In the midst of an economic downturn, unfortunately there is often an increase in problems around the home. With higher unemployment rates and people struggling financially, honest families can be targeted for burglary or vandalism, leading to even more difficult times for the family as they try to fix the damage done by loss or destruction of property. While homeowners can keep an eye on their property and family when they are at home, it is impossible to be at home all the time. Knowing they cannot watch their properties in person all the time, homeowners have been turning in increasing numbers to home security camera systems. Cameras can provide a constant watch over property and family alike, to provide evidence of what happens, and more importantly peace of mind for the property owners. The newest security camera systems even feature High Definition MegaPixel IP Cameras, that provide HDTV recording resolutions for even greater detail levels with even less cameras. These new systems even deliver ultimate portability, with access over the internet so that homeowners can check in on their property or family from anywhere over the internet from a PC, laptop or even iPhone or Android PDA phone. With this level of access, it is easy to check in and make sure that your house is safe, even from anywhere in the world.
Traditional CCTV security camera systems are good to provide video coverage, but as systems have evolved to newer technology, the benefits have improved. The newest HD cameras deliver from 7 to 25 times the resolution of traditional analog security cameras, which means that each camera can deliver a higher quality view, and can even provide the user with the ability to zoom in on live video, see what is really happening, and even zoom in forensically after the fact on the video to see the full detail on playback too. These new cameras connect to the home’s network, making it much easier to run cables to each of the cameras. New HD cameras have a built-in video processor chip and network card, so that the video can be compressed and then sent directly over the network. Each of the High Definition IP cameras receive an IP address so that they can communicate on the network and be accessed from NVR (Network Video Recorder) software on a PC on the same network. Many of these newer cameras even have support for PoE (Power over Ethernet), allowing a single CAT-5 or CAT-6 ethernet cable to carry power to the camera and connect the camera to the network at the same time.
One of the most important parts of home security camera systems, are the software that is used for recording from the cameras. For High Def cameras, an NVR software is used. This software installs onto a PC running in the home, and records from the cameras over the network and even performs motion detection on each of the video streams, with a frame by frame comparison on each frame of the video. A dual or quad-core CPU PC delivers powerful home security video recording and playback capabilities, allowing your home to be under constant watch in HDTV resolutions. The software chosen for a home camera system will also decide the level of remote viewing that your system will deliver. Most software have internet remote viewing, but each software will have differing compatibility and features remotely. Many NVR systems even have remote viewing capabilities from Android iPads and iPhones, allowing cameras to be watched from anywhere in the world.
Homeowners on average, are now leaning toward the newest technology IP cameras which can deliver HD quality video with remote viewing capabilities over the internet, providing them with much needed peace of mind even in difficult times. With high definition video recording, they can now see exactly what happens even when away from home over an iPhone or iPad. Staying connected and protected has never been easier than it is with today’s technology. These IP Camera systems often support the higher end features such as playback of video on the iPhone or iPad, and improved streaming capabilities combined to the earlier Standalone DVR varieties.
Most homeowners, when selecting a camera system, are mainly looking for the ability to monitor their home remotely over the internet. Both the traditional style systems with lower resolution and the high definition style systems with HDTV resolution offer those remote viewing features. However, the extent of these features depends on the particular DVR or NVR system employed. Many Standalone DVRs will proclaim iPhone support or Android support, but the features are often much more basic, permitting a live view of a single camera only. However, higher end solutions involving PC Based DVRs will often permit more functionality from iPhone, such as Live view of multiple cameras at once, playback of video, control of connected lights or alarm systems and more. When selecting a system, a homeowner must look past whether it is ‘compatible’ with iPhone to see the features that are offered in the system prior to making a purchase.
