Mega Pixels and digital video

If you are looking to buy a digital video recorder, you will be faced with a lot of new and confusing features, acronyms, and numbers.Some of this confusion surrounds the number of mega pixels per square inch that your camera is able to record.

So what is a mega pixel?The easy answer is that a mega pixel is 1 million pixels.Of course, this answer begs the question, what is a pixel?Pixel is short for Picture Element and they are little squares of color.The images of an electronic file are all made out of little tiny squares of color that are represented by pieces of binary code.As you zoom in on an electronic image, you will start to loose definition because the little squares of color get bigger and bigger.If you zoom in closely enough you will be able to make out the groups of pixels, or mega pixels and the picture will start to look like a Picasso painting.This is the whole idea behind the mega pixel frenzy.To get the clearest picture, you want the most pixels in the smallest amount of space.

Digital video recorders are now able to record up to 14 mega pixels per square inch.But the chances are pretty good that you won't need that kind of power.If you are looking at pictures on a computer monitor, more than 3.2 mega pixels will, essentially, be wasted.This is because computer monitors are only able to show up to 96 dpi or dots per inch.This is equal to approximately 3.2 mega pixels.

When buying a digital video camera, there are costs associated with each mega pixel. This is translated into both money costs and memory costs.There is a strong positive correlation between the price of a video camera and the number of mega pixels recorded.Only pay for the mega pixels that you will be using.There is no reason that an amateur videographer will need any more than 10 mega pixels (and that number probably overshoots what you will need by at least five mega pixels).

It is also true that the more pixels you are recording the more memory that the video will take up.Each of the pixels is represented by a binary code that has to be stored on a chip.When you are increasing the numbers of pixels by the millions you increasing the storage space needed to save all of those pixels.Most cameras do have a feature that lets you opt for how many pixels you want to record and you will probably never need to record the maximum number.

Really, the number of mega pixels is more important to digital still camera than to digital video camera.The reason for this is that most video is not viewed on a computer monitor.Sure, we watch videos on Google video or on you-tube but we expect poor resolution when watching internet video.Generally, we are using analog viewing devices, even when watching digital video.This means that we are watching on a movie screen or on a television set.

When dealing with moving images on an analog device, the mega pixels contribute to the resolution measure of lines of resolution per inch.That is, how many horizontal lines of pixels fit in every inch of the image. Loosely converted a camera with 12.5 mega pixels will result in a video image that holds 1000 lines per inch.It is important to note that a television set can only resolve 525 lines per inch.Even the big ones.

Again, it is a mater of not paying for more machine than you are able to use.