Frame Rate

The recording frame rate is measured in frames per second (fps) (sometimes referred to as Images per second (ips). 25 frames per second per channel is considered ‘real-time’, this means a 4 channel system would need to record at 100fps to record real-time on all 4 channels.

“The thing to keep in mind here is the fact the more images being recorded per second, means the hard drive within the Digital Video Recorder is having to store more information every second. So it will reach capacity quicker and start to rewrite itself”

You will see that many ‘budget’ Digital Video Recorders do not offer real-time and the Digital Video Recorders that do often allow the frame rate to be manually adjusted to your choice. Just because a Digital Video Recorder is capable of real-time recording does not make it compulsory. There is, in most cases, no law requiring a certain frame rate for images to be used as evidence. As it is the quality of each image that is important. So you need to use the frame rate depending on what you need to see being recorded.

For example, if you were using your CCTV system in a shop and a camera was trying to record the faces of people as they entered your shop. These people might only be in view of that particular camera for a single second, so it would be wise to make sure you got several images in that second, so you had a good chance of a recognisable image. 6-12 fps would be suitable.

Then, in the same shop you may have a camera in a corner looking down at an overall picture of the entrance and shopping area, this camera might only require a few images per second, as this would be enough for you to see what these people did while in your shop. As they are not going to enter your shop, walk around, and leave all within the space of 1 second. 3 fps would be suitable.