In this age of heightened awareness of security needs, video surveillance systems offer extra pairs of eyes to help you manage your business more carefully.

Before starting to compare surveillance systems or evaluating potential vendors, sit down and consider your closed circuit television (CCTV) needs. First, consider what you want to monitor with your surveillance system. General comings and goings? Vehicles? Do you want to see faces, merchandise, crowds? Once you decide what you want to see? What do yo want the system to do, Monitor the area, Detect, Recognition or Identify, choosing components will become easier.

Next, decide what picture quality you need in your surveillance systems. Quality can refer to both how detailed the image is and how fast the frame rate is. Frame rate is simply a measure of how many individual pictures make up the video. Real-Time; what you see on television, is 30 frames per second. Most often, lower end surveillance systems record at slower rates, which result in more jerky-looking images but saves on recording space, choose a system which allows you to adjust the record / playback and streaming video rates. You can't prosecute someone with a 7-11 video system... we have all seen this on TV... Have you seen this pixelated blur? .... No prosecution there...

A quality system will make all the difference, the difference in identifying the perpetrators or not, we offer a system that will meet or exceed your requirements and do what you need it to do, Click here to see our Network Video Recorders

Think about how your surveillance system will be monitored. Will you simply record at all times, and only review the video when a problem occurs? Or will you have a dedicated employee watching for trouble? Also, with multiple surveillance system cameras, you have the option of connecting each to its own monitor, or combining multiple images onto one monitor.

You also should decide whether your priority with your surveillance system is to deter potential crimes or to catch perpetrators. If you are more interested in deterring certain activities, large, visible cameras are your best bet along with visible signage. Trying to catch criminals without them being aware of it requires hidden surveillance cameras, they usually cost more for hardware and for installation, but in recent years covert surveillance cameras have really made things easier.

With these questions answered, you will be able to speak with more knowledge as you explore the range of surveillance system options.

One of the newest trends in the surveillance system industry concerns digital recording. Only a few years ago, most closed-circuit TV systems were paired with the familiar VCR to record images. However, Digital Video Recorders using analog signals from cameras were the next step recording to internal Hard Drives and now the next step is Network Video Recorders (NVRs), which also record onto hard drives but the signal coming in is not analog, but through and IP stream, offering you complete control on how video is recorded, played back, and remotely viewed.

NVRs definitely are the way to go. Security VCRs were really advanced in their day and usually offered a time-lapse mode that let them record for long periods of time, the resulting images are not a good record of events - they record only one snapshot every eight seconds, and require very high maintenance and have a very LOW ROI and most of the time unusable video

To get higher quality, you needed to change tapes every day or more often. NVRs, on the other hand, can record for months on to multiple Hard Drives that are now available 2TB in size .

Rough costs for a complete, installed surveillance system is $500 to $1,000 per camera, plus the cost of your recording device. Good NVRs generally start at $2,500 and get more expensive with the features you desire and more HDDs you require. However we offer our High end Surlytics software platform called a Video Management System that can operate a Mom and Pop store to Multi million camera solution.

With even a modest upfront investment, surveillance systems will shrink the long-term problem of theft, but are only 1 part in the whole process.

Security Cameras are one of the best ways to monitor your home or office. First you must decide whether you need an indoor or an outdoor system and whether or not to use closed-circuit (CCTV) or wireless cameras, Please note: Most wireless cameras require a (CLOS) Clear Line Of Sight for proper transmission of video signals. Day or night use will also affect the type of camera you by, some have built in infra-red that allow them to see in the dark, others are infrared sensitive, but require a additional light source.

Consider the following when choosing a CCTV camera

1. Sketch out a Floor Plan: Put in all camera locations. Consider the distance to your surveillance zone: Are you 5 feet or 15 feet away from your surveillance target area? It is best to locate your camera as close to the surveillance area first, and then choose how much zoom you need. Do you need 4mm, 8mm or 12mm lens, or a PTZ camera?

2. Field of view or area of surveillance: Take photos of areas you want to cover from the proposed camera locations. What lens you need depends what you want to see and how far away and how wide a viewing area. Wide angle and fisheye lenses are available.

