Looking to equip yourself against evildoers? What are the ADVANTAGES OF THE SURVEILLANCE CAMERA? Want to know the pros and cons of surveillance cameras? To guarantee an effective monitoring system, it is imperative to know its strengths and weaknesses in order to overcome these shortcomings. Each system has different installations, with different devices, different areas to monitor, different risks, … Before trying to protect your building, whether it is your home or your store, study it first in order to bring in a tailor-made security system. And we will be there to support you!
In this article, we will see together:
- The two types of surveillance camera
- Their advantages and disadvantages
- The strengths and weaknesses of using surveillance cameras
- The different solutions to give criminals no chance!
Enough talk, let’s take a look at it all!
COMPARISON OF SECURITY CAMERA TYPES
Before seeing the advantages and disadvantages of the video surveillance system, it is interesting to look at the types of surveillance cameras: IP cameras and analogue cameras. In order to stay within the theme of the article, we will make a comparison of these cameras by presenting their strengths and weaknesses. You are then free to choose the security camera that suits you! If you want to go more in-depth on this subject, then consult our article which will allow you to orient on the type of surveillance camera to choose.
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES
GES OF IP CAMERA
The acronym IP stands for Internet Protocol. This means that the camera will use your Internet network to record its images! The advantage of this connected system, therefore, allows you to be more flexible regarding the placement of your cameras. Indeed, no need to hide miles of cables to your external recorder! All you will need is an internet connection. Plus, you won’t be limited to the capacity of your DVR recorder! Thanks to the NAS server or, even better, the Cloud, you can expand your storage as you wish. Finally, having an IP camera allows you to have access to your images from any connected device., whether it’s your PC, your tablet or your smartphone! The icing on the cake, if you store your images on a Cloud server, your files will never be damaged thanks to dematerialization, but we will come back to this point a little later.
Although on paper this may look very impressive, network cameras are not flawless. First of all, such a system runs the risk of being more expensive, for the same number of cameras. Also, if you are not comfortable with technology, installing the surveillance system can be tedious as it will require additional settings than DVR cameras. Finally, knowing that everything is done via the Internet, it is essential to have a stable internet connection with a range large enough to cover all your cameras! Even if IP cameras can be connected via an Ethernet cable, the idea is to limit the number of cables and, for this, try to bring a wifi repeater !
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF THE ANALOG CAMERA
The analogue camera, also called a DVR camera, is the simplest solution to set up and the most affordable! The acronym DVR comes from Digital Video Recorder, meaning Digital Video Recorder, for those who do not master the language of Shakespeare. Forget wireless or network recording, here it’s all done with a cable! The main advantage of DVR cameras is the ease of use. You don’t have to worry about the maximum distance from your router, the reliability of your connection, … just one cable to plugin and it’s filming! Knowing that analogue cameras use quite old technologies (but not obsolete!), their prices are much more interesting and you can afford to buy 5 or 6 cameras without breaking the bank. Be aware that this number of cameras is the minimum if you want to protect your home infallibly! If you want to learn more, we teach you how to calculate the number of cameras needed for your home.
To talk about the shortcomings of this type of installation, know that DVR cameras, as their name suggests, require a DVR recorder! These recorders have non-expandable internal storage, which can be a real drawback if you plan to make continuous recordings, 24 hours a day! Plan large and don’t hesitate to pay the price in order to have substantial storage, but be sure that the price increase is worth it compared to the IP camera, which has more flexible and less expensive storage. Do not hesitate to see our article concerning the recording of surveillance cameras, we explain to you, in detail, all the points that deserve consideration when acquiring your future video surveillance camera. Another defect to take into account, the videos recorded via the DVR camera can be damaged! Indeed, knowing that the files are saved on a DVR box, and therefore on physical storage, if the DVR box is damaged, the video files can also be damaged! Then try to place your external video recorder in a safe place, in a room where burglars will not have access.
WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF VIDEO SURVEILLANCE?
Now that you know the main differences between network cameras and analogue cameras, let’s talk about the pros and cons of the CCTV system in general! Yes, no security system is infallible, there will always be burglaries. However, knowing the weak points of your surveillance system will allow you to better strengthen it and approach, in the long term, perfection. Moreover, we will give you, in this article, some tips to compensate for the defects of surveillance cameras!
