If you’re thinking about getting surveillance or security video cameras for your home or business, there are plenty of things to take into account. You’ll be shopping for the equipment, installation, security monitoring, and any maintenance that comes up.
You might start by stumbling on some articles about the differences between video security for homes versus businesses. In your home, you might have thought of cameras on the yard or garage, but not of indoor monitoring. Or, at your business, you might have thought of surveillance for outside, but not about conditions monitoring inside. There are always aspects of security at different sites that don’t occur to you right away.
So, you’re finally thinking about it. You learn about outdoor versus indoor equipment, and IP cameras versus analog. And—seriously? You have to upgrade your Wifi to use some of these? There’s always something new to learn.
At Advanced Fire and Security, we won’t settle for anything other than the best video camera systems for your home or business. In McDonough, GA and the surrounding areas, we consult home and business owners every day to set the bar for security standards higher.
Video camera systems come with a lot of options, but here’s what you need to know to get started:
IP vs analog
Modern surveillance cameras come in IP and analog options. Analog is the older technology, and has its advantages—namely, that it’s still cheaper. IP technology uses Wifi, and is best when you need to install a bigger number of cameras, or if you want to integrate the system with the other alarms that are linked to your wireless.
Motion detection
It’s pretty straight forward—if you want the cameras running 24/7, there’s an option for that. But for most business and homeowners, having cameras that only activate when motion is detected will save a good amount of electricity and memory space.
Outdoor or indoor
Some cameras will have features that tend to be used for outdoor or indoor surveillance, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be installed wherever you want them. For example, wide-angle lenses and night vision are features available on many outdoor cameras. But if you have a need for night vision monitoring inside your home or business, there’s no reason not to install the camera systems that make sense for your need.
Sound
You probably thought about microphones when we said “sound,” right? That is, whether a video camera can also record noise. Yes—that’s absolutely an option. However, there’s another sound factor to take into account: if your camera moves, what noise does it make? If you want a discrete security system but have a noisy camera, you need to shop for a different model.
Resolution
Higher resolution requires network systems that can handle it, so don’t overdo it just to opt for the most impressive-sounding option. Remember how big of a deal it was when 5-Megapixel cameras were on cell phones? Those photos still look pretty good today. Think about that when you shop for security cameras. Cameras set to 4 Megapixels are the go-to standard for most systems today, but be careful to ask your provider about the systems you’re interested in—some of them only allow a certain number of cameras to support 4 Megapixel images, while the other cameras on the network have to be set to a lower resolution.