We’re back again with another top 5 reasons list for you today, thanks for joining us! Today’s article and the video that goes along with it are all about Coaxial Cable (or COAX) Cameras and the primary benefits of choosing them instead of going with Network or IP Cameras. Both of the Camera types- COAX and IP- have reasons that make them a great pick for different circumstances. There is no clear “best pick” between these options, so we don’t want to give you the impression that one camera type is “better” than the other. Today we just want to go over what specific features COAX cameras have, and point out situations you might find them the preferable option- and why. First, it helps to know what a COAX camera is, and why it’s different from an IP camera.
COAX Cameras have been around a long time- much longer than their IP counterparts. In fact, they used to use exclusively use analog signals to transfer their video data and had extremely poor resolution standards compared to today’s technology. Today COAX cameras can now transfer audio, video, and other data right over the COAX cable as a digital HD signal. COAX cameras are still widely used throughout the industry and most existing Closed Circut Television (or CCTV) systems that have been around and still going since as soon as the early 2000s are likely to be COAX based systems. Check out our video, and/or read on to find out how COAX cams can be beneficial and are still a very relevant technology even today!
The TOP 5 Reasons to Go with COAX Cameras:
Reason #1: Cost, Cost, Cost $$$
Coax cameras are almost universally more cost-effective than their IP counterparts. Often, a comparable coax camera will run less than half of the price of an equal quality IP camera. While IP cameras have a lot of onboard technology that allows them to do many things right on the camera- COAX cameras don’t need this extra hardware as the DVRs they work with handle all the processing they need. without the additional processing hardware and network technology found in IP cameras, coax cameras can be manufactured to perform the same or similar jobs for substantially less. This cost is then handed down to the consumer. Dealers and Installers tend to see the most benefit from this as the cost of a large number of cameras over manny jobs adds up fast! With the lower cost of COAX cameras, an entire job can be sold for thousands less and accomplish the same, or close enough to the same goals rather than going with IP.
Reason #2: Existing Installations are made easier.
As we mentioned above, COAX has been around a lot longer than IP cameras. we also mentioned that because of this, many existing installations and systems currently in use right now are already COAX. This means an installer has already done the work of running much of the following cables for video, audio, PTZ controls, and power. The amount of time and labor spent running brand new cables can be very hefty, and require modifications to existing land or construction that may not be welcome or desired. When one of these older systems breaks down, or simp;y is old enough that its time to upgrade- being able to utilize the existing infrastructure rather than quoting, and performing new cable runs can be the difference in cost and time between landing the contract for that job or not. As mentioned above Cost is key, and since labor, materials, and time translate to cost you can look at reason #2 as an expansion of reason #1. but outside of cost and time, it is just easier to work with existing cabling. This means even if your not an installer, and simply redoing your own system, COAX might be the way to go if you have the cables already ran.
Reason #3: Better quality Images than Ever Before
ITs true that IP cameras are generally considered first when we are talking about really advanced features- including superhigh resolution or image quality. This has since changed and nowadays COAX cameras are catching up in image quality to the IP world. For a long time the best image quality you could expect to get from a COAX camera was 720p, and soon after 1080p – also known as 2 megapixels- became the COAX industry standard. We are happy to say that this is now even further, as we feature COAX cameras that can record all the way up to 4k – or 8 Megapixel- resolution. That’s right, no more is COAX held back by image quality, 4K is here to stay and is completely possible now even with a totally COAX setup.
Reason #4: Coax Cameras are not “Brand Locked”.
Currently, there are a lot of different CCTV manufacturers on the market- and it can be unclear what product from which manufacturers are compatible with each other. This issue is particularly present with IP cameras, which often feature an ‘exclusive’ level of compatibility and feature use when paired with recorders from the same manufacturer. The ONVIF protocol was designed to allow cameras to properly communicate across brands- but it doesn’t always work 100% of the time or offer every feature or option to be available. Since COAX cameras simply take in audio and video and send that data to the recorder for processing0 they don’t often have this problem with brand crossing if at all. This means that while an IP camera from brand A, might not work with a recorder from Brand B- you won’t have to really worry about this at all with COAX cameras and can simply look for the best price for the camera type you need, without worrying your purchase won’t function as intended.
Reason #5: Far less network crowding.
Unlike IP cameras that communicate digitally over the network- Coax cameras simply send an isolated video signal directly to the Recorder. This means you won’t be forced to crowd your existing network with extra data- or be forced to build a second network to avoid the bandwidth clog. You’ll only have to consider the bandwidth used by the system if it sends data over the web, like to your smartphone.
There are plenty of reasons to consider COAX cameras- but these were our Top 5. If you enjoyed the video, don’t forget to hit that like button and subscribe for more content! For more information on IP cameras, pricing or compatibility- don’t hesitate to give one of our Sales Pro’s a call at 561-288-5258.
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