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Before purchasing a CCTV system, you should consider the following
CCTV systems differ. massively, before you choose system, you really need to know what you are getting for your money and what you need you CCTV system for.
Lets say you want a 4 camera CCTV system and you have been given 2 quotes, one for £400 and another for £600., you would need to speak with your CCTV installer to find out exactly what system they have quoted for.
What Does it Cost a Professional CCTV Company to Install a Security Camera System?
Lets take a look at some costs to put things into perspective.
So a professional CCTV company will first need to buy the CCTV equipment from an wholesaler and then pay for delivery.
Lets say the CCTV equipment for a 4 camera system comes to £400 and the delivery is £20. That's £420 to start with. Than add the installation cost which is around £220 for a days work.
The total now is £640
A mark up is around 5-10% and this covers expenses such as insurance, fuel and advertising.
Lets say the total is now £704 with a 10% mark up.
What Does the Customer get in Return from a professional CCTV installation?
Using a professional CCTV installer may cost more than getting a friend to do it or a local DIY person but there is a reason for that.
Any good CCTV company will want to keep their good reputation so they will use the best equipment available within budget. This also goes for faults, a professional company will be quick resolve any issues as they wont want the customer to give a review that will give a negative impact on their reputation.
Most importantly, Professional CCTV installers know exactly which CCTV equipment to use and the best way to install it, so paying that little extra will ensure your new security camera system is going to be effective at deterring criminal activity, capturing vital evidence and will be a neat installation that will last in all weathers.
CCTV system points to consider
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What is the night vision distance?
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What is the camera resolution?
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What size is the hard drive?
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What is camera lens size?
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What special features does the recorder have?
Tip
If you garden is 60 meters in length, you will need a CCTV camera with a minimum of 60 meters infra red night vision.
If you need your CCTV cameras to pick up faces and number plates, you will need a higher resolution CCTV camera and and the correct lens size for the covered distance.
The police can only get a conviction if the evidence is good enough so this is why the correct type of CCTV system is important.
What you Need to Know
Lens size. When choosing a lens size, you first need to know the area that you want to cover. If you just want a general view of the area, you would be looking to get a camera with a lens starting from 2.3mm. If you need to look at an area or object further away, it would be advisable to get a CCTV camera with a varifocal lens, This type of CCTV camera has a lens from 2.3mm to 12mm. You will then be able to focus the lens to see areas further away. There are also varifocal CCTV cameras with wider range lenses.
Resolution. Most common CCTV systems have a resolution ranging from 2MP to 8MP. to decide what resolution you require, you first need to know the area and distance you want to cover. If you want a wide angle covering a very small area like a driveway then you would be fine installing a 2MP CCTV camera. For a medium wide area, a 5MP would be the camera to use, and an 8MP for a larger area. The drawbacks of putting a 8MP camera in a very small area is that that an 8MP camera takes up more space on the hard drive, so you would either have reduced recording time or would have to purchase a larger hard drive. Higher resolution cameras are also more expensive so choose the correct camera to save money.
Motion detection. Does your CCTV system detect motion? There are different applications for motion detection. There are IP CCTV camera which process analytics within the camera itself. There are CCTV systems where the analytics processing is done within the DVR recorder. there are cameras with built in PIR movement or thermal heat detection and there are also detection devices that you can add to your CCTV system, which will send a signal back to the recorder when movement is detected. All of the above applications are how CCTV systems detect movement. The most basic and unreliable motion detection is found of cheaper basic systems and this is where the system looks for a colour change over the live video image. Shadows, weather, lights from passing vehicles and light level changes can often cause false alarms.
A professional CCTV installer will know exactly which CCTV system to use.
Professional CCTv Installation
A professional CCTV installer will go to the expense of installing the CCTV properly and to industry standards.
Using premium CCTV equipment and CCTV accessories will really extend the life of the system as well as ensuring the image quality is maintained.
A good CCTV installer will know exactly which CCTV equipment to use that will protect your property.
