There are a number of excellent security camera systems on the market nowadays, but there are also systems that may not be up to par but which are advertised as being just as capable.

Anybody considering purchasing a system to either add to an intrusion alarm setup or to act as a standalone unit should know a bit about the capabilities of the equipment making up the surveillance system before buying it.

A particular camera capability to at least understand is "FPS."

Basically, FPS stands for "frames per second" or, more technically, "frame rate." It's the rate or frequency at which any imaging device – such as a camera – can produce a unique image called a "frame."

It doesn't matter if the images are captured on a media such as film stock or whether it is sending images via an electrical signal, either through a cable or over the air.

In everything but progressive scan monitors (which expresses the rate of image creation in hertz, or Hz), any other form of camera or media (computer graphics, motion capture systems, film and video cameras) will display a frames-per-second rating so that a purchaser can figure out the right camera for the right need.

There are several frame rate standards that encompass all the different image creation or capture equipment types out there.

For television or movie-making, there are generally only three different standards used, though. "50p" and "60p" standard is used in high-end HDTV ("high definition television") systems and it scans at what the industry calls a "progressive rate." Progression is a way of smoothing out a picture.

Usually, most such systems go with 30p (thirty frames per second, progressive rate), which is a video format that works well with cameras that capture imagery and then send them to LCD displays and most any sort of monitor, LCD or older cathode ray tube (CRT) included.

The reason it makes for good video is that it has a higher resolution (clearness and clarity) when it captures things that are moving.

One can tell if one is using a 30p video camera – if no indicator is present – because the picture will look "cinematic" or kind of "art house."

This isn't a criticism, because the picture is excellent in showing anything moving around, such as a burglar or someone else with bad intent trying to break into a home.

Normally, a camera will be "told" by a capture card (which is a piece of hardware that will tell the camera at which speed to record) that will be inserted into a digital video recorder (DVR) the frame rate to capture images at.

If a 30p capture card is used for 2 cameras, they'll each be able to shoot at 15 frames per second and so on down, with more cameras added to the card input/output plugs.

Really, there's no need to use any faster or slower speed than 30p and the image needed for surveillance activities will be poorer if another FPS is used.

Also, in North American cameras, the FPS will be a true 30 while cameras in European markets (they use PAL, or "phase alternating line," standards) will be reduced to 25p.