What is CCTV?
CCTV stands for closed circuit television. It is a television set that does not actually broadcast anything entertaining like programs and channels in our homes for leisure. It requires to use video cameras which will record activities and events in the area they have been installed. They record and keep 24-hour events information on what has happened. The main reason why these cameras are installed to record the information is for surveillance and security check. This is important for protecting the people and property of the home from the increased cases of theft and robbery in the recent past. Since the safety of your home and its occupants is a must, you should be thinking of installing CCTV surveillance at your home.
Why CCTV?
Generally, homeowners are very busy people. They have a lot of work to carry on during the day. Keeping a thorough and continuous safety check on the home for the whole day is not possible no matter how hard you try. Even if you have all the time to yourself, you cannot stay at your home all day and night not doing anything else but just keeping surveillance and security check to ensure no thief is looting on your property. Theft cases have increased drastically making it unpredictable when it can be your time to be hit. Keeping a security guard is an option. However, how are you sure that the security guard will not plot a move on you and you won’t notice it? How sure are you that the security guard will not fall asleep or get destructed and then you are hit? In short, you cannot trust the human being for 100% surveillance. The best thing you can opt and go for is installing a CCTV in your home.
How do you get a CCTV installed in your home?
Many people will look at CCTV installation as if it an unnecessary network of wires running on the walls through the ceiling, which does not look very good. However, this is not what it must be. Here we are going to look at what to do in order to have a smart CCTV installation in your home.
· Get the proper cables for your CCTV.
The quality of the picture reproduced by a CCTV is greatly determined by the type of cables use to transmit the signal. Most designers are not specific on the type of transmission cables used resulting in distorted images and video coverage. Coaxial cable is designed specially to transmit the CCTV frequency signal with minimum or no distortion or attenuation. This makes coaxial cables an excellent choice to use for your cabling. However, choosing of this cable should be done accurately. Inaccurate coaxial cables can allow noise level to go high hence poor picture quality. Since there are various constructions of these cable, you will need to understand their parameters and select one that meets CCTV transmission specifications.
· Deciding upon where to place the CCTV installation
It is important you know the “Hotpoint” to install your CCTV cameras. If you do not do this, you are likely to put the cameras in non-essential places. Some of the places a camera should not miss include
1. Front door
Up to 34 % of robbers enter a house via the front door. It is important to protect this camera from knock down by the thieves. You can do this by placing them in an enclosure say a wire mesh. Likewise, you can install it in the eves of the house.
2. Back door
An approximated 22% of these thieves will enter via the back door. A camera must be here. If your house has side door, equip them too. The key point here is you must ensure that all your entrance points have surveillance cameras. They must be out of reach by the human stretch or extremely protected.
3. Off-street windows
Burglars often choose to use off street windows to break into the house so that they can hide and buy time. You will need surveillance cameras here.
4. Basement stairs
This is a subterranean route you will need to protect using a surveillance camera. Any wayward prowlers trying to sneak in will be noticed.
· Deciding for the monitoring and DVR location
The monitoring position need to be accessible so that you can see what is happening while the DVR need to be hidden so that it is not stolen to erase recorded scene. You can place it in the walls, hide it in the closet, up in the ceiling, under the basement or the closet for the hide option. Alternatively, you can use DVR lock boxes to protect it. Another smart way to go is by use of decoy DVR and monitoring. You hide the real DVR and have a decoy that will destruct the person seeking to steal it.
You must also ensure that there is a DC voltage that is available to power the DVR, the monitor and the CCTV 24/7. Other important basic steps can be obtained from the manual supplied by CCTV dealers.
What are the benefits of installing CCTV cameras?
· High sense of security
It will give you every minute detail on what is taking place around your home. Any theft activity can be traced using the video that I recorded.
· Strangers will not lurk around the house
If you are alone in the house or your child is home alone, it is easy to see a stranger lurking outside. These can facilitate alerting the police in case it is a theft plan and the situation tackled.
· You will have peace of the mind while in the house or anywhere else.
When you leave your home with no one or you leave children alone, it is easy to track what is happening and have peace of the kind where you are. Even nannies will be disciplined and will not think of committing a crime. While in the house, you can see what is happening outside
· Deterrence
Any thieves or burglars seeing CCTV installation will not attempt to make a move on your property. CCTVs will just keep them off.