People looking to put in security cameras in their home or business have several choices when selecting a camera system to install. Traditionally, most security cameras have now been CCTV (Closed Circuit Television) style cameras which transmit video over an analog coaxial video cable. These cameras generally have an electronic digital image sensor and then convert the video to an analog video signal to transmit over a coaxial RG59 video cable and plug into a Standalone DVR or PC-Based DVR with a BNC style connector. DVRs or PC-Based DVRs would then convert the video from an analog signal to an electronic digital signal once more for storage onto a hard drive. In the last couple of years, a new design of security camera has recognition for a lot of installations. These newer style IP security cameras have changed the way in which that many people look at the way security camera systems are planned and installed. IP security cameras include a digital image sensor like the traditional CCTV cameras, however rather than converting the video immediately to an analog signal for transmission to a DVR, these new IP cameras compress the video employing their embedded video processing chips and then transmit the cameras over a typical network cable back once again to a PC with NVR (Network Video Recorder) software. Many home and business owners are confused by conflicting stories about each kind of system, which makes it difficult to select a system which will work well because of their instance.
Each kind of system has benefits that will not be overlooked when selecting a system to suit your needs. Traditional CCTV cameras are much more affordable than most of the IP cameras in the marketplace, and are completely interchangeable. Nearly every traditional CCTV camera transmits the exact same format video, so cameras in one system, even an older VCR based system can even be connected to a more recent DVR. CCTV Melbourne Despite many misconceptions, most recent traditional CCTV DVR systems provide access on the internet, many even from PDA cell phones. When properly planned, these systems can deliver great display quality and the ability to keep watch of your house or business on the internet with minimal impact to your budget. Newer IP camera NVR systems offer newer technology that may in many cases deliver high quality video recording (sometimes more than HDTV resolutions). These IP camera systems can allow home or business owners to achieve great views for the security of these business with fewer cameras in several cases. These cameras require only a single network cable to run to each camera, lowering the problem and cost of cabling in many cases however IP camera systems in general are usually not really a lower cost, as the cameras are usually more expensive. Several systems even support the bigger definition megapixel IP cameras, delivering 4-22 times the resolution of a normal security camera. These NVR systems also usually offer remote viewing capabilities on the internet which means your IP cameras can be viewed from anywhere. Because IP camera NVR systems continue to be in their infancy in the market, each camera communicates differently, so the NVR system that's chosen should be programmed to accept each brand, make and model of IP camera, otherwise it would not function with the NVR. These limitations may make it difficult to expand IP camera systems unless the added cameras match the list of supported cameras.
Many home and business owners have now been generated think that they need to purchase an IP camera system to be able to view their cameras on the internet, however both types of systems are remotely viewable. Others may want the reduced budget traditional systems, but don't want to limit their ability to expand their system in the foreseeable future to include IP security cameras. That's why many PC-Based DVR systems like our Alnet Systems PC based systems can operate in a Hybrid DVR /NVR arrangement. These systems provide a bargain between budget and future expansion, allowing users to produce a system with some traditional CCTV cameras and some IP security cameras. The Hybrid systems usually contain a PC with a PCI or PCIe DVR card installed to supply inputs for how many traditional CCTV cameras as well as a license for added IP security cameras. With this sort of system, all of the cameras can be viewed on the PC screen and recorded together onto the hard drive. These analog CCTV and IP cameras can then also be viewed remotely together on the internet from the PC, Laptop, BlackBerry, Android PDA phone, iPhone, iPad and a great many other mobile phones as well.
With hybrid capable security camera DVR systems like our Alnet Systems DVR cards, home and business owners can start out with analog security cameras alone, and simply add license later for added IP cameras or additional cards for more traditional CCTV cameras. The ability to expand the system slowly and use both newer and older technology together make hybrid systems a great choice to greatly help meet budgetary requirements and still deliver desired features and picture quality. When building the next security camera system, consider getting a system which will allow both lower budget and higher definition IP cameras together.
When building the next home or business security camera system, it pays to start with a DVR Card which will allow recording from both traditional cctv security cameras as well as IP security cameras. Our Alnet DVR Cards all provide the ability to build a cross security camera system. These Alnet DVR systems provide the ability to remote view security cameras from the Cell phone or PDA phone just like a BlackBerry, iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Android PDA phone, Windows Mobile PDA phone or even Java Enabled Mobile phones within the internet. Platinum CCTV is specialized in helping you choose, setup and configure your house or business camera system to achieve the maximum benefits within your allowance range.