I'm gonna guess that the property featured in the OP's post retrofitted older analog cams and had existing coax in place? I think a lot of folks go HDCVI like I did at home because A) it's a bit less complex for those of us who aren't network engineers and like the simplicity, B) Utilizing existing infrastructure can be a factor vs running new cable. (although I already had
Cat5 run to my original plain analog system from 2012)
Sure HDCVI is a
bit cheaper, but really that wasn't the deciding factor for me, and the cost isn't
that much less. The
CVI Starlights I have are $140 from China, and the other top end cams are in the $100-$125 ea range
I manage a number of IP cams that record to a cloud based offering for the HOA so I understand the very basics of IP, but honestly for my requirements, they dont do anything the CVI cams can't do. Quality is on par, especially at the Starlight level
including PTZ and even the new panoramic 2MP multi-sensor.
4MP is widely available also, with 4K cams just now being released as well, though so far I'm happy with the 2MP Starlights.
There are certainly a few advantages to IP and a few limitations to CVI, and I am in the process of adding some IP cams to my mixed Hybrid DVR environment, but at the end of the day I really don't care about the technology that gets me the video, as long as quality and usability is comparable.