If you are new to it, the world of CCTV DVR Video Surveillance can be confusing.

Today especially, there are lots of reasons to employ CCTV DVR digital video surveillance. With HOMELAND SECURITY in its' current state, many Airports, Seaports, Harbors and Ports of Call are REQUIRING this sort of surveillance. There are, however, four BASIC reasons why most people would want to use CCTV DVR video surveillance:

- To help IDENTIFY perpetrators.
- To help PREVENT accidents or wrongdoing.
- To help PROTECT people and property.
- To help OBSERVE processes.

"Who can benefit from DVR Digital Video Surveillance?"

-Home Security Systems - Homeowners can identify who is at the door, check on the baby or check the house if they are away.
-Commercial Security Systems - Businesses can prevent or identify shoplifters or burglars and keep an eye on the business from home. Sadly, today, employee theft is now higher in retail than customer theft and monitoring retail employees is becoming necessary.
-Industry & Research can monitor processes as well as maintaining security surveillance .
-Education and Government can keep an eye on trouble spots.

All these things and more are possible through CCTV DVR Digital Video Surveillance.

"What do I need?" As a minimum, you will need at least one CCTV (Closed circuit Television) camera and something on which to display the camera images. This could be a monitor or a TV set (providing you have "video in" jacks). If you wish to record images, you will need at least a VCR. CCTV Cameras can be Black and White (B/W) or color. The differences in cameras are explained on the CCTV Cameras page. Camera lenses have a major bearing on the field of view of the cctv cameras. In varying light conditions, an auto-iris lens is probably needed. Vari-Focal (manual zoom) and power zoom lenses are also available. The differences in lenses are explained on the CCTV Camera Lenses page.

Having more than 2 cctv cameras requires more complex equipment - traditionally a splitter or multiplexer (enable multiple cameras to connect to one recording/display port) and a time-lapse VCR for recording, as well as a display monitor. However, with today's Video Capture Boards ( add-in boards for computers) and Digital Video Recorders (DVRs), the multiplexing is performed by the video capture boards, recording is done on the computer hard disk and camera images are displayed on the computer monitor. Recording need not be continuous but can be accomplished only when motion is present in a camera field, at pre-set times or on receipt of an alarm signal from an alarm system. Remote computer users can dial-in via modem, access over a Local Area Network or over the Internet. Now you can observe and control camera views as they are happening! You can see what is going on in any part of your business when you are at home or in other areas of your business. You can even access previously recorded videos. We strongly believe that these advances in technology offer far greater benefits and functions than the traditional methods of multiplexing, recording and display - benefits that can often be less costly than those provided by traditional video surveillance equipment.