subject: Choosing Digital Or Analogue [print this page] Many people are familiar with the concept of CCTV and recognise that it is designed to record the goings on within a business premises so that potential crimes can be prevented and that the perpetrators of crimes can be caught when they do go ahead. However what many people do not realise is that there are multiple types of CCTV and in fact quite large numbers of different systems depending on the specific purpose you need them for and you own personal preferences. Regardless of the budget and of the positioning there will be CCTV cameras suited to you.
The first thing you have to consider is whether you want a digital or analogue CCTV system. Each here has its own strengths and weaknesses as you'd imagine. Digital cameras here are being used more and more and are increasingly replacing their analogue predecessors. As such they of course improve on the analogue cameras in a variety of ways allowing for much greater storage, allowing for multiple 'channels' to be saved at once (whereas an analogue set up can only record from and show one CCTV screen at once), image analysis for things such as motion sensors and vision detection and more. This latter note means that you can make it such that the CCV camera only records when something happens meaning you don't have to trawl through miles of footage, or so that an alarm sounds when motion is recorded. Furthermore you can also use certain kinds of digital closed circuit television IP CCTV - to transmit and view video footage across distances. This means for example that you can survey the status of a property or premises from abroad. IP CCTV stands for Internet Protocol and that means you can steam the footage live which has all manner of uses. When you choose your digital CCTV then, IP CCTV or otherwise, you end up with a far larger range of options, more flexibility and settings and more high quality footage.
Of course there are downsides to digital or analogue wouldn't still be around. Firstly all these added bells and whistles mean that digital is more costly to install and to run, which means it may not be suitable for smaller organisations. At the same time it is also much more complicated and that means that some people will find it difficult to use. This also leaves it more susceptible to glitches and crashes, which is something that will never happen with an analogue camera and a VCR. Of course just one glitch could mean your property is unprotected for a night and while this is rare it's something that you need to avoid.
For these reasons digital IP CCTV is mostly suitable for larger businesses with multiple offices. For a smaller business like a shop or restaurant there is really no need for all the options digital provides anyway so it makes sense to go with a cheaper and simpler option.
