Fall 2010 Newsletter
Shedding Some Light on
IP Camera Performance
Megapixel IP cameras don’t live up to their full potential without good lighting. They will not be able to deliver a superior image without it. Adequate lighting is even more important to modern megapixel IP cameras than it was with the previous generations of analog camera technology. The higher the resolution of the camera, the less sensitive it is to light. Megapixel IP cameras need increased light levels to deliver high quality images during the hours of darkness.
Good light levels are needed not only to ensure that every pixel is sufficiently energized, allowing the cameras’ superior resolution to be achieved, but more importantly, to make sure that video compression works most efficiently. Video compression is an essential part of the megapixel camera’s operation. Without it, more video data has to be transmitted and stored. This additional data requires more network bandwidth and storage space-which costs more.
Megapixel IP cameras can produce a very noisy image without sufficient lighting the same way analog cameras do. The noise in the image prevents video compression from working efficiently. This is because most compression techniques are based on the principle of only sending the updated data, those parts of the image that have moved or changed. The problem is that even though the scene may be static, the compression software interprets the noise in a poorly-lit scene as if the whole scene is "moving." This results in larger amounts of useless data from the noise that are transmitted and stored.
There are two main ways of lowering the bandwidth usage with IP cameras. Utilizing sophisticated compression algorithms and/or by the use of appropriate CCTV lighting. Without good lighting – and therefore without effective video compression - a small number of IP megapixel cameras can place an excessive data load on a CCTV system’s bandwidth and storage capability.
Principles of good lighting should be followed, ensuring that good quality, even illumination is present across the whole scene. New lighting technology, both Infra-Red and White-Light, are designed to make this easy and affordable and to bring out the best performance in all CCTV cameras.
Lighting options are available for every application, from units specifically designed for dome cameras, to the latest plug-and-play dedicated PoE lighting for network cameras that are powered from existing network infrastructure; saving time and costs during installation. These are all based on energy-efficient LED technology that is inexpensive to run, long-lasting and maintenance free. The benefits of good lighting are numerous, and now we can add another one: good lighting allows megapixel and IP cameras to deliver high quality images, while reducing bandwidth and storage requirements and costs. Contact your Will Electronics Account Manager to find out how LED lighting can improve the performance of your CCTV System.
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3 Megapixel IP Camera at 90 feet
with LED White-Light
