Since the invention of the first analog video camera, it was
natural to compare these devices to the human eye. Focus, light
sensitivity, iris, lens, focal length and aperture are terms
used to describe both. Cameras in surveillance were created to
see what we as humans couldn’t. Yet in the analog CCTV world,
the comparisons stopped at seeing. In the world of IP video,
cameras are computers that can see. When we talk of computers,
we talk of artificial intelligence. We talk of memory. Today we
can compare an IP video system to the human eye and the brain.
There are some areas today where the IP camera bests even our
own human abilities, but also qualities where a surveillance
system will never replace human intelligence or intuition. How
do we stack up today with our IP video devices, and where will
we fall behind in the future? Seeing is believing Let’s start
with the obvious comparison: the IP camera and the human eye.
While there’s no perfect calculation, the whole eye is said to
have a total resolution of