With the continuous drop in the cost of networking and storage, and the increase in available bandwidth,
a new breed of cameras has emerged. Megapixel cameras are, ironically, JPEG cameras, and so CCTV has
come full circle. They are so-called because just as in personal digital cameras, they are high resolution
and contain a million pixels or more. They offer an outstanding image for live viewing, but their true
strength lies in their ability to resolve extremely fine detail when digital zooming is used in forensics.
Image at 4 CIF (704x480), 1,280x970 and 2,592x1,944. When digitally zoomed to the same size, images become pixilated and less clear, as shown below with the smaller megapixel image.
A 4CIF image is 704x480 pixels, whereas a megapixel camera might be anywhere from 1,280x720 to 2,592x1,944. With the higher pixel count comes higher bit-rates. For higher frame-rates you should budget for 10-20x the bandwidth and storage costs. For most applications this is prohibitively high, however megapixel cameras are being successfully adopted in key locations like man-traps, where a couple of shots are taken on alarm, rather than 30 FPS 24x7. This combination of megapixel as well as MPEG-4 technologies offers the same end result, detail where it is needed, without rendering the solution infeasible.
Exacq Hybrid DVR is a perfect example of one DVR that can simultaneously record analog cameras, MPEG-4 IP cameras, MPEG-4 encoders and now megapixel cameras.
The quick apples and pears comparision above shows a Dinion IP camera at 4CIF MPEG-4 consumption vs. 1600x1280 megapixel camera. The ratios are 10x, 13x, 17x and 20x respectively. Of course, this is the price you pay if you need to pick out a license plate number at 100 feet.
Image at 4 CIF (704x480), 1,280x970 and 2,592x1,944. When digitally zoomed to the same size, images become pixilated and less clear, as shown below with the smaller megapixel image.
A 4CIF image is 704x480 pixels, whereas a megapixel camera might be anywhere from 1,280x720 to 2,592x1,944. With the higher pixel count comes higher bit-rates. For higher frame-rates you should budget for 10-20x the bandwidth and storage costs. For most applications this is prohibitively high, however megapixel cameras are being successfully adopted in key locations like man-traps, where a couple of shots are taken on alarm, rather than 30 FPS 24x7. This combination of megapixel as well as MPEG-4 technologies offers the same end result, detail where it is needed, without rendering the solution infeasible.
Exacq Hybrid DVR is a perfect example of one DVR that can simultaneously record analog cameras, MPEG-4 IP cameras, MPEG-4 encoders and now megapixel cameras.
The quick apples and pears comparision above shows a Dinion IP camera at 4CIF MPEG-4 consumption vs. 1600x1280 megapixel camera. The ratios are 10x, 13x, 17x and 20x respectively. Of course, this is the price you pay if you need to pick out a license plate number at 100 feet.