A system and process of generating an improved image for optical character recognition is disclosed comprising dynamically obtaining a video source image comprising one or more characters on a background using a video capture device; detecting edges of at least one of the one or more characters that comprise the video source image; determining a sharpness value for the edges of the at least one of the one or more characters, wherein the sharpness value is related to the ability of the video capture device to distinguish the edges of the characters from the background; and indicating at least when the sharpness value is at a predetermined value or within a predetermined range of values.