Buying a security system can be an important step in protecting your home or business from intrusions. While a security system will often not help in preventing a break in, the data it provides can be invaluable in determining the thief. So, what should you be looking for when you are browsing security systems in the Northern Beaches?
Video Quality
This is going to be one of the most important things to keep an eye on since it will not matter how well your system documents the break in if you cannot make out the faces of the people responsible. With this in mind, you do not need a full HD system, but instead, you just need one that is clear enough to make out someone’s face at the edge of the field of view. This is because of the next item, storage.
Storage
The most important job a security system has is to help identify intruders. Because of this, you need a system with a fairly clear picture, but you do not want it to be too good because higher quality video takes more storage space. Depending on your system, your storage space may be limited to what is built in. This is common with cheap systems, but a good quality system should allow you to swap in new hard drives or even add additional hard drives for even longer recording sessions between swap outs.
How long you can record on a hard drive is dependent on several factors. First, you have the size of the drive since they range with modern drives ranging from the 250GB range all the way up to 2+TB of storage, so this is a vast difference. The second factor is the recording quality of the video, and the last thing is the compression quality of your security system DVR. If it uses a better Codec and can compress video more without artifacting, then you will get more hours out of your drives.
Storage and video quality should be the top two things you look for when considering a security system. It does not matter if you can record a full year’s worth of video if you cannot see it, and the opposite is true of buying a system that records HD video, but your drive is too small, so balance is key. Contact Instinct Electrical at 02 9938 3188 today!
