Surveillance Camera Systems

Here's a list of helpful tips on choosing the best DVR for your surveillance camera systems.

1. In many cases, price does not always reflect performance.

2. One of the most, if not the most, important specification for you to consider is the record resolution. The record resolution is the amount of vertical and horizontal pixels captured for each channel during record.

QCIF: 176 x 120 pixels
CIF: 360 x 240 pixels
2CIF: 704 x 240 pixels
4CIF/ D1: 704 x 480 pixels

3. Mostly all DVR systems playback in full D1 resolution. So if you are recording at anything lower than this resolution, it is impossible for you to truly playback at D1 resolution. The important thing to remember here is that the RECORD specification is much more important than display specification.

4. H.264 is the latest technology in compression and usually the most expensive, but worth every penny. Video quality is superior with H.264 and harddisk space usage is minimal compared to the competing technologies.

5. Motorola, Texas Instruments, and Philips are the current market leaders in H.264 hardware DSP processors.

6. It is highly recommended that you stick to DVRs that are DSP based because the ones that aren't usually aren't PC compliant. This can cause problems when trying to perform simple tasks such as changing/ upgrading harddrives. ASIC or non DSP based DVR systems are less expensive, but long term, they are likely to become obsolete.

7. FPS stands for Frames Per Second and the standard for Real-Time is 30FPS%u2026 same as used in Hollywood films and H.264 DVRs. In the MJPEG and JPEG2000 environment, fps translates to FIELDS per second. An odd and an even field is required to make a frame in JPEG/JPEG2000 DVR so always remember to divide the JPEG20000 advertised FPS specification in two in order to get an accurate comparison of actual frame rates you are purchasing.

8. If you would like to do remote internet marketing, definitely go for a DVR that is H.264 processor based.

9. H.264 DVR systems display video online about 6 times faster than MJPEG/ JPEG2000 systems.

10. H.264 DVR systems also feature control over bandwidth, VOIP, synced audio capability, and remote PC recording and monitoring.

Here's a list of reasons why you should DVRs instead of VCRs for surveillance camera systems.

Video Tape Recorders (VCRs):
1. Low recording resolution and slow recording speed.

2. Searching for a specific incident is time consuming.

3. Requires constant tape changing and maintenance.

4. No remote viewing capability from home or office.

5. Costly long-term storage of video tapes.

Digital Video Recorders (DVRs):
1. The resolution and speed of frame capture settings on your digital video recorder is critical in the successful capture of digital video evidence. Allow for very high resolution video recording.

2. Searching for cue and time points is very fast.

3. Does not require any tape maintenance.

4. You have full remote access of your video from anywhere.

5. Hard drives can store massive amounts of data and very affordable.

Here's a list of things that you should know to use your DVR to it's bets capacity in your surveillance camera systems.

1. DO NOT LOWER THE RESOLUTION OR SPEED on important cameras (front or main doors, cash register and ATM machines, etc.). Despite the fact that the picture may appear the same on a monitor, it will not look the same on playback. Most digital video recorders, when properly configured for high resolution and speed, will use approximately 5-gigabytes (gigs) or more of hard drive memory
space per camera per day for one 24-hour day of digital video.

2. The recording speed for entrance/exit cameras and cash register/counter cameras should be set at a minimum of 8-Picture Per Second Per Camera (PPS)
with a preferred record rate of 12 or more PPS.

3. If your unit has motion detection recording capability, make sure each camera is set up with at least 4-seconds (10 seconds even better) of PRE ALARM or PRE EVENT buffer and the same for the POST ALARM or POST EVENT buffer.

4. Digital video recorders should be kept out of sight from employees and patrons.

5. Digital video recorders must be kept in a COOL and well-ventilated area.

6. Test and check your digital video recorder weekly for hard drive operation and video image speed and quality.

7. Password protect access to your digital video recorder to eliminate tampering by employees and maintain system integrity.

8. In the event of power loss, ensure that your digital video recorder will restart and resume operation without intervention.

9. Make sure your digital recorder has the immediate means to OFFLOAD the recorded video without requiring a service call from the installing company.

10. Make sure you are trained by your installing company on how to use your system, including off-loading video to a CD/DVD or emailing a video clip.