Tried it: Vivotek H.264 - we're looking again!
This is not the first time we have Vivotek cameras, and hopefully not the last time. We love them, they know everything a person can expect from a security camera, and even a little more.
Our recent article can be considered as a picture report rather than a stand-alone presentation, as the two cameras we visited and tested are not fundamentally much different from the pieces we examined earlier. The main difference was in the type of compression, as the long-established MJPEG format was replaced by the manufacturer with the more efficient H.264.
Today, the H.264 standard has become one of the most commonly used formats for high-definition video and streaming sources. Although the finalization of the standard was completed in 2003, the development of the extensions continued until 2009, further improving the image quality achieved by the compression process, which already has very favorable capabilities.
H.264, also known as MPEG4 AVC, can produce the same quality at a lower bit rate than its predecessors, with substantially double compression compared to MPEG-2. This means that double the amount of information can be stored in the same storage area.
Achieving more compression requires more serious, powerful hardware, so while it was clear that IP-based industrial and security cameras could also deliver significant gains over MJPEG, the technical application was pretty much expected. True, the first devices to use H.264 have been announced for two to three years, and they have cost quite a bit. Nowadays, the time may come for H.264 to become natural with traditional cameras as well.
