Issue link: https://securitytechnologyexecutive.epubxp.com/i/530736
20 SECURITY TECHNOLOGY EXECUTIVE • May/June 2015 www.SecurityInfoWatch.com SURVEILLANCE CAMERA TECHNOLOGY W ill this battle for pixel supremacy ever end? Have we finally reached the point where we are willing to concede that packing another million or so pixels onto a sensor really isn't going to provide any discernable advantage for secu- rity professionals? If you attended any of the major tradeshows over the last year the answer would be a resounding NO! Despite the limitations of a niche offering, manufac- turers still seem to equate more pixels to bet- ter image quality and so the one-upmanship continues. But what we should actually be talking about is Image Usability –how well an image meets the operational requirements of a given scene. Adding more pixels only affects resolution, often at the expense of other factors that drive image usabil- ity such as color rendition, frame rate, and aspect ratio. This brings us to an all impor- tant distinction between megapixel and Ultra High Definition Standard (UHDTV) more commonly referred to as 4K. W hile people often think of the two technologies as interchangeable, they are not. In fact, when you compare 4K cameras to their megapixel cousins, the only thing they have in common is the resolution. Only 4K adheres to a rigorous standard Will 4K Video Deliver a Knockout Punch to Megapixel Technology? Will this battle for pixel supremacy ever end? Have we finally reached the point where we are willing to concede that packing another million or so pixels onto a sensor really isn't going to provide any discernable advantage for security professionals? Image Courtesy of BigStock.com Both 4K and megapixel cameras provide real value for security practitioners