Are you looking to get a security cameras system for your house but don't know what you need to get or what type of thing you need to look out for? In this article we will look at the DVR system.
If you're looking for a security system for your house/business you need one of two things.
Something to capture the footage and something to put the footage on to.
Until recently all that was availabe was a video cassette system which was unweildy and didn't have that long of a lifespan.
However,
now it is possible to put all your footage onto a hard drive, much like the one in your computer. Or, as it is known in the electronics and security industry, a DVR drive.
This recorder is similar to the digital video recorder many people now have within their homes and as a part of their satellite dish television system. The DVR within a security camera system, though, fills a much different role than when it exists as a part of a television system.
A digital video recorder is exactly what it says it is; a machine that records video in digital form rather than in analog form on videotape or some other non-digital recording media.
It has a hard disk drive (HDD) of large storage size, plus an electronics suite that operates in much the same manner as old-style videotape recorders, though the way in which it does so is quite a bit different.
Additionally, good DVRs in a security system can record the action not only to the HDD but also to a USB ("universal serial bus") keydrive or an SD memory card.
In fact, there are a number of different ways in which the device can store its data. These are just the most common.
The most common and the most reasonably-priced DVRs usually consist of HDD-based digital video recorders.
Keep in mind that any digital-based security system will need to have a DVR in order to operate properly. The recorder is necessary for several reasons, including that "high-definition" capable 720p or 1080i security cameras are digital in nature and must record what they "see" to something that's capable of taking their digitally-generated signals and then rendering it into images that can be sent to monitors and stored for later review. This is where the DVR comes in, by the way.
Those needing a security system and who are considering "going digital" should look for a DVR that has a hard disk drive that's large enough to store a great deal of digital imagery.
Many decently-priced systems with four digital cameras, an LCD monitor, TV cables and other accessories plus a 250 gigabyte (GB) DVR will run about nine hundred US dollars or so.
Paired with high-definition security cameras, the images that can be displayed on an LCD monitor or put up when the images and data stored on the DVR's disk drive are delivered to the monitor can be exceptional. Additionally, the DVR is much more versatile and capable of many more functions than older-style analog security camera systems.
Always look for a good system with cameras of at least 720p rating and a DVR that has enough storage capacity (at least 250GB) to capture imagery for several days.
The system should be able to be rebooted (the DVR has a computer hard drive, after all) relatively quickly so that it doesn't remain offline for very long and if it's a part of a personal computer system it should be able to operate using most of the popular operating systems.
Keep these things in mind before selecting any system.
