Skip to main content

CCTV Cameras Selection Guide

CCTV cameras are the must have electronics in all households and businesses today. CCTV cameras keeps on monitoring your property to protect it from threats, unauthorized access, break-ins, burglaries, and vandalism.
With too many brands, features and price range of CCTV options in the market, choosing the right one that fulfills your purpose of installing CCTV can be daunting task. The choice largely depends on how and where you use them and you must choose the right one for maximum effectiveness.
So, please check out the points that needs to be considered while choosing the CCTV that is just right for you.1. First Determine The Types of CCTV Cameras That Best Suites Your Requirement
Different types of cameras are available in the market as below. You would need to understand their features and purpose and determine which is best for your specific requirement.

Dome CCTV Cameras

Dome cameras are widely used in indoor environment. But it doesn’t mean that dome camera doesn’t come for outdoor use. The preference for indoor use of dome camera more than outdoor use may be due to its viewing range. Dome cameras have smaller lenses compared to bullet cameras as dome camera doesn’t allow to accommodate larger lens compared to bullet camera.
Dome cameras are generally considered to be more durable, resistant to vandalism and knock off. If someone tends to reposition the direction of camera with any wrong intention, then dome cameras are more resistant to such situation.

Bullet CCTV cameras

Bullet cameras are used in both indoor and outdoor sites. The preference for bullet cameras are usually outdoor as it can accommodate greater lens size and hence offers a substantial viewing range.

C-Mount CCTV cameras

C-Mount cameras comes with detachable lenses. So, you can attach the lenses as per your specific requirement. It can cover larger distance depending upon the lens you choose to use. You may need to buy the weatherproof casing installation brackets and any other accessories separately.

PTZ Pan/Tilt/Zoom cameras

PTZ cameras are capable of remote direction and zoom control. PTZ stands for Pan/Tilt/Zoom. Pan control allows the camera to rotate in horizontal direction while Tilt control allows to move in vertical direction. Zoom feature allow to focus on particular direction as per your requirement.

2. Choose IP Camera over Analog camera

Cat6 cables are used to connect and communicate IP camera with NVR (Network Video Recorder). The communication, quality and reliability of IP cameras are much better than analog camera which is connected through coax cable and connected to DVR (Digital Video Recorder. Expandability and manageability are also better for IP Camera. So, it is recommended to go IP camera rather than analog camera.
Wireless cameras are also there in the market these days. Wireless cameras are also IP cameras which communicates with recording device wirelessly through network. Wireless cameras are convenient to install as it does not require cabling of Cat6 cable. But you would still require to provide power to wireless cameras.
The best recommended cameras are IP cameras connected through CAT6, but still, you may choose wireless cameras and analog cameras as per your feasibility and budget.

3. Storage: How much is Enough?

Resolution of camera, number of active cameras and the period of recording that needs to be archived are the determining factor of storage capacity required. As you go for higher resolution, connect more cameras to DVR/NVR and you need the recording stored for longer period of time then the requirement for storage capacity increases.
Typically, DVR and NVR can support up to 2TB of storage HDD/SSD. DVR are used in analog cameras while NVR are used in IP based cameras. In home use case, SD cards are also used as cost effective solution where SD cards are attached to the camera itself avoiding the requirement of DVR/NVR for recording.

4. Lighting Conditions

To get the clear picture in any camera, the lighting condition needs to be right. If the lighting condition where the camera is pointed to, is too bright or too low in light, then the picture and video would be of no use.
Correct positioning of the camera helps to mitigate the issue related to high light condition.
Almost all camera these days constitutes Infrared LEDs which can shoot even in dark condition. For better performance in low light condition, look for camera with CCD (Charge-Coupled Device) chips. They are more sensitive to low light and the IR spectrum.

5. Camera Resolution

CCTV camera resolution is corelated with the quality of video/image footage. Higher the camera resolution higher the quality of recorded footage. But please remember camera resolution is not the only factor determining the quality of footage. Also keep in mind that as we go for higher resolution the requirement for storage device capacity also goes higher to store the same period of recording.

6. Field of view

The field of view is the total area that the camera can see. Wider the field of view, better the coverage area of camera and fewer the number of cameras that needs to be installed.
Most of the Dome and Bullet cameras comes with fixed field of view. PTZ cameras are capable of pan, tilt and zoom to adjust the required field of view. To adjust the field of view in C-mount camera different set of lenses can be mounted as per requirement.


Labels:
Location: Nepal

Popular posts from this blog

Cloud Computing

The main thrust of early cloud computing discussions--even before that particular term became popular--was fundamentally about economies of scale. For example, in his book "The Big Switch," author Nick Carr writes that: "Once it becomes possible to provide the technology centrally, large-scale utility suppliers arise to displace the private providers." This was an imagined future of computing that reprised a journey taken by power generation technology in which expensive and customized local water turbines or steam engines driving gears and belts largely gave way to motors connected to the electric grid. This early-on discussion wasn't so much about how computing took place--presumably it would be handled efficiently by the mega-service providers offering this new type of utility. Rather it was about the economic model: standardized pay-as-you-go services delivered at massive scale. Worldwide server revenue associated with private clouds is forecast to grow mor...
Read more

Researchers Build DNA Neural Network That Thinks

Researchers at the California Institute of Technology say they have built what they call the world's first artificial neural network out of DNA molecules and that it can answer questions correctly. The neural net was built of four artificial neurons and 112 DNA strands. Postdoctoral scholar Lulu Qian and colleagues describe "how molecular systems can exhibit autonomous brain-like behaviors" in a paper published about their research in the July 21 issue of the journal Nature. Taking their cue from the limited intelligence exhibited by single-celled organisms, the researchers built four neurons made up of 112 distinct DNA strands (by contrast, the human brain has some 100 billion neurons). This rudimentary neural network works on a simple input-output mechanism called a strand-displacement cascade. Essentially, synthesized strands of DNA float around in water and join to other strands that have complementary base pair structures, creating an input. When such a union occurs...
Read more

Tough Times for Ancient Warrior

Battling nomads earned you buckets of trouble around 2,500 B.C., reports an international archeology team. Scars too. But at least you earned yourself a fancy burial. "Intensive excavations in the Near East, which have been carried out for over 100 years, show that this region merits to be called a cradle of civilization," begins the International Journal of Osteoarcheology report led by Jacek Tomczyk of Poland's Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University. The study team reports on two Bronze Age burials in a tomb from the ancient trade town of Terqa, a Mesopatamian archeological site in modern-day Syria. "The tomb from Terqa consisted of two chambers with stone domes. The smaller chamber contained many luxury grave goods, including jars, plates and pieces of ancient jewellery. The artifacts were placed in an orderly manner, one upon another. Small animal bones and crushed ostrich eggshells indicate that this part was visited by people who left there some offerings. Th...
Read more