4K CCTV is the latest advancement on the market and the obvious benefits speak for themselves, crystal clear images. But, aside from having crisper images are there any good reasons to shell out on upgrading.
Over the last couple of years, the technology has moved on a long way and new compression systems has allowed recording at this high level to avoid being restricted by storage constraints, thanks to this adding 4K CCTV Systems is the best way to guarantee the best possible results.
WHAT IS 4K?
4K is the latest in video technology, it offers the clearest picture available. Showing far more detail than full HD. In terms of Mega Pixels, it’s the difference between 2MP and 8MP CCTV cameras, or simply cameras in general. A full HD image is 1080p high and 1920p wide, 4K almost doubles this size meaning that their overall resolution is four times the size.
WHAT IS 4K CCTV?
Sometimes called UHD CCTV (ultra-high definition) offering a resolution of 4096 x 2160 pixels making it the largest high-resolution technology on the market. This allows you to use less cameras and improves facial recognition, ANPR and other newer CCTV system technologies.
BENEFITS OF 4K CCTV
The main benefits of 4K CCTV go beyond the obvious of better image quality, a couple of the less often realised benefits are that:
- Less cameras are required to cover a defined area
- You can zoom further into the recorded image after the fact
This means that the footage recorded is going to be far more useful if you want to make out facial features with your CCTV Cameras and if placed correctly you can use half as many 4k CCTV Cameras against older HD CCTV Cameras.
HOW TO SET UP 4K CCTV SYSTEMS?
Setup and installation of 4K CCTV systems is no different to setting up any other standard PoE CCTV Cameras, one cable (either CAT5e or CAT6 typically) run directly to the cameras from the switch or NVR and away you go one cable to transfer both the power and the video signal. When installing the system make sure you can plug the NVR or XVR (video recorder) into a power supply and that should be it.
Over longer range installs you may require signal boosters, to avoid signal degradation, however, this is only applicable to installs where the cable runs 100s of meters from the NVR to the camera. After you’ve connected the NVR to the cameras connect up a CCTV monitor and if necessary PTZ controls. Of course, you’ll want a 4K CCTV monitor to get the best out of your new 4K CCTV Cameras, we recommend IIYAMA as they’re tailored specifically to CCTV Cameras, there is a difference between normal screens and screens designed for consistent live feeds. In the same way that you’ll be better served with a specialised CCTV Hard drive for your 4K CCTV System. In this case the difference is that the hard drive is designed to be in constant use, and to compress the data more efficiently than one for a PC. Standard hard drives are far more prone to failure due to this type of use.
WILL 4K CCTV SYSTEMS NEED MASSIVE HARD DRIVES?
It’s definitely true that 4K CCTV is going to take up more space on hard drives, but all our cameras use high quality compression (HEVC or High Efficiency Video Coding) this helps keeps the files to a manageable size without losing any of the 4K video quality.
4K AUTOFOCUS CCTV CAMERAS
Autofocus CCTV cameras maximise the visual range of 4K CCTV cameras allowing installers to use even less cameras to cover a wide field of vision as well as ensuring that the subject is in focus.