CCTV and alarms

[ians]

I have been involved in numerous CCTV installs and monitoring... been watching a lot of footage which include hijacking...armed robbery and theft.

I believe armed response security...linked to a alarm system is about as outdated as fax machines.

CCTV cameras are becoming more and more efficient ...old systems where basically a means to view movement and that is about it ...due to bad picture quality.

MY advice to you...make sure you understand what it is you are trying to achieve and install a system suitable for the requirements.

In most cases you can upgrade your old cameras and install new 2/4/8 meg cameras...however unless you upgrade the DVR/XVR/NVR to the same quality ...you are wasting your time.

In the old days it was suppose to be a deterrent installing CCTV ...not anymore...you will notice in most cases they wear caps... hats etc...and walk in with their head tilted slightly down.

Install cheap cameras around the property up on the wall for everyone to see or just leave the old system in place ...then spend the money on the good quality stuff which is uploaded to a cloud (these people are not as stupid you think ...they will delete your footage or steal the recorder) Mount the good quality cameras at eye level or lower ...cameras now have facial recognition ...you can tag people wearing caps hats etc and receive a warning message... to be aware of their presence.

Technology with alarm systems is improving by the day...which include home automation features..like switching on and off devices... opening and closing gates and doors.

Another system which you need to pay attention when installing... a red led on a device can be seen from 500m away ...beams etc have the facility to switch off these leds and anti tamper... something i am taking advantage of... is the switching on/off lights using the alarm app... using the PIR and beams to buzz the alarm and switch on the security light at the same time.

Another handy facility which i didnt know about until i started programming alarms... the siren time delay facility... you know how you activate the alarm by mistake them have try switch it off and wait for the alarm company to call creating yet another false alarm... there is a setting which delays the siren and false alarm... so if activate it by mistake it gives you a few seconds to reset.