The trend of 960H

960H is the name given to a series of CCD image sensors developed by the Sony Corporation. These CCD image sensors are capable of capturing video images at a resolution of 960 horizontal pixels by 480 vertical pixels.

The 960H CCD sensor is often used in conjunction with Sony's DSP, which enhances the quality of the video image. The DSP series collaborates with Sony's sensors, supporting wide dynamic range, backlight control, de-noising, and low-light features.

Korean companies such as Nextchip are suppliers of sensors and DSP as well. Nextchip offers two sensors as alternatives to Sony. Despite network and HD-SDI surveillance solution providers gaining market share, 960H is gaining ground with its price/performance ratio.

Targeted Customers
Banking, gaming, and military applications are segments which have greater demand for 960H solutions, said Alex Iida, Senior Manager of Visual Security Solutions for APAC at Sony Electronics. “Using IP or HD-SDI systems, the resolution will be higher than that of 960H analog cameras. However, 960H will appeal to customers who already have analog systems infrastructure in place, those who cannot transfer to IP systems immediately, or those, typically casinos, who cannot accept the latency of IP systems and want to monitor clear images. The demand for 960H exists worldwide, especially in developed countries where analog system infrastructures are already established. Comparatively, these areas have seen increased demand for 960H. In APAC, banking and casino applications are leading the demand for 960H in countries like Macau, China, Singapore, and Australia. We would like to promote not only the high resolution provided by 960H image sensors, but also the high sensitivity in order to enhance expansion to other applications and customers from different verticals.”

Potential
Sony is optimistic about the potential of 960H. Iida said, “Currently, based on shipping performances and the feedback from the market, 960H products have started to gain greater prominence in the market. In addition, shipping results of 960H's CCD imager and platform by vendors other than Sony also show this expected outcome as has been scheduled. (At this moment, Sony is the only manufacturer producing 960H imagers, so our shipping performance is an indication of growth in this market).”

“Of course, low-end cameras still use old platform imagers, but we believe the transition will advance in a matter of time. The reason we believe so is that those vendors adopting 960H are not just well-known branded companies, but also vendors from emerging countries that have started to adopt 960H. The market does not acknowledge the products as ‘960H,' but rather acknowledges the 960H platform which enables analog cameras to have higher resolution of more than 650 TVL with high sensitivity.

“Thus, we have no doubt that the 960H market will expand further as we begin to support DVR with 960H.” Xuping Zhong, Product Engineer at Dahua Technology agreed. “Although the image quality is superior on an IP or HD-SDI based system, 960H gives better image quality than a standard analog system with affordable price, which is appealing enough to certain users. Like HD-SDI solutions, no recabling work is required for existing coaxial infrastructure. 960H offers an instant affordable upgrade path for moderate picture improvement.”

There is little doubt that HD is the future. HD-SDI solutions do cater to markets where IP does not make much sense. 960H will increase market share to those who already have analog infrastructure in place, yet cannot migrate to HD immediately. Customers are definitely winners as these competing and complementing technologies are creating more options and better products. As the reign of analog is coming to a close, a more vivid era of surveillance is emerging. We will discuss possible HD-SDI deployment issues how to avoid them, and things to bear in mind for installers/SIs in the next issue.