Recording Security Footage
Hey everyone, Security Camera King is here to talk to you about Recording Security Footage, how it’s done, and how you can achieve more of it!
Recording security footage is what we know most! After all, we are Security Camera King! With over 10 years in the industry stocking and selling the most cutting-edge security cameras and recording hardware, we know the tech better than anyone! That’s why you can always trust our advice when it comes to using technology to achieve your security goals. We can also tell you our sales professionals are able to answer any questions you might have on products you might be interested in. After reading if you still have questions don’t hesitate to give us a call and talk to a sales pro!
When one is thinking about installing CCTV, or closed circuit television, into their location what they’re really doing is thinking about recording security footage. CCTV is designed for recording security footage. Using a series of cameras placed strategically around a location, all connected back to a central recording station, one can keep a watchful eye on their location, the people and property there, and their safety.
Doing so is fairly common in today’s world. While it used to be a technology more limited to business and professional organizations, more and more residential properties such as single-family homes, apartments, and condos, have been installing and utilizing CCTV sometimes this is via the property management company that runs the neighborhood, often times it’s from an individual homeowner. Additionally, more and more Homeowners Associations, or HoAs, have been installing CCTV in order to make their residents feel safer.
Safety is a key component of security, it’s something we all try to feel a sense of every day. While there’s always a chance something bad could happen, having security measures in any location helps reduce the chances of something unwanted occurring. If an unfortunate event does occur, you’ll have the footage to show the event was documented.
Security cameras can be a deterrent as well. It’s a lot less likely that someone with an intent to perform an unwanted or criminal activity at the location will follow through if they are aware that CCTV is installed at the location. The reason for this is the threat of being exposed or caught for having performed the criminal activity by way of the evidence provided via the security camera footage.
Evidence is a crucial part of ensuring that any claims made in court hold water. This is true for more than just the prosecution of criminal acts. Having CCTV footage ready and available even if something such as a natural disaster, or car accident, or a pedestrian accident like a slip-and-fall, occurs at the location. Insurance companies often work to deny claims but with evidence showing what happened your claims are a lot more likely to be accepted immediately and unquestioned.
With that said there’s no CCTV system out there recording security footage forever, without ever missing a beat. This is because security recorders, be they digital video records for HD over COAX cameras or Network Video Recorder of IP cameras, utilize a hard drive or drives to store their footage data. Every hard drive has a limited size, which when reached will not hold footage more than that point. So what happens next, and is there a way to maximize recording security footage?
When your recorder reaches its HDD limit, the oldest footage data on the recorder is overwritten. When exactly this happens is determined by a few factors.
- HDD size
- Number of Cameras
- Quality of Cameras (resolution, framerate, bitrate)
- How often do they record
There are a few ways to get more footage from an existing setup if you don’t feel the amount of time you have is sufficient before overwriting. The first and best solution is to get an additional hard disk, and/or a larger hard disk. Different recorders can handle different numbers of disks. The larger the recorder, usually, the more disks it can hold. This can vary from only one disk up to as many as even eight. Adding more hard disk space by way of replacing your disk with a larger capacity, or adding more will ensure longer footage track records.
If you can’t do that, there are a few other options.
- Lower the quality of your cameras. Turn down their resolution, framerate, and bitrate
- Reduce the number of cameras recording if you can sacrifice some nonkey locations
- Reduce how often they record by changing your recording schedule.
- Reduce how often they record by having them record on the trigger only, such as tripwire or motion detection
Recording security footage is important to any location looking to keep a record of evidence, provide a deterrent, and ensure the safety of their employees, friends, family, or co-workers.
Thanks for joining us today as we talked about the importance of recording security footage, some ways to manage our footage data to better understand what’s happening, and how to make tweaks and changes. For any sales or support inquiries, give our sales and support team a call at 561 288 5258!
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