Why do CCTV cameras always have extremely poor resolution?

Question

I can’t think of a reason why other than the cost but surely it’s worth the potential to solve more crime

In: 67

Answer 1

Even a modest department store will have something like 10-20 cameras, all recording 24/7. People generally don’t think of video storage when they’re recording a 2 min funny clip on their phones, but HOURS and DAYS of video take up huge amounts of storage, and almost all CCTV owners are legally required to retain footage for a certain number of days before they can overwrite it.

For context, 10 cameras recording at 720p for 24 hours will piss out more than 1.5 TB of video footage. If laws require they keep that footage for 30 days, that means 50+TB worth of storage is needed.