CCTV Buying Guide

2013

www.securitybazaar.in

Technical Guide to CCTV Surveillance Systems


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Welcome to the Technical Guide to CCTV Surveillance Systems

Buying a CCTV system is a simple task but the vast array of products available nowadays could confuse anyone so we have tried our best to put together a guide to help you make an informed decision about what system should fulfill your requirements.

We start by splitting this guide into the six sections below; if you can learn to understand these separate sections then you will have a good idea of what products will be suitable for your situation.

Please bear in mind that this guide is focused around products that we

offer, for example there are multiplexers and switchers - however we

don't supply these products as a Digital Video Recorder replaces each

one, so they do not feature in this guide.



Table of Contents

1 CCTV Camera Basics 4

1.1 Types of CCTV Cameras 4

1.2 Commonly used CCTV Cameras 5

1.3 Camera Specifications 6

2 Digital Video Recorder Basics 8

2.1 Features of Digital Video Recorder 8

2.2 CCTV Hard Drive Space Calculator 11

3 Power Supply 11

3.1 Types of Power Supply 11

4 Video Cables 12

5 BNC Connectors 12

5.1 Types of BNC Connectors 12

6 Hard Disks 13

6.1 Types of Hard Disks 13

Contact Information 14



CCTV Camera Basics – Section 1

CCTV Cameras are the "eyes" of a CCTV system, you place them inside and outside buildings to enable you to see and also record (via a digital video recorder) what the camera is looking at.

1.1 Types of CCTV Cameras

Indoor Cameras

Indoor cameras come in all types, sizes and styles. The most popular is the dome camera. The dome camera can be mounted on the ceiling or wall and adjusted to view any angle. Although the dome is designed to protect the camera inside, they are not weatherproof and should not be installed where they are exposed to moisture or extreme temperatures.

Outdoor Cameras

The only difference between indoor and outdoor cameras is that the outdoor cameras are in weatherproof housing. Weather proof is measured using an IP Rating. So for using CCTV cameras outdoors, it should have an IP rating of 66 i.e. IP66.

Day/Night or Night Vision

Affordable night vision cameras are the latest innovation to the video surveillance industry. There are many types and styles to choose from but they all have one thing in common, infrared LED's. Small LED's that transmit out infrared light surround the cameras lens. The more LED's on a camera, the further it can see at night i.e. more is the IR Range of the camera.

These cameras provide high quality color pictures during the day and when the light levels drop past a minimum level, they automatically switch to night vision or black and white pictures in complete darkness. Infrared Security Cameras are a great choice for both daytime and nighttime video surveillance.



1.2 Commonly used CCTV Cameras

Dome Camera

DOME CAMERA is named for their dome like shape. Dome cameras are commonly used in Surveillance Systems inside of Homes, Retail Stores, and Restaurants etc. This is because dome cameras are more fashionable and blend in very well to their surroundings.

When shopping for a Dome Camera, you should consider if you need night vision, in that case you should look at an INFRARED (IR) DOME CAMERA.

If the area that you are installing your camera is susceptible to vandalism or tampering, you should consider installing a VANDAL - PROOF DOME CAMERA.

A VARI-FOCAL DOME CAMERA gives you the flexibility to adjust the focal distance of the camera lens to exactly where you need it.

Dome cameras are both ceiling mounted or suspended from a wall mounted bracket depending on the application and the field of view required.

IR Bullet Camera

An INFRARED or IR BULLET CAMERA is a cylinder-shaped surveillance camera. It can be used inside or outside premises. Usually comes with Infrared (IR) LED’s for night vision. Most bullet style cameras are designed to be weatherproof with IP66 Rating. It means that they can be safely used outside even in all weathers.

Ok, now hopefully you have a better idea about what a CCTV camera is and what kind best suits your situation, now I would advise you refer to the features listed below to learn more about what a CCTV camera is capable of.



1.3 Camera Specifications

This section will help you understand basic camera specifications and their effect on the performance of the camera.

