CCTV Basic Questions

[efiste2]

Please excuse my nievity, Im looking to install a basic CCTV system at our Property, mainly to watch over the vehicles parked on the drive. The rear of the Property is quite secure and not generally accesible unless accessed through the front so a simple two camera system would be fine. However Im a total newbie when it comes how they operate. In general do they operate using a Hard Drive and store video to that drive for say 24 hours, the overwriting with the next 24 hours etc etc....And how would a system cover our property when we go away on Holiday etc etc.....
Are the Hard Wired systems better than the Wireless ones, in terms of quality and reliability?
What system woulkd you guys recommend, We have a fairly tight budget at the moment so not looking for a high end system, but a good quality basic one that will do the job....

 

[OwainDIYer]

The recorders (or cameras if you use IP cameras) incorporate motion detection so don't record continuously. You can therefore expect to get several weeks before overwriting.

Network-connected recorders can be accessed from the internet and can be set to email you alerts when the motion detection is triggered.

 

[Doggit]

There are 2 types of motion detector systems. Swann do a infra ref heat detector on the camera, but the standard type of detection examines the pixels being recorded, and if it detects a change, then it starts recording new footage. You can specify the area of the picture that it detects, and this allows you to cut out say trees, that will sway in the wind, so think about what's being recorded before you decide on the type of camera. There are also different cameras now available; analogue, and digital. With an analogue camera, you'll have 2 cables going from the recorder box to the camera, and unless you can crimp a bnc connector to the cabel ends, you'll need a largish hole to get the cables though the wall. Digital cameras use a small single cable to conect them. Aim for a 1tb recorder box, and with just 2 cameras, you should get 14-30 days recording before it starts to overwrite, but there are no hard and fast rules I'm afraid. Wireless cameras need a battery, or a power supply plugged into them, so check that out, but obviously no cable problems, but they can't be too far away from the recorder box, and thick walls don't help. If you're going to be recording people walking past you're house, then you need to put up a visible sign informing people that they are being recoded.