3. Resolution: Do you want to capture a persons face or a car license plate? Each camera location will determine which lenses would maximize your surveillance potential. Do you need 50mm lens or standard 8mm?, Varifocal lens are also available and are mostly used when distances the camera is to view are unknown or your not sure what the distance will be. This will allow you to adjust the (FOV) Field of view as you see fit, by manually zooming the camera in and out toachieve the field of veiw then focussing it to make the pictue clear. A varifocal lens will give you a wide variety of shots that may work out better then you thought in the first place!

4. Vandalism potential: Will your camera be subject to damage? Vandal proof cameras are available, and mainly come in a Dome.

5. Lighting: Is the space well lit or dimly lit. Are the lights turned off at night? Do you want to monitor the area with the lights turned off? Do you need infrared CCTV cameras or low light cameras? Will your camera be pointing at a window or a set of doors causing a person to become a silhouette?

6. Budget: Just like any technology, the more you spend, the better the system you get. Keep in mind a low cost, low quality camera will provide you with unusable pictures; you can turn on the nightly news and see a perfect example of what we are talking about. A news brief will talk about a robbery and when they show you a picture of the thieves you will find the neighborhood kids probably do much better sidewalk chalk drawings than what the video of the low quality system produced! They are usually a huge waste of your time and money!

Security Cameras Types:

Surveillance cameras are becoming more popular and, most importantly, more accessible to the average person. Huge store chains or gated communities aren't the only places than can afford the benefits of surveillance cameras anymore. They are available for your home and office needs, no matter how simple or how elaborate a setup you require.

Your home, your office, your store, your family -- these are just four reasons why you would want to purchase a surveillance camera. If you put your time, energy, and resources into these, why not take the extra step and insure what matters most to you? Video cameras designed specifically for surveillance give an extra measure of safety and security.

You have a broad range of video surveillance cameras available to you. Understanding the different kinds will make it easier to determine which one suits you best.
 

1. Outdoor Cameras - Outdoor cameras need to be able to withstand extreme temperatures and humidity and usually come in a weatherproof casing that also helps protect against vandalism, to a point.

2. Infra-Red Cameras - These cameras have infrared LEDs installed around the lens of the camera. This provides light the camera can use to see in the dark even when no outside light is available. In some low light installations, a day/night camera will work as well, but does require some ambient light.

3. Day / Night Security Cameras - Day / Night cameras have a super sensitive imaging chip in them. This allows these cameras to work great in low light with no infrared lighting needed. Low light means that there is some light available but not a lot, for example from street lights or even moon light. If your application has absolutely no light then you'll need to use infrared instead. Most Day / Night cameras these days have built in (IR) Infrared LEDs and are becoming the standard.

4. Mini Security Cameras - Mini cameras are some of the smallest available, but still offer extremely good resolution and are ideal for unobtrusive surveillance. The compact design of these coin size cameras make them very easy to hide and difficult to see.

5. Bullet / Finger Cameras - Bullet / Finger cameras are small, compact and can be placed almost anywhere. These cameras are great for covert surveillance. The lens is built into the camera and cannot be switched. The main advantages to the bullet camera are their low cost and their small size.

6. Dome Cameras - Dome cameras are a popular style. Dome cameras present a streamline and professional look to any company, organization or building. They are available in both black/white, color and Day / night IR formats. Some dome cameras come in an armored dome to protect against vandalism and are used just about everywhere.

7. Cameras with (BLC) Back Light Compensation - Of course you want a usable picture, so the Indoor or outdoor camera needs to be able to see properly in all light conditions. If the camera is pointed towards windows or glass doors with the sun behind the target then the target, usually a person will be a silhouette, so the Back Light Compensation of this camera will allow you to get a clear image of the persons face just like if they were standing with the light shinning on them.

Fortify your home or office today

Surveillance cameras are extremely helpful in protecting your home or office environment and keeping you informed and connected. You can check up on your nanny or employees, make sure nothing suspicious happens at your home while your away, monitor the children from another part of the house, and make sure nothing strange is going on in the office parking lot when you leave after dark.

