Bosch gets into HD

FAIRPOINT, N.Y.—Saying the market is now ready, Bosch Security in late January made the move into HD products, introducing a new line that includes cameras, video management software, storage solutions, and monitors.

“HD and megapixel cameras have been in the consumer market on the security side for a number of years, but there's not been widespread adoption up until now,” said Willem Ryan, product marketing manager for Bosch Video Solutions. Adoption within security has accelerated recently because of technological advances, lower costs and more need in the market, he said.

The advent of the H.264 compression standard, lower storage costs, and the availability of “powerful, commercial servers off the shelf that you can combine with a Windows operating system that have more powerful throughput,” are making HD cameras more attractive to customers, Ryan said.

“Also we've seen IMS, and Frost and Sullivan predict that in the next five years, the growth of IP networked video will really start to take off ... [and that] HD will be the fastest growing segment of network video products.”

He calls HD the “sweet spot of resolution, where you get the added detail people are looking for in surveillance,” without giant bandwidth consumption and high storage costs. “You don't have to pay an arm and a leg for storage [like you do if] you go above HD resolution,” Ryan said.

Ryan noted that the HD standard is governed by the Federal Communications Commission which stipulates key items such as acceptable resolutions, frame rate and aspect ratio for HD video. "This gives customers assurance that a level of quality will be found in HD [products that meet that standard],” he said.

Ryan said Bosch has begun to see more new specs in the industry calling for HD resolution camera solutions, typically in education, gaming and corrections.

He said Bosch wanted to introduce a complete portfolio of products “to guarantee functionality and quality all the way ... from scene to screen.”

Ryan said that Bosch is known for providing good image quality in any type of light. “That can be a challenge when you go from standard definition to high definition ... we haven't left that philosophy with HD, the image quality is good whether you're dealing with low light, bright light or color renditioning.” Among the products released, Ryan said he's particularly excited about the 20-times zoom, 1080p autodome PTZ. Cameras come with or without a package of Bosch-manufactured analytics.