Commonly asked Questions about DigaNET™ HDVAR High Resolution Video and Audio Recorder

Q?: What is Real-Time Recording?

Real-Time recording is the ability of the digital video and audio recorder to capture 30 frames per second (NTSC) or 25 frames per second (fps) of video, with or without audio, and to store this data onto a digital format. Real-time video refers to the video signal from a camera, as well as relates to the video that we receive on a closed circuit television (CCTV) or television set. Many term real-time video as "6 o'clock evening news full motion video".

Q?: Do all digital recorders capture real-time 30 fps video?

Simply put, no, at least not affordably (until now, with DigaNET™ HDVAR).

While digital data storage costs have come down in price with hard drives increasing in size, digital video recorder manufacturers use either MPEG 2, MPEG 4 or Wavelet video compression techniques. Each of these methods takes a very large bandwidth analog video signal, digitizes it, compresses it and then stores the digital data files onto digital medium, (like a hard disk, or automated DAT or AIT tape jukebox). The different types of compression techniques used and how the systems were set to compress the video affects the end result of the video scene. Most digital recorders that try to offer near DVD quality video in real-time, would record the resulting video from 16 cameras over a period of 2 weeks requiring anywhere between 3Tera Bytes (TB) and 7 TB of digital storage. This by user standard is not affordable, therefore video recorder manufacturers offer "time lapse", "frame-by-frame recording", or lower resolution recording to lower costs.

DigaNET™ HDVAR records real time video for 14 days from 16 cameras with 16 audio feeds on 600 GB, using 3 standard, 200 GB EIDE inexpensive internal hard drives.

Each camera requires only approximately 2.5 GB of hard drive space for 24 hours of video and audio recording!

No need to compromise with DigaNET™ HDVAR.

It is DigaNET™'s compression engine!

DigaNET™ HDVAR MPEG 4 Hybrid Compression allows one to record economically video with audio in real time with the smallest of file sizes.

The system may record onto a standard DVD for archival purposes, nearly 2 days of video from 16 video and audio feeds. Competitive manufacturers using consumer electronics and movie based compression such as MPEG 4 allows only for video to be recorded for only approximately 3 hours!

DigaNET™'s unique compression engine allows for "real-time" audio and video recording without the need to reduce resolution or record lower frame rates as with other manufacturers, and does this affordably onto standard IDE hard drives rather than use expensive external RAID arrays or DAT tape juke boxes. Again, other manufacturers rely on these devices as they do not have an efficient compression engine.

Using standard internal EIDE Hard Drives removes the need for larger footprint and more expensive data storage all the while allowing multiple users to have immediate access to recorded files. Other industry peers use massive robotized tape drive arrays which allows only one user at a time to retrieve video in a linear fashion, and at times waiting for video to be retrieved for close to 15 minutes depending where on the tape the recorded data was located (near the end or beginning of the tape).

Q?:How does one review recorded video ands/or audio?

Video obviously may be reviewed at the local recorder level through the use of a graphical user interface with password protection, or via a remote client software application, allowing multiple users to view both previously recorded as well as live cameras using the DigaNET™ HDVAR s/w application.

For court admissibility purposes, digital video recordings need to be authenticated. This means that a proprietary player or software application as descried above is required for the main system user, so as to ensure that none of the recorded data has been tampered with after the recording during the time the data was stored.

To share this authenticated data with other interested parties and not to require specific software for those users or interested parties such as the Police, News and Television , etc., the recorded files are converted through a special application suite within the DigaNET™recorder creating standard MPEG 4 viewable files. These exported and filtered files may therefore be explored and enhanced etc., without affecting the original authenticated original, using Microsoft Windows Media Player 9 by any party receiving these converted files from the user.

Q?: May one connect from a remote site and view live video as well as playback or retrieve previously recorded audio and video?

Yes

Thanks to the unique compression algorithm used by DigaNET™ HDVAR, firstly, up to 25 cameras may be viewed live by each client software application suite.

Secondly, depending on bandwidth availability, up to 4 or more cameras may be viewed in real-time, live.

Thirdly, the bandwidth requirement will vary based upon video scene activity as the system uses a variable bit rate for video capture and transmission. When movement or motion is increased in the video scene, the variable bit rate and the resulting bandwidth will increase without the loss of resolution, frame rate or detail.

This is especially important when using remotely controlled and viewed Pan and Tilt/Zoom (PTZ) cameras. Using a time lapse or reduced frame rate recorder or network video transmission appliance results in loss of frame rate or detail when cameras are reviewed remotely. This is not the case with DigaNET™ HDVAR. Cameras reviewed are seen in real-time.

Q?: Does DigaNET™ HDVAR feature video motion detection, pre and post alarm event recording, and scheduled recording?

Yes.

While DigaNET™ HDVAR has these common features that are present in most if not all digital video recorders, use of these compromises the video capture and performance of the recording device. With DigaNET™Compression, one no longer needs to compromise on frame record rates, and increasing these when the system detects and alarm or video motion, as HDVAR mat record for a month where competitive systems record for only days.

Having said this, the DigaNET™ HDVAR system typically records video continuously in real-time, and this pre and post event feature based on alarm trigger or via built-in motion sensing may be used to send alarm scenes efficiently to a remote client for user investigation. Therefore, all security needs are covered.

The system is totally flexible and may further extend archival times economically by recording, for example, all cameras 1 half rate (15 frames per second), and recording pre and post event of any ort all cameras in real-time, full 30 frames per second.

Q?: What is so important about "hardware only compression", versus "hardware and software combination compression"?

Most recorders found in the marketplace are PC based. The advantage of the PC is obvious, as these systems may be interconnected with other database systems or access and alarm control systems, as most all operate within the Microsoft T Operating System environment

Having said this, manufacturers use a PCI slot compression card such as an MPEG1, MPEG2 or MPEG 4 capture device to first digitize the analog signal coming from the camera. Once digitized, a software suite within the application further interpolates and compresses these video inputs, "hybridizing", or "waveletizing" the original hardware capture data stream. As the software application does this additional compression, this process relies on the overhead of the PC and its CPU. Most if not all recorders in the market today use this technique, and as CPU resources are taxed at very high thresholds this causes instability on the recorder side.

The DigaNET™ HDVAR "hardware compression" only.

One PCI slotted card digitizes and authenticated 4 video and audio streams.

Using a Pentium T 4 processor and Intel motherboard, DigaNET™ HDVAR only uses a maximum of 2% CPU resources. This creates stability within the PC platform as well as allows the system to be called on to do other functions, without affecting the recorder performance.

Q?: How many cameras may I record with HDVAR?

DigaNET™ HDVAR comes in a rack mount style enclose that May record 4,8,12 or 16 audio and video channels. Also available are desktop style appliances for smaller installations. Both have the same features and benefits.

Any recorders may be tied together on a network, allowing DigaNET™HDVBAR Client Operator Playback and Review software to view a mix and match of up to 25 cameras or sites among any number of recorders.

Q?: Will adding additional cameras to a recording appliance decrease the recording frame rate?

NO

Every camera may be recorded at anywhere from between 1 and 30 frames per second, with fully synchronized audio, even at the lower frame rates. Adding cameras or compression cards to the recorder does not affect overall system performance, resolution, or real-time capture rate capability.

Q?: May I program the deployed recorders remotely?

YES

The DigaNET™ HDVAR recorders may be programmed either locally or remotely

Back To Top