Don't wait to protect your home or office -- act now. Browse through your surveillance camera options today.

Best Security Monitors

Security monitors come in a variety of sizes and are all the new LED type. Where you willbe using it will determine what type you will get, for example if you will be using it outside a high NIT or sunlight readable monitor is what you'll need and they are considerably more money than a standard monitor.
 

• Color monitors used with black/white cameras is pointless

• Typically they come with auxiliary inputs for analog video and a secondary monitor output connection

• The old CRT boxy monitors are now gone by the wayside and Flat screen LED versions have taken their place and take up less space and can be mounted to the wall

If you get stuck on some CCTV terminology check our Glossary

When running cable, it is best to follow a few simple rules:

1. Always use more cable than you need. Leave plenty of slack

2. Test every part of a network as you install it. Even if it is brand new, it may have problems that will be difficult to isolate later

3. Stay at least 3 feet away from fluorescent light boxes and other sources of electrical interference

4. If it is necessary to run cable across the floor, cover the cable with cable protectors

5. Label both ends of each cable

6. Use cable ties (not tape) to keep cables in the same location together

Cable connectors

The most common type of connector used with coaxial cables is the Bayone Neill Concelman (BNC) connector (see diagram below). Different types of adapters are available for BNC connectors, including a T-connector, barrel connector, and terminator. Connectors on the cable are the weakest points in any network. To help avoid problems with your network, always use the BNC connectors that crimp, rather than screw, onto the cable.
 

 

Power sources

When deciding on what power sources to use, always use REGULATED power supplies. These power supplies will send the correct amount of power to your camera, if you use unregulated power sources it will burn out your camera and void your warranty. We also have quality UL certified power Boxes to choose from, you can choose the right one by how many cameras you are wanting in your system and the length of cable run, but don't forget room for upgrades.

Choose from our selection of Central Power Supply Boxes which the entire system can be connected to.
 

WHITE STRIPE on wires is always POSITIVE (+)

What is a CCD Sensor?

Most CCTV cameras are now almost exclusively 'CCD' sensor type. CCD stands for Charge-Coupled Devices. These are light-sensitive chips, the sensitive area being split into a large number of individual pixels (Small dots on the chip). An image from a scene is focused through a lens onto the chip surface and charge is built up in each pixel proportional to the intensity of the light falling on it. Hence an electrical representation of the optical image is formed. Typical active pixel counts for CCD sensors are between 250,000 and 500,000 pixels. Cameras are available in monochrome, color and thermal imaging types.

Lenses

Note that WECU Surveillance, supply cameras without lenses, this is because there are many different types of cameras and even more types of lenses and so it would be impractical, and very expensive, to stock all possible combinations to meet each application.
So Please REMEMBER to include the LENS!

The field of view (FOV) How much will the security camera see?

The field of view (FOV) is based on the camera and lens. WECU Surveillance can provide many different types of Lenses to suite any and all of your CCTV surveillance security camera needs. Wide angle lenses are suitable for most applications due to their ability to view a large area. A 4mm wide angle lens will be able to view an area 20ft high x 26ft wide at 21ft away.

As an example, a 15' x 15' room is shown in the diagram below. Observe that the 4mm lens (green arrows) allows better wide angle viewing coverage than the 12mm lens (red arrows). In applications where a closer view is needed (such as above a cash register or over a greater distance), an 8 or 12mm may be desired. The same camera (above) at 21 ft away with a 8mm lens will have a 10' vertical x 13' horizontal FOV.

At 21' with a 12mm lens, the FOV will be approx 6' vertical x 9' horizontal. Increasing the focal length of the lens decreases the perceived distance to the viewing area. See the FOV diagram below for approximate views with different focal length lenses.


Camera Performance

The main criteria of a cameras performance are its sensitivity and resolution. Sensitivity is a measure of the minimum amount of light required by the camera to give a useable image. Resolution defines the amount of picture detail in the image produced by the camera.

