All-seeing eye

Practice shows that it is much more difficult for a person to decide on a crime if a TV camera is watching his actions: i.e. at the psychological level, the TV surveillance system performs an active security function. Traditional methods (locks, bars, alarms, etc.) are effective with well-thought-out and organized security and are often used in the hope of scaring off the intruder.

A television surveillance system – even the simplest, inexpensive – significantly increases the efficiency of protecting life and property and allows you to solve specific problems, and in extreme cases – not only to connect an alarm and call security, but to record all alarming events and the intruder himself. Television systems easily interact with security and fire alarms and access control systems, perfectly complement the already installed intercom systems – from simple (for one apartment) to the most complex (multi-storey building, cottage village, hotel complex, etc.).

The names of manufacturers (not all, of course) are known to us from consumer electronics: Panasonic, Sony, Philips, Watec, Samsung, Mintron, CS-Lilin, KT&C, Hitachi, Hitron, Hi-Sharp, Robot, Dedicated Micros, Baxall, but special equipment is more complex than its household counterparts and has a number of fundamentally different functions.

Constructor, or a toy for adults

Most of the manufacturers produce both individual elements of systems for creating complex complexes, and small, up to 4-6 TV cameras, systems in which each device is designed specifically to work with another and uses the Plug principle.&Play: “Plug and Play”.

CCTV systems are like a designer. You can start with the essentials: by installing one camera, you always have the opportunity to expand the system by connecting new elements and increase its efficiency.

To see frames from different cameras, you need image processing devices: switchers, quadrators, or multiplexers. The former, which allow one by one to view images of several cameras, are the most inexpensive in the class of processing equipment. For simultaneous viewing and recording from 4 cameras, quadrators are used (there are also so-called two-page models for viewing images from 8 cameras). If there are more than eight cameras, you will most likely have to use a multiplexer, which will probably become the most expensive element of the system, but will provide viewing of images from all cameras on one monitor at the same time, as well as recording all images on one VCR.

The use of a special video recorder will increase the efficiency of your security system. Modern VCRs are capable of recording images on a standard 3-hour cassette for 24 hours or more (up to 960 hours of continuous recording). In addition to the Time Lapse models, which increase the recording time by increasing the time intervals between frames, there are Real Time models that record a “live” picture for 24 or even 40 hours without losing information! In addition to the unique ability to record all events (both video and sound), VCRs have programmable alarm inputs, which will allow you to integrate your TV system with a security and fire alarm system (or directly connect sensors) and get a video recording of all alarm events when an alarm is triggered. Thus, with the help of a VCR, you will solve a problem that no other security system can solve: you will get an image of how, when and by whom an attempt was made on your property and safety..

The choice of a monitor can be considered purely design: the main thing is that the suit fits, i.e. the monitor organically blended into the interior of the house, and did not look like some kind of alien object, the existence of which has to be put up with due to its necessity. The monitors offered in the Russian market have a screen with a diagonal of 4 to 17 inches. The most popular models with a screen of 4 – 5.5 inches, with a small size, elegant design and the possibility of desktop or wall placement. Such monitors will organically fit into any interior and are able to work flawlessly for a long time..

The monitor can also be replaced with an ordinary household TV. Special monitors are designed for round-the-clock work and are used in a professional security service, when its employee is required to constantly monitor the situation. It is unlikely that any family member will agree to spend a wonderful time in a country house on duty in front of a monitor screen.

My home is my castle

Creation of a TV surveillance system for a country house is a fascinating task and corresponds to the already mentioned principle of system modularity, i.e. the possibility of connecting additional equipment in order to create a system “for growth”.

Just as when protecting a city apartment, you can limit yourself to minimal means: install a video intercom or a video peephole on the front gate or front door of the house. However, practice shows that several cameras and several security lines should be involved in the TV system for a country house: the outer perimeter, the inner territory, the entrance to the house. You will feel calmer knowing that at any time you can inspect the area in front of the front door, around the house, in front of the entrance gate, gate and garden plot. Experts also recommend installing cameras directly in the house as an additional factor for your safety. The TV camera will help you look after the baby.

There is no bad weather

Cameras operating indoors and outdoors are in different conditions, including temperature, humidity, precipitation, the degree of mechanical stress, up to acts of vandalism, and illumination (the change in the luminous flux falling on the camera’s sensitive element reaches thousands and even tens of thousands of times ). Therefore, outdoors, it is better to install cameras in thermal housings, which will provide them with comfortable working conditions under adverse climatic and mechanical influences, as well as use auto iris lenses in order to obtain an equally clear image regardless of the illumination (provided that the video camera itself is of high quality).

The requirements for indoor cameras are not so high, you can also choose the installation method. In office premises – for example, in a garage – cameras on brackets are often used, and for the house, in most cases, covert surveillance cameras are purchased – miniature, needle, camouflaged for various sensors, lamps, etc. Pin-hole cameras are clad in metal cases, allowing them to be embedded in interior items, walls, ceilings, doors. Their lens diameter is 1.5-2 mm, which makes such cameras almost invisible, and the microphone built into a number of models also makes it possible to listen to the controlled space.

What you need to know and remember when concern for family safety leads to the decision to install a CCTV system?

Useful Tips

Firstly, cameras should be installed at a height of 2.5 – 3 m and, if possible, so that the space under one camera falls into the field of view of another (elimination of “dead zones”).

Secondly, if you have a dark staircase and your loved ones open the front door every time with a sinking heart, you need a camera in the form of a door “peephole” or a surveillance camera and a miniature infrared illuminator (or an IR plate: camouflaged under the apartment number, it will allow you to see the visitor in complete darkness). The image from the cameras can be displayed on a special monitor or on a regular TV by connecting cameras to the LF connector (like a regular VCR).

Thanks to the aforementioned modular principle, cameras can be installed not only in the staircase, but also in all hazardous areas, and these are, as a rule, staircases, elevator halls, an entrance door, a car parking lot, etc. If desired, you can create a security system for the entire entrance and even at home

Thirdly, you need to pay attention to the attitude of the company’s specialists to your problem. If you were offered only one solution (usually not the cheapest one) and were told that even a child can install the system, spend another five minutes calling other companies. You will appreciate your professional attitude right away: you will be given full advice on how to build video surveillance systems, help you choose several options and demonstrate equipment samples.