Family and Home Security Information

Is your home a target for vandalism or pranks from neighborhood kids? Identifying the culprit and getting irrefutable evidence of the wrong doing is easier and less expensive than you think. And these steps can be done by any do-it-yourself-er, without the aid of an electrician or security installation company.

Start With a Camera 

Having an outdoor camera to watch your property is like having a full-time security guard on duty.  With only a single camera or two, you can tell who’s driving up the driveway or see who’s knocking at the front door.  And if you’re away, you’ll be able to know if someone was in your back yard retrieving that soccer ball that was accidentally kicked over the fence, or if someone decided to take a dip in your pool. 

Choosing a Security Camera 

The most common question we get about cameras is “which one should be used for a particular situation.” While the choice between black & white or color cameras may seem obvious, in many cases, a black & white model will work better than its color counterpart, especially when used in low-lighting or outdoor applications. To put it another way, a $200 black & white camera used for low-light surveillance can have the same performance as a color camera costing $1,000.

People often ask what the camera will pick up and how detailed the image will be.  This is where you need to make some decisions.   To cover the maximum area, you’ll need a wide-angle lens. Unfortunately, a wide-angle lens will not always help in identifying that stranger who thought your garden was a public flower shop. You can choose a camera with a more powerful zoom, but it will probably have a much narrower field of view.

See the dozens of cameras and security systems Nationwide Security Solutions has to offer.

Record the Evidence To Identify The Perpetrator

Once the camera is in place, you could leave your television or monitor on that channel full time, (which could explain the phrase “watching the grass grow”). Or, you could hook it up to a VCR. Your existing VCR can only partially do the job. With a standard T-120 tape, six hours is the longest one cassette will record. Using longer tapes like T-160, T-180, or T-200 tapes – all of which are hard to find and break easily inside the VCR – will only provide a few more hours of recording time. While that may be enough for an overnighter or while you’re away at work, it is not going to last if you’re away for longer periods of time.

A Time Lapse VCR is a special VCR that can record for much longer periods of time. These VCRs are rated by the number of hours they can record. Typically, they fall into two classes; models that will record for a day or two and those that record up to 960 hours (40 days) on a standard video cassette. Time lapse VCRs record longer by slowing the tape down to the point where it is only records a frame every few seconds. In the chart below you can see how a VCR can be programmed to record for up to 40 days, or 960 hours, by recording one frame every eight seconds. If you only need coverage for a weekend get-away, setting the VCR to the 36-hour mode would deliver nearly live action at three frames per minute. 

What Kind of Picture Do Time-Lapse VCRs Record? 

Actually, it’s a pretty good one and you have most likely seen an example on TV.  The footage of Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed waiting at the rear of the Ritz Hotel in Paris the night their car crashed is the most famous example of a time-lapse recorded camera.

One of the problems with leaving a VCR on and recording all the time is that someone has to review a lot of tape to see what happened while they were away from home. A time lapse VCR can be set up to trigger and record at real-time speeds when a contact sensor trips. It can be programmed to change recording speeds from time-lapse mode to real-time OR from standby (where the recorder is on but not recording) to real time mode when a sensor is tripped. The amount of time the VCR records at real-time speed when tripped is programmable. Most folks set it up to record for two minutes following a sensor trip.  The activities below are just a few of the sensors that can automatically start a time lapse VCR’s recording function.

Opening of a door
Opening of a window
Motion inside a home
Vehicles approaching the home
Someone standing at your front door
Someone opening your gate, garage, or outbuilding
Movement outside the property
Rain Sensor
Glass breaking
Water Level

Another option to use when recording activity is a Digital Video Recorder; DVR.  A (DVR) is approximately the same size as a VCR, but that’s where the similarities end. The video of a DVR is digitally recorded to an internal hard drive, instead of tape. This allows continuous recording for days or weeks at a time. When the hard drive is full, the oldest video is deleted so that the system always has the latest video stored for immediate playback. If the video needs to be saved, it can be easily be burned to a CD drive.

Similar to Time Lapse VCR’s, DVR’s can record video with motion/event detection, which only records when any motion in the cameras range is sensed. This saves memory and makes playback much less taxing since only video with action is viewed; no need to fast forward through tedious hours of no activity.

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Purchasing a surveillance camera is a decision concerning your security but it is also a financial decision as well. We suggest you look into a company that facilitates a lease to own your surveillance system.

While you are making this decision, you must balance your security needs with your finances. Purchasing effective equipment should always be your first and most important goal.

What to look for in a surveillance camera depends on what you will use it for, including the location, the quality of the image as well as your budget. There are some things that should be considered by anyone looking to purchase this type of camera.

Things To Consider About Your Camera

• Reliability is one of the most important things to consider in any type of security system. You need to have a surveillance camera that will protect you regardless, even when it’s raining or snowing. For this reason, purchase only equipment that you know has a good warranty and that is waterproof.

• Video signal transmission is also important. There are several types on the market, each with its own benefits. Consider each method and determine which is the right choice for your surveillance needs. You’ll want the most reliable signal, not one with an intermittent transmission. You can consider both wired and wireless transmission. Wireless transmission is often easier to set up and to transfer, but may be less reliable in getting the signal to you. Hard wired transmission is more expensive in the installation but offers a more reliable transmission overall.

• Cost doesn’t always reflect that the surveillance system and security cameras are the best out there or the best for your needs. Take care to find out what features are offered and how well those features fit your needs. An expensive system may not offer more of a benefit for your situation.

A surveillance camera is easily purchased. With so many great models on the market, it’s a matter of choosing the one that’s in your budget and that offers the most for your specific need. Most of the time, this will be easy to find. If you are not sure what is the best choice, consider looking for consumer reviews or looking for packaged services that can cut down the cost of this equipment considerably.

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Surveillance Cameras, Security Cameras And CCTV

Whether you are looking for business use or for your home, a surveillance camera is one of the most important investments that you can make.

If you have ever thought to yourself that if you could just be there 100% of the time, you would be worry-free.  But you can’t, so to be able to observe the action at your office or home while you are elsewhere can satisfy that need.  Security cameras that you can view remotely are one of the most popular additions to both business and family security.

Surveillance cameras are generally chosen based on the function that they offer and their purpose. Each person invests in them for a number of reasons, all with one goal in mind: security.

Providing A Variety Of Protections

Purchasing a surveillance camera for your business is helpful in several ways. First, it helps you to protect your property from would be thieves. It can also protect you from employees that may be less than scrupulous.  Internal theft can be costing you a huge portion of your profit.

Additionally, surveillance cameras allows you to watch employee and customer interactions and to help you to monitor productivity. In fact, simply placing a surveillance camera in front of someone and letting them know that they are on camera definitely gives you the power to be there even when you aren’t. Chances are good that fewer problems will arise with a working, active camera in place.

In the home, it is an even better tool. As of late, there is an increase in the use of the ‘nanny cam’ or a camera placed in the home discretely so as to help protect the child or elderly parents.

The parent can come home and watch the recording or, even better, view the activity at home from their office.  They can clearly see how their child or elderly parent is being treated when they aren’t there.

In addition to this, a surveillance camera also provides for protection from break-ins (thieves purposely avoid homes that have security systems.) You can even hire a professional company to monitor your home while you aren’t there.  The surveillance system with a digital video recorder (dvr) allows for identification of the perpetrator.

Surveillance cameras are often a wise investment. While the price of a security camera surveillance system can be daunting, there are security dealers that provide a lease to own security camera system (CCTV) option

  

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