Our customers often ask us about CCTV resolution (the recording quality from CCTV cameras). Naturally a customer wants to know how clear the video resolution will be from a system before making a purchase decision. Click here if you would like to skip the details and see our most highly recommended HD CCTV cameras and best 4K security camera DVR for them.
CCTV resolution is measured in vertical and horizontal pixel dimensions and typically limited by the capabilities of both the camera and the recorder that you are using for your CCTV surveillance installation. Legacy CCTV systems use an analog video signal. For television specifications (which CCTV uses) the highest resolution that can be captured and stored is 704 x 480 (NTSC for the United States) and 720 x 576 (PAL for Europe). This resolution is knows as D1 resolution. A high end CCTV recorder is capable of recording at up to D1 resolution. Again, this is the highest resolution available to record on CCTV systems. If someone is telling you something different, they are mistaken. Many stand alone recorders are advertised that they can support real time recording which is 30 frames per second, but if you read the specification of the DVR, they are recording at CIF resolution which is 352 x 240.
HD CCTV Resolution
Here is an important update for 2023! New video surveillance technologies have been introduced such as analog high definition (AHD CCTV). This has replaced the analog CCTV systems described above. These new HD BNC cameras support 720p, 1080p, 4mp, 5mp and 4K HD video resolutions. AHD cameras are hard wired to DVRs using the same type of coaxial cable as traditional CCTV cameras (typically RG59). HD-TVI and HD-CVI are also new video surveillance formats that support HD video over coax cable. The cameras also look just like analog CCTV. Users must use an AHD compatible DVR with AHD cameras. You can find more information on
HD CCTV cameras here. You can learn more about our bets selling Viewtron hybrid CCTV DVRs that support analog CCTV cameras and HD BNC cameras here.
Here is a comparison 4K vs 1080p security camera resolutions. The 4K image was recorded using the
4K-D9 dome camera. The 1080p camera was recorded using this BIPRO-9004 bullet camera. You can see that 4K image is 4 times the size of the 1080p / 2 megapixel resolution image. Please click on the image or on this link to download the full 4K UHD security camera image. This is the surveillance DVR that we recommend for all HD BNC cameras.
4K Surveillance Video (BNC Camera)
Watch this video to see 4K video surveillance footage recorded using a
4K-D9 dome security camera and a 4K security camera DVR. This home security camera system uses a 4K-D9 at the front door. The other 3 cameras in the video are this 4K-BL9 bullet 4K security camera. Please note that this video was made with the previous generation 4K-D9 camera. The latest version is improved.
View Your Security Cameras Remotely from iPhone, Android, Mac & Windows
iPhone App
Android App
Mac Software
Windows CMS Software
You can view your BNC security cameras and network IP cameras live and also playback recorded video surveillance footage from iPhone and Android mobile apps when you connect your camera(s) to a Viewtron DVR or NVR. Windows PC and Mac DVR viewer software (desktop software) is also included. CCTV Camera Pros provides FREE Lifetime Tech Support on all of the products that we supply. Remote access setup is included. Please click on the above links to see why these great apps make the Viewtron IP cameras, DVRs, and NVRs among the Best Surveillance systems available.
Watch this video to see video surveillance footage recorded using this 4mp dome security camera recording to an iDVR-PRO 4K DVR. The 5MP-D5 was running in 4 megapixel HD-TVI mode when this video was recorded.
The below images show you the size of many legacy analog CCTV resolutions, starting with the highest which is D1 resolution. The below images were captured using a
outdoor IR CCTV Camera and a CCTV DVR capable of D1 resolution. The test was performed at night with the cameras IR turned on. This is why the images where captured in black and white.
D1 CCTV resolution is 704 x 480 pixels and is the highest resolution the CCTV system can record at. High end digital video recorders offer this resolution and only the highest end recorders can offer D1 resolution at 30 frames per second recording. CCTV Cameras Pros offers PC based and stand alone DVR systems that can record at D1 resolution. Our
iDVR-RT16 is capable of recording a full 30 frames per second (real time video) at D1 resolution.
CIF CCTV resolution is 352 x 240 pixels in size and is one quarter the resolution of D1. This resolution is typically used by mid level stand alone DVR recorders when recording real time video. It is also typically used by higher end systems for remote Internet viewing (as streaming D1 video for multiple cameras uses a lot of bandwidth).
QCIF CCTV resolution is 176 x 120 pixels in size and is one quarter the size of CIF resolution. This resolution is typically used for remote viewing from a mobile device (cell phone).
Here is a still image captured by an HD CCTV camera at 1080p resolution. Click on the image to see the full sized view and compare it to the other images above.
HD CCTV Resolution
Since this time that this article was originally written, HD CCTV has been introduced into the market which is capable of recording at full 1080p high definition resolution (the same as HDTV). Please take a look at this
article which compares traditional CCTV to HD CCTV.
2023 Update. CCTV Camera Pros no longer recommends HD-SDI security cameras. They have been replaced with HD-TVI and AHD formats which support up to 4K resolution. Please find our recommended
BNC security cameras here.
HD-SDI vs CCTV Video Resolution
Watch the below video to see a comparison of 1080p HD security camera video resolution versus traditional CCTV camera resolution.
Important Note: it is recommended that you watch this video at full 1080p resolution by clicking on the settings button in the YouTube player (the one that looks like a gear) and selecting 1080p HD. Then click on the full screen button to watch in full screen mode.
We hope that you have found this resource page to be helpful. If you have any questions about this page or anything related to CCTV or surveillance systems, please contact us at 1-561-433-8488.
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Author and Publisher
This article was written by
Mike Haldas, co-founder and managing partner of CCTV Camera Pros. Questions about this article can be directed to mike@cctvcamerapros.net.
