As home security moves forward in the digital age, it is only natural that explosive growth has surrounded digital security camera systems.

Digital surveillance cameras play a very similar role to their analog counterparts that have been around since the sixties. Mounted in strategic locations, they enable the owner to monitor areas that are otherwise vulnerable in a home or business.

The digital nature of these new cameras, however, makes is possible to do so much more than analog security camera systems could ever do. Digital CCTV cameras and systems offer much more advanced combinations of recording power as I explain below.

How Digital Surveillance Works

By installing a video capture card in your PC, you turn your computer into an advance digital video recording system, otherwise known as a DVR. This enables you to record super-high quality digital video direct to the hard drive of your computer. The video output from your digital CCTV camera is referred to as a digitized recording that gives you an impressive array of features and benefits.

Benefits of Digital Security Cameras

One of the most popular features is the ability to view live streaming images from a computer or cell phone anywhere in the world. You gain access to your cameras and recordings by logging into your system by a secure username and password over the internet.

Another great feature of your digital camera system is the ability to quickly search and find recorded video data. Rather than fast forwarding and rewinding through a 4 hour video tape to get to a certain point in date and time, you can jump straight to that point with a digital recording in seconds.

You can program your digital surveillance camera to record in only specific situations, or ignore other situations completely. For example, you can program the system to stop recording when no movement is detected in a cameras field of vision. You can even program your system to email, phone, or text you a notification if something that is supposed to be there is missing, or notify you if it detects something that isn’t supposed to be there.

With multiple camera systems, you can program your digital surveillance cameras to alert another cameras to pan over to its area for another view of some unusual activity. You can control all these actions of your cameras manually, in real time, while viewing the video recordings from your computer, as well. You are only ever limited by the software and hardware you decide to purchase.

Disadvantages of Digital CCTV

Digital surveillance systems are not completely without their drawbacks. The files generated onto your computer’s hard disk by your security cameras can quickly fill up a hard drive. However, hard disk storage these days are very cheap, so it is wise to install the biggest hard disk you can afford. Also, the ability to program your cameras to stop recording when no movement is detected will save you huge amounts of hard disk space.

Is a digital security camera right for you?

Digital CCTV cameras certainly offer you much more flexibility than an analog system by including a great array or powerful features. And they offer these things with the convenience of being able to monitor your digital camera system from anywhere in the world. If you’re looking for a top-notch high tech system to protect your business or home, a digital CCTV system is definitely one that I would recommend.

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