Things To Consider While Buying A Cctv Security Camera System

By Author: Roy Fernandez
Total Articles: 9
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Proactive prevention is the best. Thefts and burglaries are becoming common and it is our own responsibility to guard ourselves from potential threats. Guarding home and installing surveillance equipments is not as hard as one imagines. CCTV security cameras can be procured easily through online stores and supermarkets. Here are some tips and things to be considered before purchasing a CCTV security camera system.

Basically, you have to know what your requirements would be. If you want to cover the entire area, you’d need to buy a lot of cameras and place them at strategic locations. Or you can just get a few cameras and place them at the main entrance and the back door or garage door. If you are going to place the camera exposed, you’d have to buy a weather proof camera and it is slightly more expensive than the indoor ones. You also have wired, wireless and IP cameras. If you have a wired camera, you’d have wires running all the way to the monitoring zone. Since the cameras are wired, they don’t need any additional power supply. Of the three types, the wired cameras cost less.

Wireless cameras are free ...
... of clutter. But they need an external power source. Nowadays, a lot of people are buying wireless cameras because they are easy to install and can be removed and placed at elsewhere with ease. When buying a wireless camera, the operating frequency should be taken into account. If you have a cordless phone or remote controlled garage doors, they might cause interference and the pictures transmitted might be distorted.

IP cameras on the other hand come as both wired and wireless devices. The IP camera is connected to the home network and has a unique IP address. The camera can be accessed through the IP address. If the home network is connected to the internet, the IP camera can be accessed from anywhere in the world. This feature comes very handy if you want to monitor your home from a different location like office or from another town. The transmitted video can be directly recorded to your computer or to a device called as the network video recorder.

Next thing that you should consider while buying a CCTV security camera is the quality and the transmission format. In order to reduce the size of the recorded file, cameras record in monochrome or gray scale. Compared to full color videos, the monochrome videos are very small. Some cameras send a sequence of JPEG images instead of full length videos. The frames per second also determine the file size, so if you choose a camera that has low FPS rates, you can record longer videos with the same disk space. The quality of the video depends on the sensor too. There are two types of sensors, CMOS nad CCD. These convert the light into electrical signals. The size of the sensor is what determines the resolution. If you are not worried about the file size and if you want cleared pictures of high resolution, you can resent to a camera with a relatively large sensor.

If you are placing the camera in a place that is poorly lit, you need a camera with better photo sensitivity. Some sensors are also capable of shooting at night. But since night mode and star light cameras are expensive, you can opt for a camera that is capable of shooting in infrared. It is also important to select the light level sensitivity of the camera. The last thing that you need to select is the monitor that will suit the camera’s resolution and a good recording system with enough storage and easy playback system. You can also resent to professional security services like ADT Security Systems for all you surveillance and monitoring needs.

Roy Fernandez is a freelancer and an active blogger. He enjoys writing about popular security systems like ADT Security Systems