Image Sensor (CCD, DIS, HDIS)

It is the sensor in the camera that actually senses or captures the image. CCD (Charge-Coupled Device), DIS (Digital Image Sensor), HDIS (High Resolution Digital Image Sensor) are the common Image Sensors used now a days. The size of the Image Sensor is normally 1/4", 1/3". As a rule of thumb, the larger the size, the higher the quality of the image produced and the higher the price i.e. why 1/3” Image Sensor is better.

The most common of the above is the 1/3" CCD, which is suitable for over 90% of CCTV applications. Also bear in mind it is widely accepted that SONY produce the best quality CCD Image Sensors, so we recommend you choose a camera with a SONY chip.

TVL Resolution

The number of TV lines (TVL) in the security camera image is a measure of picture resolution (sharpness).

The larger the number of TV lines (TVL), the better the resolution and hence, overall picture quality.

Standard image quality is 380TVL to 420TVL.

High image quality is 480TVL.

Very high image quality is 540TVL to 700TVL.



Lens

Lens is a light-gathering device of a camera. Closed Circuit TV (CCTV) security system cameras offer the option of changing the lens to better fit the needs of a location or user.

A camera can view much further but recognize things till a particular distance only. Approximate data is given below for a particular lens.

S.No. Lens (Focal Length) Field of View (approx.)

Face Recognition Max. Distance (approx.)

1 3.6 mm 72 Degree 10 ft

2 4 mm 65 Degree 12 ft





For instance, if you want to identify people 25 ft away from a camera, a short focal length lens (e.g. 3.6mm) would give such a large field of view that recognition would be uncertain. An 8mm or even 12mm lens would be far better.

The smaller the lens focal length, the wider the camera view and the smaller things will appear.

The larger the lens focal length, the narrower the view and the bigger things will appear



Digital Video Recorder Basics – Section 2

There is a large selection of Digital Video Recorders with us alone, we understand trying to buy the right one is not simple, and differs for each situation. So we have put together some information about the features available so that you can try to make a more educated decision.

The Digital Video Recorder is the "brain" of a CCTV system; it takes the images from the cameras and stores them on to a hard disk drive. You can then look at the images recorded on the hard drive, and review what the cameras have been viewing by connecting a monitor (or other form of display unit) to the DVR. You can forward & rewind through the video in much the same way you may have done so with a typical Video recorder. On many you can search for specific dates & times to quickly find the footage you want to view and back up the data from the hard drive on to another storage device.

Ok, now hopefully you have a better idea about what a digital video recorder is, and its purpose, now I would advise you refer to the features listed below to learn more about what a digital video recorder is capable of.

2.1 Features of Digital Video Recorder

Number of Channels

Have a good look around your premises and decide how many cameras you are going to need, you should take your time with this and make sure you have all the angles covered.

Digital Video Recorders come in several sizes, most commonly:

4 Channels

8 Channels

16 Channels



But once you have decided how many cameras you need, you can then start looking at appropriate Digital Video Recorders. For example if you only need to use 2 cameras, there are not many 2 channel Digital Video Recorders on the Market, so you will probably need to buy a 4 channel Digital Video Recorder. But buying more channels than you actually require, isn’t a bad thing, as many people find they want to add cameras in the future that they didn’t initially think about.

H.264 Video Compression

To save hard drive space the most important consideration is the type of encoding used to compress the video. There are three types of compression used in security DVRs: MJPEG (motion Joint Photographic Experts Group), MPEG4 (Moving Picture Experts Group version 4) and H.264.

H.264 is the best encoding because it uses hardware to encode and decode the signal, the pictures are clearer and the file size is smaller.

H.264's higher compression ratio (up to two times better than prior generation technology) effectively increases storage capacity by 100%, producing smaller file sizes and, therefore, longer recording time on a fixed-capacity storage device. In addition, the use of H.264 allows high-quality images to be transmitted over networks at very low bit rates. Our DVR systems use H.264 Video Compression

Real Time Recording

Lots of people say their systems run in "real time." It is important to know how many Frames per Second (FPS) the security DVR records. Make sure you understand this because it means different things to different people in different scenarios. First off, REAL TIME (as in watching Live TV) is 25 Frames per Second (FPS) per camera in PAL (European Standard). So anything in this range will be easily viewable and appear as full motion video.



