Options and Accessories to Consider when Purchasing a CCTV System
CCTV systems, also known as closed-circuit television systems, essentially use television camera technology to capture images and then send them to waiting monitors where the images captured will be displayed. Sometimes these monitors are located in a centralized surveillance center, while other times they may be off-site or also on-site to be accessed by authorized personnel. Some business owners are a bit awed at the large variety of options available, and so they may not quite sure how to proceed to purchase just the right system. If you find yourself in this situation, you may be sure that there is help! Here is a list of options and accessories to consider when purchasing a CCTV system.
Know your options for your needs.
Do you know what your needs are? Granted, you might have in mind the somewhat amorphous notion that you want to protect your jewelry store from theft, but have you actually considered the need for surveillance that you have? For example, will you need one camera at the entrance door, or is your store arranged in such a manner that you will need two or three cameras to cover every angle of your merchandise? If you are running a jewelry store, the merchandise will oftentimes be very small, such as individual precious stones – one accessory that you may be interested in is a zoom lens that will permit you to zoom in on any transaction that may appear a bit odd.
Similarly, know your uses.
You will have a use for theft deterrence and detection, but are there are uses that perhaps a CCTV system can fulfill for you as well? For example, do you want to also have a camera installed that monitors the parking lots to ensure the safety of your customers as well as your employees and yourself as you leave the store in the evenings? Are you concerned about being robbed when carrying the daily deposit to your car? If you anticipate the need for safety and robbery prevention, you will probably want to take a look at the many options of cameras that will provide for night-vision monitoring.
Cameras
Consider next the placement of your cameras – will they be outdoors or indoors? If it is outdoors, they may be exposed to the elements, and you will need to use special enclosures for your lenses to ensure that moisture, sand, or other forces that are often found out of doors do not harm them. Similarly, you will want to make sure that your cables are up to handling the challenges of being outside versus inside where humidity will not be a problem.
Monitors
Another option that is very important to consider is simply the placement of the monitors, after all, the data your cameras will pick up will have to be displayed somewhere to be useful. Do you want these images to be displayed on television monitors inside your own, on-site, security center? Will they be displayed off-site? Or will you want them displayed on a computer you can monitor via the Internet?
Accessories
Accessories that you need to consider also at this juncture include storage devices for the data you are collecting. Will you need to purchase a DVR recorder? Will you need to purchase videotapes? If you use your computer, do you intend to burn CDs?
Once of the most important accessories that do not come in a box is customer service. Whom can you call when there is a problem with the system, when you need help setting it up, when you want to have it tested, and just to make sure you are using everything correctly and efficiently? Is there a telephone number that will deploy a representative who is nearby, or will you be calling an out of state customer service center that can only try to help you remotely?
As you can see, before you go ahead and purchase a CCTV system, make sure that you know exactly what your needs are, and do not buy something that you may or may not be able to use. Similarly, unless you are certain about what it is that you are doing and you know exactly how to install the system, it might be best to purchase everything together in a box so that you know that the lenses and the monitors will be able to communicate with one another. Mixing and matching might save you some money, but this will only work if you are technologically well versed in the matters of CCTV technology.
