Poor CCTV camera quality!

I wasn't quite sure where this should be posted, but has anyone ever noticed how poor alot of CCTV camera footage seems to be?

Shows like Crimewatch (UK) show footage of burglars, rapist and murders and then zoom in on the image, freeze frame and ask "HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MAN?"

At which point all you can see alot of the time is a blurry grainy image, pixelated with a typical looking brown haired man in jeans and a tshirt walking by.

Surely there are decent CCTV cameras out there? Why does it seem alot of them (UK anyway) from what i've seen have poor resolution?

I agree, but i think that nowadays the poor quality cameras will be the ones that are private ones (businesses and the likes) rather than the ones the police use.

I may be wrong on that. I know that even 15 years ago we had cctv in South Armagh that could pick out the hairs on your backside from a decent distance away. They must have improved since then.

Expense i would imagine would have a lot to do with it.

CX.


[edit on 12/6/09 by CX]

Originally posted by CX
I agree, but i think that nowadays the poor quality cameras will be the ones that are private ones (businesses and the likes) rather than the ones the police use.

I may be wrong on that. I know that even 15 years ago we have cctv i South Armagh that could pick out the hairs on your backside from a decent distance away. They must have improved since then.

Expense i would imagine would have a lot to do with it.

CX.

This is what i thought, there must decent quality cameras available.

One i can think of, was outside a McDonalds fast food Restaurant , and the quality of the camera was very poor, worse than that of my less than 1 megapixel webcam built into my laptop, haha.

reply to post by Lister87


Perhaps the quality has to do with the video feed being recorded onto a video instead of digitally or on a CD/DVD.

I used to work at a Chick-fil-a before I started college and there was a camera in the corner of the section facing out into the mall. It feed upstairs and went onto a TV and was recorded. On the TV, it looked fine. Not sure what it looked like on the video, but, I would bet that it wasn't as good.

reply to post by Lister87


Most camera kits come with decent cameras but they are used for a certain range. I have 8 cams around my house and when I purchased them they have a 40 foot range. They are day/night vision and are good but only for certain applications. I purchased cameras seperately to upgrade the system and will eventually get better ones.

I use the forty foot range for close entrance shots and have a couple with 200 foot zoom. They have ones that will blow these away with pan/tilt zoom but now you have to pay some serious money.

Here's a website where I got my setup for my pc. I'm sure there are probably better sights but I have no problems with my system and know everything going on around my house.It records I can access it from anywhere I am ,even when on vacation.

Security Cams

I would never be without cameras again. I have then mounted in plain sight wich is also a deterent but most people are so preoccupied that they still don't know the cams are there. I mainly catch lots of accidents.

Basically though, it's the camera they are using and can upgrade if they weren't so cheap. Something else to consider is the size difference. My 200" zoom is about 6x'x the size om my 40' one

Edit to add: cameras also come with so many lines of resolution which is a big factor in quality


[edit on 12/6/2009 by Revealation]

i think its mostly budget, new better cameras come out every year so they just keep using what they bought in 98 until its too poor of quality or damage.
with hd and digital recordng i would expect image quality to greatly improve these next few years.

we will be watching crimewatch in 3d mabye.