How to choose correct CCTV Security Camera System

This is a few pointers to help you choose a suitable Home Camera Surveillance System . CCTV has gone through massive technological advancement in the last few years , first major advancement was the phasing out of the old video tape style recorders, now all new recorders are of the DVR format – the recordings are now stored digitally on internal hard-drives, this now allows for alot longer storage , expecially with H.264 compression format . With these newer DVR’S come major advancement in the features such as remote viewing over the internet & also on smart phones .

What should you be looking for in a DVR for home security ?

• First you need to choose a DVR with correct amount of camera channels , most units come in either 4 ,8 ,16 or 32 – you will find in most cases these units are non upgradeable so it is important to choose a DVR which can give you some expansion if ever needed , sometimes it might be more economical to buy an 8 channel unit at the start , rather than going for a 4 channel unit fitted with 4 cameras , then finding you need to change the whole unit to fit a fifth camera .
• Next main decision is to choose the size of the hard drive , in most cases they will be supplied with a 500GB , in most cases this will provide 30 days recording for 4 cameras , for 8 cameras to achieve 24/7 recording for 30 days at a decent level of resolution you are probally needing 2TB , then for 16 cameras – 4TB ,these figures are approximate & are based on the cameras been set to record all the time – However the size of the hard drive can be reduced or recording times vastly increased by setting the cameras just to record on motion – I.E. the cameras will only keep recordings when it sees any motion , setting some or all cameras to this setting can save  alot of hard drive space , which on the smaller size units the hard drive makes up most of the cost.
• Next specification to decide on is whether you require a HDMI video output – are you expecting to connect your DVR to your HD LCD TV & if so do you need to connect it via HDMI or VGA , obviously HDMI gives the better picture , then next comes VGA (PC Connection) , then finally BNC or most people find the cheaper option of connecting a compatable PC monitor via VGA , or using the BNC output connected to SVBS input on your TV .
• Next specification to decide on – this usually only applies to the 4 channel DVR’s , this is whether you require the IO ports (input / ouput alarm relay ports) – these are used to connect external relay equipment such as Strobe lights /Buzzers / Alarm PIR  - these can be activated during alarm conditions – such as motion detection – also along with this is the PTZ control connection , this is used to control the more professional style of cameras PTZ (Pan/Tilt/Zoom) – these are usually controlled by either keyboard / joystick but now with the advancement of DVR’S your are able to control these cameras via web browser software or even on Smart phones .
• Next choose your resolution for the DVR , you might find they quote two different resolutions , one will be realtime & one for recording , so realtime is when you view on a TV,PC or Monitor , then recording is the actual resolution the DVR records at . So in basic terms this is what you need to know regarding resolution , there is two settings to be aware of – fps (frames per second) – resolution (D1,2CIF,CIF,QCIF) , fps is amount of pictures per second – for proper movement you require 25 fps , anything slower you start to get people jumping across the screen , resolution comes in this order D1 been the best , then 2CIF ,then CIF , then QCIF.

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