ADVANTAGES OF SURVEILLANCE CAMERA
If you still haven’t thought about protecting yourself from theft, here are some advantages that we hope will convince you!
1) A WAY TO INTIMIDATE BURGLARS!
The first advantage, and probably the most important, is to scare off criminals. Seeing a surveillance camera filming in our direction, whatever we say, puts pressure on us! Especially if it is an auto-tracking camera, it is even more effective! Needless to say, this will put off any inexperienced villain, having chosen the wrong house. Studies have even claimed that half of the burglary attempts were stopped when vandals detected the presence of anti-theft devices and that 8 out of 10 burglars only took action if they were sure that the building did not have a monitoring system. Just placing a security camera, or even a warning sign, outside the building drastically minimizes the chances of being robbed! In short, if you don’t have the budget to get an operational surveillance system, you might as well play the bluff card and get yourself a sign indicating the presence of cameras, which, in your case, will be extremely well “hidden”.
2) HAVE OMNISCIENT VISION
Installing a camera corresponds to installing a constantly open eye, saving every move. In addition to monitoring the few burglars who dare to ignore your warnings, security cameras allow you to monitor your employees, in case you run a store! Take this criterion into account because, in the event that you have employees at your home, you do not have the right to film them at their place of work (their office for example), we are talking about it in more detail on the rules to follow regarding surveillance cameras. But if you are a store manager, having surveillance cameras will kill two birds with one stone: protect the store against theft and indirectly increase its profitability.! If your cameras constantly film your employees, they will be more inclined to be serious about their work and therefore to be more efficient.
3) MORE DISCREET AND LESS EXPENSIVE THAN A SECURITY GUARD
Still to stay with the theme of commerce, investing in surveillance cameras can be more interesting than in one or more security guards. Not only will the cameras be less expensive – no salaries to pay – but they will also be much more discreet, which can be an advantage if you want to have several angles of view on the field. Attention, also be aware that a security guard will always be more effective in minimizing the risk of burglary! Being discreet does not only bring benefits, having a henchman cut like a building will be infinitely more intimidating than a simple box. The ideal, of course, is to combine the two types of monitoring.
4) EVERY IMAGE IS IRREFUTABLE PROOF
Finally, the last big advantage that we can mention is, of course, the fact of providing tangible evidence to the police in the event of theft. Unlike witnesses, who can distort facts, there is nothing more objective than a security camera. Speaking of jurisdiction, don’t forget that it is forbidden to possess images captured for more than 30 days if they are not necessary for a police investigation!
DISADVANTAGES OF SURVEILLANCE CAMERA
As we said, a surveillance system alone has weaknesses! Here are the two main flaws.
1) SURVEILLANCE CAMERA DOES NOT PREVENT THEFTS
We are not going to sell you wind, a monitoring system does not guarantee absolute protection. No risk does not exist! Be aware that there will always be thugs experienced enough, or unaware, to try to commit crimes. Surveillance cameras do not protect you from burglaries but allow you to unmask burglars if there is a burglary! And the better you have an effective monitoring system, the more likely it is to spot the wrongdoers. The more likely it is to spot the culprits, the more likely they are to think twice before trying anything.
2) POWER FAILURE WILL RUIN YOUR SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM
You may have an infinity of CCTV cameras, an infinity of alarms or locks, … a power failure and panic is guaranteed! Unless you have a backup generator, a power outage is your security system’s biggest weak point, and criminals know that! Power cuts just before a crime never happen by chance and are always caused by clever burglars. But don’t panic, we will now see how to prepare for it!
THE WIRELESS SURVEILLANCE CAMERA: THE SOLUTION AGAINST THE UNEXPECTED!
As we have seen, the main weakness of surveillance cameras is the fact that they require electricity to operate. Fortunately, there are always solutions to fix it! As we have seen, you can hire security guards to protect your shop or even your house. But this requires a very large budget and if you want it to be effective, it is recommended to have several teams: day guards and night guards! You can also opt for a generator, but remember that if the power cut is caused by the wrongdoers, your generator may also be disabled! No, the way we recommend is the! Able to store internally and run on battery power, these types of IP cameras require no cables.