Things You Should Know Before Purchasing A CCTV Camera

CCTV

CCTV

Are you planning to get a CCTV camera for your home or your business place? If yes, there are some things you should know before purchasing the camera. These things will guide you in deciding on which camera to choose and how to choose them. If you follow these tips appropriately, you might not need a professional’s service to select the right CCTV camera for you. For those with a power plant, you can combine a CCTV camera with a Power plant log book. So, what are the things you should know before purchasing a CCTV camera? 

Know Its Capacity

You must check the storage capacity of the CCTV camera you wish to purchase. You should know that they come in different sizes. Some cameras come with 32gb storage for recording, while some come with 64gb capacity. However, modern CCTV cameras come with 128gb capacity meaning they have enough space to store more recording than the older versions. If you desire to go for a cheaper camera, you may have to purchase those with no internal storage. Such CCTV Cameras depend on the surveillance hard disk in the DVR to store their recordings.

Consider The Image Quality

Another important thing you need to know before purchasing a CCTV camera is to check the image quality. Modern camera comes with 720p (1MP) and 1080p resolution. However, if you want your video recordings to be of better quality, you may be required to get a camera with higher resolution. If you go for such a camera, you should be prepared to get an SD card with a large storage capacity. If you depend solely on the internal storage of your CCTV camera and it has a high resolution, it’s only a matter of minutes or hours (depending on the storage capacity) before it gets filled up. Some cameras are designed to erase previous recordings once the space in them has been used up, and recording continues. This may lead to loss of data, and you want to avoid such. Therefore, it is advisable to go for a camera with 720p (1MP) and 1080p resolution. Such cameras take about 38gb of data space for a full day recording.

On the other hand, if what you want is a camera with a higher resolution to produce a more quality video, you may be required to get a DVR with sizeable internal storage in terabytes. Such an ample space will match the high-resolution recording; hence, your storage will not get full easily even with such quality recording. Therefore, before choosing a CCTV camera, you should relate its resolution with its storage and backup time. It’s not just about how quality the video is; it is also about how much your storage can take.

Check If It Has Motion And Audio Sensor

If you need a top security camera, you should go for those with motion and sound sensors. However, these kinds of cameras are more expensive than the usual CCTV camera. What makes them unique is that they detect motion and sound in your surrounding. Once they detect unusual movement or sound, they’ll send you a notification in your mobile app. If you are around, you can then look around or check your video from inside to see who or what is it that’s making the sound or that’s moving. If, on the other hand, you’re not around, you may contact your neighbor to check your surroundings for you. However, if you have no one to do that, you can check the video recording of that particular time when you return home to see the reason why you got notified. If you need a top-notch security system for your home or office, cameras with motion and audio sensors are not bad options for you. 

Is Its Installation Easy 

CCTV Installation

CCTV Installation

Some CCTV cameras are easy to install, while some are not. If you want a camera that you can easily install by yourself, you should go for a wireless camera. The installation of such cameras is more comfortable compared to their wired counterparts because they don’t come with cables. There are cameras with magnetic cables or sticky pads that you can install yourself if you need CCTV cameras for temporary purposes. However, if you need the camera to serve a long term purpose, you should screw them to the wall. Also, if you purchase a camera whose installation requires drilling of holes and screwing pins into those holes, you should seek the attention of professionals in that regard. Some CCTV camera suppliers offer free installation. If you’re going for the last kind of camera mentioned, you should consider patronizing suppliers that can help with free installation. That way, you won’t be required to spend extra on installation. 

These are the things you should know before purchasing a CCTV camera.