A four-channel security DVR that is rated at 50 FPS will record a total of 50 FPS. If you connect two cameras to a four-channel security DVR with 50 FPS capability, each camera will be recorded at 25 FPS, but if you connect four cameras to the unit each camera will be recorded at 12.5 FPS. While this may be fine for your situation, it will not be sufficient for full motion recording.

Our Real Time Recording DVR displays and records at 25 Frames per Second (FPS) per camera. The purpose of recording in real-time is to have the smoothest picture. In security, you cannot afford to have glitchy, unclear, video.

For 4 channels, our DVRs have 100 Frames per Second.



Motion Detection

Almost every Digital Video Recorder on the market comes with motion detection built in nowadays; this can be a very important feature that can considerably extend the recording capacity of your Digital Video Recorder. You can set DVR for Continuous recording or Motion based recording.

Other Features

Full Backup Function

Easy Search by event or date/time

Support USB Flash Disk

Full Function on Remote Control/Mouse

Online viewing of images from remote location through windows PC or Mobile (I Phone, Android etc.)



2.2 CCTV Hard Drive Space Calculator

No. Of Cameras

Frame Rate per Camera

Expected Hours Each Camera Will Record per Day

Desired Storage (Number of Days) per Camera

Hard Disk Required

4 25 FPS 12 Hrs 30 Days 500 GB

8 25 FPS 12 Hrs 30 Days 1000 GB

16 25 FPS 12 Hrs 30 Days 2000 GB

Power Supply – Section 3

Insulated 2 core wire should be used to connect the cable to both the camera and the power supply.

3.1 Types of Power Supply

Individual Power Supply

You can power each camera with its own plug in power supply i.e. Individual power supply for each camera

Multi Camera Power Supply

You can wire multiple cameras back to a multi-camera power source.

Both options plug into a regular 220V electrical outlet and then step the power down to 12V DC to feed to the camera.

Plug in power supplies are usually located within 6-10 feet of the camera. The multi-camera power supplies are installed in a closet or somewhere out of the way and then a two core power wire is pulled to each camera. When designing a surveillance system you may want to use a combination of plug in and multi-camera power supplies. This will depend on where your power outlets are



located and how easily you can pull a wire from a multi-camera power supply to each camera.

Video Cables – Section 4

For the best quality CCTV video signal, we have to use proper video cable. Surveillance systems using video coax cables (RG Series- pure copper) to transmit the video from the camera to the recorder produces the best quality image than those using 3+1 core cables. Even in DTH connection RG6 Cable (pure copper) is used for best quality output.

The maximum distance the cameras can be from the recorder is a function of the cable rather than the camera itself. Using RG6 video coax cable (pure copper) you can run up to 600 feet per camera.

BNC Connectors – Section 5

BNC Connectors are the most common connectors used to terminate RG6 coaxial cable in CCTV camera installations.

5.1 Types of BNC Connectors

Crimp BNC Connector

It is an older style connector that is still commonly used today. Crimp BNC Connectors are not always left air tight. So eventually the crimp connectors can go bad or cause the connection to fail.

Wired BNC Connector

It is the #`1 solution for terminating RG6 coaxial cables in CCTV video installations. It makes it impossible for moisture and dust particles to enter the termination. If dust and moisture make it into the termination they could very well eventually cause corrosion or completely damage the connection. Did you know that 80% of the service calls or video signal issues in CCTV installations



are BNC Connector related? Many of those service calls are due to poorly terminated connectors. If you are looking for the best long lasting termination type for your CCTV system installations then Wired BNC Connectors are the best option for you.

Hard Disks – Section 6

Hard Disks are designed to deliver reliable 24×7 operation—optimized for low-power consumption, quiet operation, smooth video streaming, high reliability and high capacity.

6.1 Types of Hard Disks

Surveillance Hard Disks

These are Purpose – Built Hard Drives for Digital Video Recorders. They offer durability and performance tuned to the high – write workloads of today’s 24x7 video surveillance systems.

Desktop Hard Disks

These Hard Disks are used very commonly now-a-days in DVR’s but are not recommended. These Hard Disks are only meant for Desktop Computers.



Contact Information www.securitybazaar.in CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS, INDIA 4/1, Malviya Road, Laxman Chowk, Dehradun-248001 Uttarakhand

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