HD-SDI: Basic information for HD-SDI camera

HD-SDI (High Definition Serial Digital Interface) is the term that commonly referred to the SMPE292M standard and defined as transmit high-definition uncompressed video (1280 x 720, 1920 x 1080 or 2048 x 1080) over coaxial cable up to distances of  maximum 100 meters.

Until recently the only way to have a quality Megapixel video surveillance camera was entering the IP world, but it has difficulties for setting and network configuration. However, thanks to HD-SDI camera  is no longer necessary to abandon the world of the "traditional CCTV" to enjoy the highest quality of image.

HD-SDI is a new concept to the world of CCTV but is a standard widely used in the industry of television where you need to work with high quality video.

Click on the images below to compare the analog quality (700 TVL captured in a DVR D1 camera) against the quality HD-SDI (new camera and HD-SDI recorder).

HD-SDI advantages over traditional CCTV and IP cameras

• High resolution images up to 2K (2048 x 1080) against the traditional CCTV which does not exceed the 704 × 576.
• Easy installation to follow the same procedures as in traditional CCTV.
• Ease of replacement of traditional CCTV to HD-SDI facilities simply by changing the equipment (cameras and recorder) already that all wiring is reusable.
• There is no loss of quality, since the images do not have to suffer any type of compression to differences of other standards like MPEG4 or H.264.
• Removed the video latency associated with the compression and decompression is subjected to video in IP systems. This makes it possible to applications where they can't afford any delay between an event and its visualization.

What is needed for the installation of CCTV in high definition HD-SDI?

• Camera with HD-SDI interface.
• Traditional coaxial cable.
• Recorder compatible with the HD-SDI interface.

Note: It is interesting to clarify that although the cameras connectors are BNC, unless the video in PAL format (traditional CCTV), cannot be connected directly to TVs or monitors classic video input without using a HD-SDI to HDMI converter. In any case, as in any CCTV installation the most common is to use own recorders HD-SDI output HDMI connection so no use of these adapters will be necessary.

What is HDCCTV?

Some companies in the sector have formed the HDCCTV Alliance to define a test protocol certifying that a manufacturer of HD-SDI products is compatible with the rest. I.e., all manufacturers who belong to this Alliance guarantee interoperability between their teams. That said, it is important to clarify that two manufacturers who do not belong to this Alliance can be perfectly compatible among them since all are based on the standard SMPE292 M and only the future will tell if the HDCCTV organization will play an important role in the standardization of HD-SDI products or not.

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