— CCTV Resolution · Logistics & industrial
Warehouse aisle / yard — read a label or plate at 15 m
Problem. A warehouse aisle, loading yard or factory bay is a wide scene — often 12–18 m across — where the useful outcome is reading a carton label, a rack location or a vehicle plate, not just seeing that a forklift moved. Over that width, pixel density falls fast and 'more megapixels' has to be justified against the geometry.
Answer. Across a 15 m scene an 8 MP / 4K camera (3840 pixels wide) lands at roughly 256 pixels per metre — just above the 250 px/m Identify boundary and well past the 125 px/m Recognise tier — where a 4 MP camera would give only ~171 px/m (Recognise only). The preset shows why wide industrial scenes jump to 8 MP rather than settling for 4 MP.
02 / In depth
How this preset reads — the engineering view.
The DORI scale (IEC 62676-4) is a density scale, so a wide scene punishes you twice: the same camera spreads its pixels over more metres, dropping px/m linearly with scene width. At 15 m an 8 MP sensor's 3840 horizontal pixels give 3840 ÷ 15 ≈ 256 px/m — barely into the Identify band. A 4 MP camera (2560 px) over the same 15 m gives ~171 px/m, which clears Recognise (125) but never reaches Identify (250).
That is the trade this preset makes visible. If the requirement is 'recognise which pallet, label or vehicle', 4 MP is sufficient at 15 m. If the requirement is 'identify the individual handling the goods' or 'read the plate to evidential standard', the density has to reach the Identify tier — and at 15 m that means 8 MP, or splitting the aisle into two tighter 4 MP scenes.
Drag the scene-width slider to see the crossover: hold 8 MP and widen past ~15.3 m and the badge drops from Identify to Recognise; narrow toward ~10 m and even 4 MP reaches Identify. The calculator also reports the maximum scene width that still meets each tier for the chosen resolution — use that number to set camera spacing along a long aisle.
What it does not model: it assumes the target sits across the full stated scene width at the working distance; it does not account for the depth of a long aisle (a near target is denser than a far one), nor motion blur on fast forklifts, nor the IR reach needed to hold this density after dark.
What this preset deliberately does not solve
- Density is quoted at a single scene width — down a long aisle, near targets exceed and far targets fall below the stated px/m.
- Fast-moving forklifts and vehicles introduce motion blur that no static pixel-density figure captures; confirm shutter / frame-rate separately.
- Night performance over a wide industrial scene depends on IR / white-light reach and sensor sensitivity, not the daytime pixel density shown here.
How this preset differs from its siblings
The sibling preset is a tight 4 m reception counter where a mainstream 4 MP camera clears Identify with 2.5× margin. This preset is the wide-scene case: at 15 m even 8 MP only just reaches the Identify boundary, and 4 MP is Recognise-only — the geometry, not the budget, drives the sensor choice. Use this preset to justify 8 MP (or scene-splitting) on aisles, yards and bays.
03 / Hydrated calculator
Try the configuration — live.
The calculator below is preloaded with this preset’s state. Adjust any input — your URL stays shareable.
— Calculator · CCTV resolution & pixel density (DORI)
Scene width, resolution — pixels per metre.
Set the horizontal scene width you need to cover and a camera resolution. The calculator returns the pixel density (px/m and px/ft), the DORI tier achieved and the maximum scene width that still meets each tier. IEC 62676-4 criteria, cited.
Pixel density
256
px/m · 78 px/ft
DORI tier achieved
Identify
≥ 250 px/m
Scene width
15.0
m · 8MP
8MP identifies a face up to ~15.4 m wide; recognises up to ~30.7 m. Resolution pixels are nominal sensor formats — real usable detail is reduced by lens, scene, lighting and compression. This is a planning sense-check, not a survey or a camera layout.
A planning link — not a quote.
- resolution
- 8MP / 4K · 3840 px wide (nominal)
- scene width
- 15.0 m
- density
- 256 px/m · 78 px/ft
- achieved
- Identify (Establish the identity of an individual beyond reasonable doubt.)
Max scene width per tier — 8MP
| Tier | Min px/m | Max width |
|---|---|---|
| Detect | 25 | 154 m(504 ft) |
| Observe | 62.5 | 61.4 m(202 ft) |
| Recognise | 125 | 30.7 m(101 ft) |
| Identify | 250 | 15.4 m(50 ft) |
| Inspect | 1000 | 3.84 m(13 ft) |
Max width = nominal horizontal pixels ÷ the tier's minimum px/m. Wider scenes than this fall below the tier.
What changes this estimate
- Lens quality, focus & optical resolving power
- Scene contrast, lighting & motion blur
- Codec compression at the recorded bitrate
- Where the subject sits within the field of view
Source
IEC 62676-4 — DORI pixel-density criteria (Detect / Observe / Recognise / Identify)IEC 62676-4 · retrieved 2026-06-27
A planning link — not a quote.
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