ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

625 lines

Did you know that sometimes grown-ups watch TV shows that are older than you? When they were made, these shows used a different system to show pictures on the TV. Instead of using the modern system of "pixels," they used something called "lines."

The TV screen is made up of lots of tiny dots called "pixels." When you put enough of them together, you can create a picture that looks like real life. But back in the olden days of TV, they didn't have pixels yet. Instead, they used lines.

A line is like a long, skinny box that runs from the top to the bottom of the screen. The TV would show one line at a time, starting at the very top and working its way down to the bottom. Then it would go back to the top and start all over again with the next line. This happened so fast that you couldn't really see it happening – it just looked like a picture on the screen.

625 lines is a number that refers to a specific system for showing pictures on the TV. It was used in some parts of the world, including Europe, a long time ago. This system created pictures that were made up of 625 lines running from top to bottom.

It might seem like a lot of lines, but actually, it wasn't very good compared to the modern system of pixels. That's because lines aren't as good at making detailed images as pixels are, and they also took up a lot of space on the TV screen. But back in the day, 625 lines was the best they could do, and it was still pretty impressive!
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