DVR CCTV Guide

Friday, March 31, 2006

Typically video surveillance was recorded through VCRs. This analog method was often clumsy, required regular human input and would be limited by the storage space of a VCR. However with technological advances DVR CCTV technology has become the principal system for which CCTV is run. DVR CCTV technology is now even becoming the standard for home CCTV systems.

Processors, memory, hard drives and other PC hardware continues to improve in speed and ability and has made it possible for surveillance video to be recorded in a digital format. By using a PC or a DVR, surveillance systems that previously cost thousands of dollars can be set up for a fraction of the cost.

A DVR receives the video from the video cameras and converts it to a digital format, compresses it and stores it on a hard drive. The video is stored in the same way a PC would store a word file or a picture file. A DVR CCTV system allows more advanced use of the recorded video including searches by event, time, date and camera. Settings such as quality and frame rate can also be configured to optimize quality against disk space. The DVR can be set to start overwriting the oldest surveillance videos should the disk become full meaning that the DVR CCTV system can be setup and left to work on its own. DVR CCTV systems can in some cases be hooked up to a LAN network or even the internet allowing the surveillance system to be accessed from a remote location using a PC.

DVR CCTV systems can actually be run through just a PC rather than a DVR. For example the EZWatch Pro (ezwatchstore.com) by Automated Video Systems start at under $400 and can run up to sixteen cameras from one Windows-based PC and includes a number of advanced settings including even being able to limit access to certain video cameras for certain users.

If you are thinking of setting up security camera in your home or business then a DVR CCTV system would be the most reliable and functional option.