Getting the Most From Your CCTV

CCTV cameras (which stands for 'Closed Circuit Television' cameras) are an incredibly useful security and surveillance tool that we can use in businesses or in homes in order to prevent crimes (by deterring thieves), to help catch perpetrators in the act, and to help capture criminals after the fact by being able to provide police etc with evidence and information. While CCTV has many uses however, like most things it is only as good as its user; and how you set it up and what you do with it will have a big impact on how well it works. Here we will look at how to best place your CCTV cameras around your premises and thereby get the most from them.

First of all, the intention when choosing places to keep your CCTV is that you cover as much area as possible using as few cameras as possible. This will mean for example that you are aiming to be able to capture footage across an entire shop using only one or two cameras. This way you can save money by having to shell out for fewer cameras, but at the same time you can avoid having gaping holes in your security where crimes etc could take place and you might be unaware. This becomes even more important when using analogue CCTV as these cameras can only record from one channel at a time and therefore have to flick occasionally between footage from different cameras. This means that you will get a different view every few minutes that could leave a large proportion of the shop unmonitored for a large period of time. Whether or not this is possible will of course depend on the shape and size of your shop, but there are some things you can do to maximise efficiency.

For instance, putting your cameras in the top corners of rooms will often give you a lot of reach across your room as it will mean no one wall is left out (as might be the case if it wasn't in the corner) and you can see over most obstacles such as shelves and cases. Normally for each room however you might find that it's better to use two, as even if your CCTV is high up, it may still have left areas behind shelves etc where a savvy crook could hide. One on either corner of the room will provide a fair bit of overlap, but in most normal sized rooms it will mean that no area is left uncovered.

At the same time you will need to include your CCTV cameras in all rooms, so as a rough estimate you will be able to calculate the number of cameras you need by looking at how many rooms you have and multiplying this by two. On top of this you will then want to include cameras outside and from other views.

In order to have the very most flexibility for your cameras, using IP CCTV will leave you with no wires to deal with which will mean they can be placed anywhere with no wiring necessary. IP CCTV works by transmitting data wirelessly and stands for 'internet protocol'.

When you know where you need to put them you can get all your CCTV cameras at these links. Click either link for a range of products including IP CCTV for greater versatility.