Page 24 - Campus Security & Life Safety, January/February 2020

Eight Times the Power
8K Cameras for security and why it is a trend worth noting
By Aaron Saks
Video Surveillance
“As camera resolution increases, we can install fewer cameras while collecting
Mmore data than ever before.”
any of us may have 4K television sets in our homes that look incredible compared to previous generation HD sets. You might also recall that moving from SD to HD was a major upgrade. While 4K does not represent the leap in quality
that we saw going from SD to HD, it is natural to assume that 8K is going to look that much better than 4K. However, it is really not about “looks”, and it never really has been. Instead, it is about control.
For example, TV crews have been filming in 4K, 6K and even 8K ever since such cameras have been available. Not because they expect
their shows to be watched on 4K or higher resolution TVs, but because the directors and editors have more control on how the imag- es are framed for the audience.
The ability to digitally pan around and zoom or “crop” an image allows video editors to pick the precise area of interest that best tells the story. In addition, the ability to do this as a “post-process” is more compelling, since directors and producers are not locked into the composition “as shot” in the field.
Why Do We Need More Pixels in the Security Market?
If you digitally zoom in on a 1080p HD image that is already dis- played at full size, such as on an HD monitor, the quality of the image quickly deteriorates. Distinguishing features of faces that could help security professsionals identify a suspect become blurred and pix- elated with as little as 10 percent zoom, depending on how close and in-focus they were in the first place.
For this reason, more than any other, a higher pixel density can
24 campuslifesecurity.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020