camera spec help

[Slim3001 0]

Hay guys just wonted to ask if anyone could tell me some bits to look out for when looking to buy cctv cameras.

 

Something like this comes up a lot with camera spec's

 

Image Sensor size 1/3 or 1/4 whats the better size to go for

 

TVL most common I see is 420 / 460 /520 I know there more but most shops seem to sell this spec

 

thanks guys

[Soundy 1]

All else being equal, the larger the sensor, the better the image quality (in general). The sensor sizes are in inches, so 1/3" is larger than 1/4".

 

And again, all else being equal, the higher the TVL number, the better the image... problem is, all else is rarely equal. TVL ("TV lines") indicates the sensor's actual resolution, but some cameras fudge this number, so it's a rough indication only.

[Slim3001 0]

Hay thanks m8 so lower the number the bigger the Sensor is.

 

If you have 2 cam's all the same spec just about both with say 1/3 ccd but 1 is a 420 the othere 520 should there be a massive difference in the video quality when used day and night.

[Soundy 1]

Not lower... 1/3 (one third) is bigger than 1/4 (one quarter).

 

You won't necessarily see much of a difference between 420 and 520TVL, because the quality will also be affected by the post-processing, and if you're watching on a DVR, on the resolution, compression and quality of the digitizer as well.