Security Camera – Differences
Indoor VS Outdoor Cameras
CCTV Cameras use electrical components that are sensitive to the elements. If water or dust gets inside of your camera, the quality of your video feeds will suffer and your camera may even stop working. Weather proof housings help keep moisture and dust where it belongs, on the outside.
Color VS Black & White Security Cameras
Color cameras are the preferred choice for most security systems. However, black and white cameras are slightly cheaper, more sensitive to light, and can see better in darkness. Infrared (IR) security cameras, which are the standard of today’s cameras, switch to black and white mode during low light conditions to improve their night vision and return to color in good light conditions and are the ideal camera choices for today’s security needs.
Wired VS Wireless Security Cameras
Wired security cameras are the best choice since they provide the highest video quality, no interference, and are less expensive than wireless network cameras. They can be installed hundreds of feet away from the recording system without any drop in performance. Wired cameras offer a larger selection of cameras, and better video quality than wireless cameras. Wireless cameras can somewhat be misleading as they are not typically 100% wireless and need to be powered at the camera location. Wired cameras are powered at the DVR or NVR location and only a single cable (RG-59 Siamese coax power/video in one or Cat5) needs to be run from the DVR to each individual camera, and you can run cameras up to 800 feet away with these particular cables.
HD-TVI Cameras
HD- TVI or High Definition – Transport Video Interface has been designed with the sole purpose of providing megapixel, high definition technology over standard RG-59 co-ax cable used in standard analog systems. HD-TVI is an ideal, affordable system when HD quality is required and when upgrading from an older analog system since the previous wiring can still be used. It is less expensive than an IP camera system, and requires a HD-TVI DVR capable of handling the megapixel cameras. These systems are the newest and most affordable line of high definition video surveillance on the market today. Much like the analog systems though, the cameras still need to be powered though adapters or power supply boxes at the recorder end and are typically bulkier cable then an IP camera system.
Network IP Cameras
IP cameras have surged in popularity over the last five years. When IP cameras were introduced, they were very expensive and didn’t produce noticeably greater quality videos than analog cameras did. However, as the technology has become more available and more surveillance companies have invested in developing this technology, IP cameras have dramatically increased in quality and decreased in price which has made them more affordable than ever! IP Camera popularity is on the rise and it is estimated that over 70% of all security camera systems sold in the coming years will be IP based. An IP camera can be described as a camera and a computer combined in one unit. They have a compression chip, an operating system, built in web server, FTP client, email client, alarm management smart technologies and much more. An IP camera can be placed anywhere there is a wired or wireless network connection. IP Surveillance is a security system that gives the ability to monitor and record video and audio over an IP (Internet Protocol) computer network such as a local area network (LAN) or the Internet. It uses the IP network technology as the backbone for transporting information and can be sent to any location via a wired and/or wireless IP network, enabling video monitoring and recording from anywhere. Some advantages of IP video surveillance are:
- Two-way audio via a single network cable
- Flexibility: IP cameras can be moved around anywhere on a network.
- Distributed intelligence: IP cameras have video analytic capabilities
- Remote accessibility: live video from selected cameras can be viewed from any computer, anywhere, and also from many mobile smartphones and other devices.
- PoE – Power over Ethernet: IP cameras have the ability to work without a power supply using a PoE recorder can transmit video, power, and audio over a single Cat5 cable
Megapixel and HD Video
A frame of CCTV footage is made up of pixels. Any picture with over 1 million pixels is classed as a Megapixel image and can be referred to as High Definition (HD). HD Equipment typically has one of two resolutions, 720p and 1080p. Megapixel security cameras deliver the best image quality available, capturing a super high-resolution image and allowing you to digitally zoom in on specific details with great clarity when reviewing recorded video. HD security camera technology is very effective in capturing the detail on license plates and providing clear and identifiable facial shots during or after an event has occurred, without having to use high power zoom lenses.