TV Lines and Camera Resolution

The main determinant of sharp picture quality in a CCTV camera is the number of TV lines in the picture or video it produces. TV lines are like stripes used to paint a picture. The greater the number (more stripes), the more details and the better the overall picture quality.

Standard resolution cameras have TV lines which range from 350 to 420 while high resolution ones have TV lines which range from 480 to 700. Some CCTV manufacturers mark up the TV lines of their cameras in order to differentiate their products and make them look superior than others. If a camera seems too good to be true, it usually is. The real test for determining picture quality is to perform a side by side test with similar cameras. At the same resolution (standard or high), quality cameras from trusted brands usually produce superior picture quality than cameras from untrusted sources.