HD Megapixel Security Camera Remote Viewing

A customer recently contacted us with the following question:

I have a 16 channel DVR with 600 TLV cameras. I am trying to figure out if I will get a better remote

video image over the internet if I get a megapixel camera, say 2 mega pixel, and use the BNC video out and run that to

my DVR?? Or do I need to get an NVR to take advantage of the

better video quality cameras out there for security systems?

CCTV Camera Pros response:

Thank You for contacting CCTV Camera Pros. The options for higher resolution are megapixel IP cameras or HD-SDI CCTV cameras capable of 1080p resolution.

Megapixel IP cameras – https://www.cctvcamerapros.com/Megapixel-IP-Cameras-s/343.htm

HD-SDI CCTV cameras – https://www.cctvcamerapros.com/Geovision-HD-SDI-CCTV-s/620.htm

You can see a sample of an HD-SDI camera video here:

https://www.cctvcamerapros.com/Geovision-HD-SDI-CCTV-s/620.htm#videos

These cameras run over the same RG59 coaxial cable as regular CCTV cameras.

The main challenge is with the remote viewing. Typically, even with megapixel cameras and HD-SDI cameras, the remote viewing client applications stream at a much lower resolution (typically 640 x 480) because of bandwidth constraints. It is still unrealistic today to stream multiple cameras at 1080p resolution over the Internet (especially to mobile devices and apps). Because of this, DVR, NVR, and IP camera software manufacturers support recording at HD resolutions but stream at lower resolutions to remote apps.

Also, this being said, not all DVRs and software are created equal. If you want to login to a demo of our iDVR (one of the best remote viewable CCTV DVRs on the market in my opinion) to see what the resolution looks like to compare to your current DVR, I can email you login instructions.

Last, in answer to your questions, the BNC output of megapixel IP cameras is not the same resolution as the video stream over the network. These BNC outputs are typically in place just so that installers can connect test monitors to focus and adjust the camera angle during installation. The only way to get an HD video resolution over coax cable is to use HD-SDI cameras.

Please let me know.