To protect your home from intruders, you need a surveillance camera. It is necessary to choose it carefully and consciously. It is important to determine where to install it, the type of construction and whether it is necessary to record sound.
Where to install the camera
First it is worth determining where to install the surveillance camera. This is necessary to ensure sufficient lighting and good visibility.
To install the camera on the street, you need to buy a model with built-in heating and sealed housing. For rooms where humidity is high, a camera with a moisture-proof housing is suitable. In places where the perpetrator can damage the equipment, you must install a vandal-resistant camera.
How to take into consideration the focus distance and viewing angle
The focus distance and viewing angle sets the area of the image to be covered and its appearance.
Models with a small viewing angle focus completely on the subject. This allows a close look at people who are in the room. The disadvantage of such a camera is that you can not fully see what is happening in the room. If you want to observe objects located within 30 meters from the device, the camera with a viewing angle of no more than 45° will do. To completely cover the room, you should use a device with a viewing angle greater than 90°.
The greater the viewing angle, the harder it is to make out details in the video. You can buy a camera with an adjustable viewing angle, but such a model is more expensive than the mentioned one and a half times.
You can also buy a special lens to the camera: a varifocal lens with variable focal length, a transfocal lens with an adjustable angle of view or a monofocal lens with fixed focal length.
What types of designs there are
There are three types. Swivel cameras can help you monitor angled areas of a room. Dome cameras are only suitable for panoramic surveillance on rooftops or in open spaces. However, the larger the viewing angle, the worse specific objects and people will be seen. Outdoors, you can install a cylindrical camera with a reinforced housing that is not as easy to penetrate.
Which sensors will help optimize the camera’s performance
Special sensors respond to motion and sounds. With them, you can increase security and optimize the shooting process.
The motion sensor triggers after an object enters the infrared sensor’s capture area. To prevent the sensor from reacting to animals, its sensitivity must be adjusted.
The peculiarity of cameras with sound sensor is that the camera starts recording video only after it reacts to sound. This feature makes it easier to find the right fragment in the video and saves space on the memory card.
What the lighting should be
Pay attention to the light sensitivity of the camera if it will shoot around the clock, because the lighting changes several times a day. Before you buy equipment, you need to measure the level of light in the room with a luxmeter. In order to record all day long, you need a camera with sensitivity of 0.01 lux.
It is necessary to ensure that the camera matrix receives the same amount of light, regardless of lighting mode. So the video will be without flares and blackouts. To do this, it is better to buy a surveillance camera with an electronic shutter or a lens with auto-iris control.
With infrared illumination, you can record video in complete darkness.
How to Record Sound
Some CCTV cameras can record sound as well. This feature allows you to get more information and monitor the room more effectively.
Note that you will not be able to record sound perfectly, because the microphone responds not only to human speech, but also to extraneous sounds. Therefore, do not buy a camera with a microphone for the street. A wired and wireless microphone can be connected to the camera to improve sound quality when recording indoors.
What camera standards there are
Digital IP cameras stream video digitally over the Internet using the IP protocol. They can be connected via smartphone, tablet or laptop to retrieve data or control settings.
HD cameras are high-definition. They can be digital and analog. Now there are new surveillance formats – AHD, TVI and CVI. High definition AHD cameras differ from IP cameras in that they can transmit the signal up to 500 meters away. CVI technology separates brightness and color signals and provides for automatic correction of the video signal when transmitting it over long distances.
CVBS is a composite video signal used in analog cameras. It provides a mixture of timing and color difference signals, which guarantees a stable picture on the monitor screen.
Which camera is better: analog or digital
If you record video with an analog camera, you’ll need a connection with a video recorder or computer. Digital IP cameras have the advantage that they encode the data they receive from the matrix into a digital signal. Then, using wireless networks – GSM, CDMA, 3G, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth – they send the material to a computer, cloud server or video recorder. Thanks to this, you can watch video anywhere in the world from your cell phone or computer.
Analog cameras have a higher resolution than digital cameras. With a digital camera you can see the details in the image: the figure, clothes, the silhouette of a person. When choosing, you can be guided by cost.