In this article I will focus on megapixels and how they factor into video surveillance solutions.
The term megapixel is a term used to describe picture quality of various IP surveillance camera recordings.
A well-designed system based upon your needs should be attainable with the use of 2 megapixel to 8 megapixel images. As video cameras, servers, and network technologies continue to get better this “sweet spot” number should increase as well.
For reference, a 1080p television image is just over two megapixels. If you have spent any time watching a 1080p television and then had to revert back to a traditional analog show, you were undoubtedly able to tell the difference.
Why Megapixels Matter
In addition to the overall clarity of the image, the megapixel video camera resolution is relevant when a customer wants to zoom in (digitally) on something in a video recording.
Just like when you “pinch” zoom a picture on your smart phone, as you continue to zoom in on digital video camera recordings, the recordings will become blurry (pixelated) once you have zoomed in too far.
Generally speaking, the more megapixels your images contain, the more you should be able to zoom in and look at some of the finer details of a camera’s recordings.
Megapixel Tradeoffs
The trade-off in achieving high megapixel images are frames per second, recording storage space, and overall network load.
- As image size increases the camera’s frames per second decreases.
- As image sizes increase, the recording space needs to increase as well to accommodate the additional data.
- Network load must also be considered when installing a large number of video cameras on a network.
In conclusion we recommend going with the highest resolution cameras that your budget can afford and your network can handle, but a buyer should certainly be aware of “too much of a good thing”.
Other factors such manufacturer, lens quality, image sensor size, and networking should also be considered as well when purchasing an IP camera system. These other components will be addressed in future articles.
