If you were going to install a surveillance product into your home, you’d think that consumer grade surveillance products you could pick up at your local Best Buy or Sam’s club would be sufficient, right? What if I told you that installing cheaper consumer grade CCTV equipment in your home is actually cheating yourself and your family? While the packaging claims to have those higher resolutions and features you are looking for there is some “gotchas” that you really need to be concerned about before purchasing one of those surveillance systems in a box deals. Listed below are some of the top reasons to steer clear of these economy deals and to wisely invest in a higher quality system, even if it means saving up just a tad bit longer before having it implemented.
Forensic Imaging:
Most home systems don’t use forensic quality video imaging. There is many cases that the recorded video archived by cheaper systems are not court submittable. They may be recorded to file formats that are not tamper resistant. Or they may not have proper resolutions. There is not a worse feeling than spending hard earned money on a system that in the long run, is not really serving any true purpose. A surveillance system’s sole purpose is to catch lawbreakers in their act so that they can be properly dealt with by authorities. If the system cannot perform this role, why would you even implement it?
Resolution and Frame rate:
Alot of newer systems will have large bold letters on the packaging claiming that their system has HD 1080P or even UHD 4K resolutions. What they don’t tell you is the system only has enough processing power to run these resolutions at super low frame rates! Sometimes they will be as low as 1-5 frames per second at max resolution. This results in video playback that is choppy and especially ineffective if the subject in the picture is moving at a rapid pace. The camera may only catch 1 or 2 frames of the actual crime taking place. If it is a scenario of someone putting an item in their pocket quickly, the recording may not pick it up at all.
Warranty and Cheap parts:
Most consumer grade products offer very limited warranties, most maxing out at 90 days or maybe a full year if you are extremely lucky. The reason the manufacturer does this is because they know that they are using sub par components that are likely to fail in a short amount of time. A classic example is the storage hard drives used in these systems. They will use standard cheap desktop grade hard drives that are not meant for these types of applications. A DVR or NVR recording device is constantly writing new video data to the hard drive all day long, every day, 365 days a year! These cheaper desktop grade drives aren’t meant for such write intensive applications and fail quickly. Most likely the cheaper recording unit also doesn’t have the capability to alert you through text or email that the hard drive has failed either. This sets up the terrible situation of you needing to view an event that has happened, only to find out that your surveillance solution hasn’t actually been recording anything in the last six months.
No Installation Help or Technical Assistance:
CCTV Surveillance is a trade that requires a lot of experience to perform correctly. This is why most states in the US require professionals that install CCTV systems to be licensed just like electricians or other skilled trades. For example, you install a camera covering an entry point to a building facing the door and the exterior of the building, only to find out after completing your install that at 5pm, the sunlight from outside blinds the camera and renders it useless. You should have installed it close to the door pointing to the interior of the building. Now you’ve wasted valuable time and will have to redo the install, plus patch holes you made from mounting the camera in the wrong location. Licensed professionals will know the best practices to avoid such situations. Most recording solutions are moving to IP based technology and having extensive IP networking knowledge is also becoming a requirement to correctly setup and configure systems. If you don’t have horn-rimmed glasses and a pocket protector, you may experience a lot of frustration setting your surveillance solution up. 🙂
These are just a few of the reasons of a long list to invest in quality professional surveillance systems and why considering implementation from a licensed professional may be your best bet to save time, money and avoid frustration.