Today we’re about to uncover such a topic as “Selecting a CCTV System” for yourself among such many options on the market. Choose a camera, video recorder, or CCTV system for your individual purposes
The CCTV system
To start off, let’s define what the CCTV system consists of:
1. The main component here is a camera, as that’s the thing that gives us an image; the other parts are kind of turning around it. In most, there a 2 variations on camera form:
- Dome-type form. These Dome cams are usually installed inside of building, and again we have one more branching here – they could be plastic or a metal body. The metal ones are often applied to public places, cause there is a risk someone could harm them.
- Cylindrical type form. Unlike dome-type, the cylindrical ones are almost 100% being produced with a metal cover. And they are being installed outside only. They largely have an IP67 and IK10 advanced standards within them, meaning we don’t worry about what the weather outside is because our camera is fully protected against it. That is dust, water resistance, and impact protection.
2. The second system part is a Video Recorder. It receives a signal from cameras, processes it, records it, and saves video files inside of it on the internal storage. Accordingly, you’ll need to get the SATA hard drive, HDD, in addition. Reminding our clients, there’s no uniform answer to which you should pick, as this depends on your tasks and on the camera’s resolution, which affects the video size to be saved on the drive. The entry level among recorders is a 4-channel recorder. Further, it’s four, eight, sixteen, thirty two and exceeding.
3. The third system part is the Cables and Wires. We’ve taken out this item separately in a 3rd position on the list because this matters, and here’s why. In the entire CCTV area, there are mostly 3 cable types:
- Twisted Pair Internet Cable
- Power Cable
- Combined coaxial wire with 2 conductors, where 1 is signal and the second is power. I would recommend taking this list item with all the responsibility because your cable selection directly affects the image quality you will get. Also, we want to note that the twisted pair cable could be used in both IP systems and analog systems equally. Such a coaxial cable is used only within analog systems.
4. Power Adapter. Within a weak current system, the 12-volt adapters are used in it, and specifically ,the CCTV area refers to it. 2 types here:
- Regular one
- An uninterrupted power adapter is a kind of separate system with its own battery. The difference is only that if the electricity grid is down, the recording won’t stop as long as your battery in the uninterrupted power adapter lives, and that could be a lot.
What’s The Goal, What’s The Task?
• House Type Installation
Most popular requests in our store are a private house equipment installation and a small store device installation. To have a constant general overview of your house territory, we would advise you to get these metal cylindrical cameras as they have a wide view angle from 85° to 110° degree view angle, the fixed focus length is 2.8 – 3.6 mm. And our favorite parameter – camera resolution. For these kinds of appliances, 2 or 3 megapixels is more than enough. That was a house-type installation.
• Store Type Installation
Most of the dome-type cameras are used here. In comparison, they have the same 85° to 110° degree view angle, but they could also be narrow-type for a greater detailing of the appliances, like a cashbox zone and other spots where you need to see details. For these narrow types, the focus length regularly starts at 6 mm. length and goes up to 16 mm. What’s else important – the resolution. The entry level here is 2 megapixels; we would recommend taking 3 megapixels as this is a golden middle. If you need to see faces or car numbers in detail, take 4, 5, or more megapixels.
• Defining Tracking Area
This parameter directly affects the recorder selection. You need 4 cameras – take a 4-channel recorder, but if you have a 6 tracking zone, this is an 8-channel recorder because 2 channels will remain unfilled for future updates that you will probably need.
• CCTV System Standards
The next, and a really important item, is the CCTV system standards. What’s meant here – the digital iP and analog standards. IP system has a higher quality image, a lot more functions, and it’s very little more expensive than the analog, though the price parameter depends on a functions quantity and complexity.
Conclusion
Now you are ready to pick the CCTV System that will be a perfect fit for your situation, as you have been trained throughout this material. Thank you? Read our other articles here.