Sensitivity

The CCTV industry has many ways of stating an individual cameras sensitivity performance. Most common is minimum scene illumination required to give useable picture at a particular lens aperture. This is inherently subjective.

Another, more objective definition is the minimum scene illumination required by the camera to give full video output
I.e. 1v peak to peak. Few manufacturers use this definition! Most manufactures provide a figure in LUX which is actually a light level the figures quoted is often like this 0.1 LUX. The problem with this is that to get a true representation of the actual sensitivity of the camera the lens apertures must also be compared. Lens apertures, i.e. the size of hole that light can pass through in the lens, must be compared in order to get a true comparison of performance.

• Camera 1 requires a minimum scene illumination of 0.1 lux at a lens aperture of f 1.4 to give a useable image.

• Camera 2 requires a minimum scene illumination of 0.05 lux at f 1.0 to give a useable image.

This appears to say that camera 2 is twice as sensitive as camera 1 because it needs half the light to give a useable picture. In fact the cameras have equal sensitivities because the aperture through which light is allowed to fall on the sensor of camera 2 is twice the area of that for camera 1.

Typical sensitivities (defined as minimum scene illumination required for useable picture with lens aperture at f 1.4) for current CCD cameras are as follows:

• Medium Performance (General purpose) Monochrome 0.5 - 0.25 lux

• High Performance (Low-Light/Outdoor) Monochrome <0.20 lux

• Medium Performance (General purpose) Color 3.0 lux

• High Performance (Low-Light) Color < 2.5 lux

Note: that monochrome CCD cameras are still approx. 5 times more sensitive than equivalent color cameras. However, technology advances has really brought the color cameras to the forefront! 

Typical light levels

Choosing the correct camera to operate in the ambient light conditions is possibly the most important although most tricky specification to understand.

Light levels are usually measured in Lux. This is a measure of the light energy arriving on an area 1m2 of surface per second.

Typical light levels are:

• Full Summer Sunlight: 50,000 Lux

• Dull Daylight: 10,000 Lux

• Shop/Office environment: 500 Lux

• Dawn/Dusk: 1 - 10 Lux

• Main Street Lighting: 30 Lux

• Side Street Lighting: 0.5 - 3 Lux

The golden rule when deciding which camera to use for a given lighting condition is not to choose one that will only just give a picture. Try to give the camera approximately 10 times its quoted minimum scene illumination. Most cameras will be able to cope with excess light. The major problem is when they do not have enough light to produce a picture.

The sensitivity of covert cameras with pin-hole lenses are often quoted as 0.1Lux @f1.4. This seems to indicate that the camera will work in moonlight. Actually the pin-hole lens will have an aperture ratio of something like f4 and so the camera will need approximately 1 Lux to produce a picture.

Unless your house is directly under main-street lighting the light level is probably less than 1 Lux at the front and even lower at the back. Bright security flood lights in theory help but often produce dark shadows a short distance from the house.

A monochrome camera rated at 0.05 Lux will produce reasonable results. Color needs a little more. However, color cameras achieve good night-time vision by switching to a monochrome mode. You will never get good night-time color pictures without huge amounts of additional lighting. So think carefully about the added cost of color over monochrome cameras. As most people are used to color television it sets a standard so it is very common to still select a color camera knowing it will switch to monochrome mode at night.

Monochrome cameras respond well to additional IR (infra red) lighting. With this in mind true night-vision cameras include a ring of IR LEDs. Color cameras also offer IR illumination but as stated previously will switch to monochrome at night even with the IR LEDs turned on. These are true night-vision cameras and are rate at 0 Lux.

How does IR work?

The human eye can see in the visible light portion of the spectrum chart (below). Above visible light is infrared (IR). The CCD or CMOS device inside your security camera can detect IR light and use it to help illuminate the area viewed.

IR Cameras are cameras that emit IR so that the area in front of the camera can be seen in total darkness. ONLY black and white (B/W) cameras are affected by IR illumination. Color cameras will detect IR to a much lesser degree. Take your TV remote and press a button while pointing it at your camera for a simple demonstration of how a CCTV camera can see IR.