When a customer inquires about a HD or Megapixel surveillance camera you must be able to define the difference as well as provide the best possible solution for each application. What exactly is HD? What are megapixels?
Here are the basics. SD (standard definition) consists of 704 pixels with 480 lines of resolution….the standard resolution that TVs have used until the introduction of HD or high definition. High definition displays is made up of at least one million pixels. Note that I said at least one million pixels, meaning that a high definition image could contain more than a million pixels. HD images use an aspect ratio of 16:9.
Next we’ll discuss megapixels. A megapixel surveillance camera is capable of generating an image with at least one million pixels or more. Many consumers would assume that HD and megapixel cameras are the same since they both use an identical number of pixels to produce an image. However, one main difference that sets the two apart would be the size of the image. While HD images use the 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio, megapixel surveillance cameras produce images in a 4:3 aspect ratio. One similarity with the two types of cameras is that they both use the same video compression, which is H.264.
In the end, knowing the differences and similarities of HD and Megapixel cameras can make or break a sales pitch. Customers want to be well versed and expect the salesman to be knowledgeable.