Tips Before You Buy – Security Cameras and Video Surveillance Systems

December 27, 2011

When it comes to safety of your home or business, best security system is the optimal choice. In this article, I will explain the variety of video surveillance systems, and will focus on how to choose the most suitable for your needs security camera system.

Security cameras can be used anywhere indoor, outdoor, hidden and even on the vehicle. Regardless of the type of video surveillance set up, systems are designed to provide visual observation of the object by CCTV cameras. With latest surveillance equipment you can monitor protected premises as a single location or multiple locations at once.

There are digital and analog video surveillance systems.

Analog system uses video cassette recorder (VCR) to store footage received from security camera. Inability to view video over the internet and low recording quality is serious drawback for analog CCTV to compete with digital systems. Therefore manufacturers stopped producing analog systems and switched to digital, just like photo industry did.

Digital video surveillance systems based on the principle of binary encoding of information that improves performance reading and writing data speed, improves quality of the signal transmitted by the camera and allows off-site internet viewing. Most digital surveillance systems have motion activated recording. This function allows digital video recorder (DVR) to store footage on single hard drive for up to three month.

For better recording quality, get real-time DVR with D1 resolution. Greater number of frames per second is a key to smooth playback without glitches. Real-time recording stores images at 30fps and highest D1 resolution is 704×480 pixels. Viewtech Security specialists, with more than 8 years of experience in installation of surveillance systems, agree that in real life is enough if the recording speed will be about 15 frames per second. Not real-time systems cost less and since it takes half number of frames the recording time comes longer.

Viewing of video footage can be done directly from the DVR or remotely over the Internet Remote viewing works without zone restrictions; you can watch cameras remotely anywhere in the world. It is also possible to playback and backup information over the network.

When you select security camera it is worth paying attention to the following specifications: Resolution (Low – 380 TV Lines, Medium – 480 TV Lines, High – 700 TVL), Sensitivity (Low – 1 lux, Medium – 0.5 lux, High – 0,002 lux). A microphone will add sound in addition to image capture. Motorized zoom cameras (PTZ) can be controller remotely with ability to point in any direction and zoom enough to recognize license plate from 1000feet distance.

Tips For Buying CCTV Cable

November 15, 2011

Most surveillance systems these days are wired and use a lot of cctv cabling. Whether it is RG59 Coax or UTP wiring ; there are a couple notes to keep in mind when building your system and selecting your cctv cable.

Cable Length

When purchasing your cctv cable for your surveillance system you need to know your lengths. Simply put you need to know how far it is from your camera to your DVR. When you figure out the length you have a couple options.

You can purchase a pre-made cable that is already cut and ready at a specific length, or you can get a custom cable made.

If you buy a pre-made cable you are going to want to purchase one that is at least 1 or 2 feet longer than what you need. The reason for this is because you don’t want a cable with a lot of tension in it; because it will put stress on your connectors and the cable itself. You also don’t want to have the cable be too much longer than your run because it will then sit coiled up next to your DVR and potentially cause interference within your surveillance system.

If you can’t find a pre-made cctv cable that fits within these parameters, you may want to consider getting a cable length cut by a professional. Now you can either have someone trained cut and crimp the cable for your system, or you can order the cable length and connectors and attempt to do it yourself.

If you plan to do it yourself; you need to be absolutely sure you know what you are doing. The reason being is because if you mess up the connection even slightly; you may end up with a bad connection with lower quality output or no output whatsoever. Furthermore if you mess up the crimp, you will end up having to cut it off and start again; which means you now have less cable to work with.

Honestly if you have any doubt about your crimping ability, it would be a wiser choice to pay the couple extra bucks and get a cable specifically made for your cctv system.

Cable Type

This topic can be expanded on in a lot of detail, but the two basics have to do with length and type.

Firstly you need to know what type of surveillance camera you have, and what type of connections it uses. This is pretty much a no brainer, but by knowing this you will know what type of cable you will need; or you will at least be able to tell a professional and they can determine the cctv cable you will need.

Secondly you should have the length of the cable run in mind. It is good to know this because after long distances your video signal can begin to degrade. Certain cctv cable types can help with this, depending on how long the run is.