High resolution/low fps or low resolution/high fps

[maartenvd84 0]

Hi,

 

I was wondering what your thoughts are on the option that is a lot offered on megapixel camera's...

I own a Acti E72 and have the option to record/stream in different configuration settings.

 

Currently I'm in doubt whether to use:

1) 1920*1080@30fps (16:9)

2) 2048*2036@15fps (4:3)

 

Do you care about losing some fps and have a bigger image field or are those extra 15 fps recommended?

What is typically chosen in professional environments?

 

Thanks!

 

Maarten

[Kawboy12R 0]

I would base my choice on the scene the camera is viewing. Some situations you will want a widescreen view and others you will want 4:3. I don't consider 30 fps necessary and 15fps plenty. Bandwidth and storage limitations, in my eyes, will dictate fps more than evidence quality for 99.9% of situations.

[ssmith10pn 0]

[ssmith10pn 0]

http://www.mistralsolutions.com/hs-downloads/tech-briefs/dec11-article2.html

 

Casino tables - 30 fps

Cash counting settings (bank tellers) - 12 to 15 fps

Vehicular traffic (not at traffic stops and parking lots) - 15 fps

Pedestrian traffic - 5 fps

Parking lots, traffic cameras, overview scenes - 1 to 3 fps

Low-activity settings - 1 fps

 

What is an acceptable Frame-rate?

 

The standard frame-rate for video systems is 25 fps (PAL) or 30 fps (NTSC). The human brain processes images perceived by the eyes at 24 fps as fluid motion. As the frame-rate keeps dropping the brain registers stutters to the fluid motion, with the stuttering becoming more pronounced at 10 fps and below.

 

The current user trend, with respect to IP video surveillance infrastructure, is to try to get as much megapixel as possible, for a camera. The minimum resolution required by users is 4CIF (704 x 576). However, HD (High-Definition) resolutions are also gaining traction among users: 1280 x 720 (720p) and 1920 x 1080 (1080p).

 

A typical 1080p resolution video surveillance camera – approximately 2 MP (megapixel) – requires a bandwidth of 7 – 8 Mbps to output a stream of video at 30 fps, using the H.264 video compression codec (Base Profile); and a bandwidth of 4 – 5 Mbps for the same stream, using the H.264 Advanced Profile. For more information on how to calculate the bandwidth requirements for a given camera specification, please refer the July 2009 Tech. Brief: Video Surveillance Bandwidth Requirements – Calculation of Utilization.

 

A user is usually loath to compromise on video quality, beyond a certain level, as would be required if the bit-rate of the camera was throttled using the camera settings. This leaves the frame-rate as the only camera parameter that can be adjusted, without significantly impacting the quality of the video stream.

 

The bandwidth savings that adjusting the frame-rate can deliver is significant. As mentioned earlier, a 1080p video stream at 30 fps, compressed using H.264 (Base Profile), requires a bandwidth of 7 – 8 Mbps. Adjusting the frame-rate down to 15 fps brings down the bandwidth requirement to below 4 Mbps. Further reducing the frame-rate to 5 fps sees the bandwidth requirement come down to just over 1 Mbps.

[ssmith10pn 0]

[barks 0]

Great info!

I always opt for higher resolution and lower frame rate.

~Mike

[buellwinkle 0]

I run my 3MP ACTi at 15fps rather than 1080P at 30fps.

[ssmith10pn 0]

I run mine at 5fps.

Anymore is a waste of bandwidth and storage.

[Stanislav 0]

Here is an idea of choosing frame rates based on the desired frequency of getting in the frame objects with the known positions and velocity.

http://cctvcad.com/videocad_help/index.html?prim20_framerate.htm

[StanLee2066 0]

I use 4:3 at my front door and 16:9 to cover my double-car garage entrance. You should choose whatever fits the scene best. For viewing, it's typically set to 5 or 10fps. This eases the burden on my system when viewing multiple cameras in split windows. I'm just looking at grass and rocks most of the time anyways! As for recording, it's always set at the maximum my cameras can do which is 720p @ 30fps for 16:9. I paid for it, so why not use it? The cameras are set to record on motion and I only collect about 30g of recordings a week. This is not big deal these days, and certainly no burden on my gigabit LAN.

Edited August 12, 2013 by Guest

[kifaru 0]

Since my NVR has plenty of storage(18TB), I run all cameras at max resolution & fps.