With technological advancement and improved transmission conditions, the demand for higher clarity in surveillance images continues to grow. The most prominent advantage of 4K technology lies in the enhanced display resolution, delivering much finer surveillance footage. Two key factors affect image sharpness in surveillance: the total pixel count and the vertical resolution of the image. The higher the pixel count, the finer the presentation on a screen of the same size, with smaller pixel grains. Below, the editor from Kaimorui introduces the SONY Module 4K HD Encoding Control Board.

4K adopts the resolution standard for a new generation of Hollywood blockbusters. It differs from regular HDTV (1080P, 1920×1080 resolution) for home viewing and the 2K large screens of traditional digital cinemas (2048×1080 resolution). Instead, it delivers ultra-fine images at 4096×2160 resolution. A conventional HDTV image contains 2.07 million pixels, a traditional digital cinema image has 2.21 million pixels, while a 4K cinema image reaches 8.85 million pixels.

In digital technology, binary arithmetic is commonly used, and digital image size is described by the pixels forming the image. Since digital images contain massive pixel quantities, the unit "K" is generally adopted. 2 to the power of 10 equals 1024. Therefore: 1K=2¹⁰=1024, 2K=2¹¹=2048, 4K=2¹²=4096.

For digital cinema applications, a 2K image normally consists of 2048×1080 pixels, where 2048 refers to the horizontal pixel count and 1080 the vertical pixel count. A 4K image is composed of 4096×2160 pixels, with 4096 as horizontal pixels and 2160 as vertical pixels. During actual digital master production and digital projection, the horizontal or vertical pixel count of images needs adjustment according to different aspect ratios.

The 4K UHD SONY module employs a 10-bit or even 12-bit video codec system, achieving highly precise color rendering. It outperforms HD systems in both grayscale transition and color depth gradation, delivering richer color layers and better visual presence to restore real-life scenes more authentically.

Similar to HD applications, a 4K UHD video surveillance system requires matching back-end capabilities for image and video storage, transmission, encoding/decoding and intelligent analysis, besides front-end video data acquisition. In terms of core image sensors, UHD video acquisition generates approximately 2 to 4 times the data volume of HD video. Its acquisition performance imposes substantially higher requirements on indicators including resolution, high quantization levels, wide color gamut, high dynamic range and high signal-to-noise ratio.