainly looms large going forward.
This leads to more complex setups
and new challenges for the integrator and
installer. The best solution under these
conditions is to find a partner who can
solve their problems. USAG is ahead of
the curve in offering support for IP applications.
We have experienced technicians
available 24/7 who speak many languages
and have experience in analog, IP and hybrid
CCTV applications.
We think the future is bright as end
users begin to realize that CCTV can
be applied in applications that increase
revenues or reduce costs, such as people
counting or point of sale solutions. Delivering
the right solutions to your customers
will be the key.