Frustrated with the poor image quality and/or interfaces of our existing IP cameras, it’s time to search for better alternatives. New trends in IP camera technology include megapixel sensors, h.264 video encoding and, reportedly, open standards. There are several interesting open standards cameras on the market already:

• The stunningly high resolution Elphel series, which have a HD ‘film’ maker/developer community around them.
• The Freescale i.MX27 open reference design, again with a developer and enthusiast community.
• Enthusiast-developed projects around existing (proprietory interface) IP cameras; Edimax make some very affordable cameras, there are similarities between this and the famous Linksys WRT-54g firmware projects.
• Axis, one of the leading IP video hardware manufacturers, already has a history of open-standards involvement and is a part of the ONVIF open-interface group.