CCTV is becoming more and more popular as an efficient and affordable way to secure your home and also allows homeowners to set notifications and keep a watchful eye on their property whether at home or on holiday, travelling for business or just enjoying a day out!

CCTV stands for Closed Circuit Television and consists of strategically positioned video cameras around an area that records footage and is then transmitted to a display or mobile device for real-time viewing in addition to having the ability to record and play back footage.

A CCTV System refers to all aspects and technologies that make up the system, such as the cameras, wiring/cabling, video storage unit, monitors and access controls. Our team at John Ross Smart Living would always recommend a cabled system and not one operating via your home wifi.

A CCTV system increases the security of your home and enables surveillance of key areas at any one time. It’s particularly useful for larger premises and properties that hold valuables. As well as recording video footage, a CCTV system can also notify you if there is activity or movement on a certain camera. For example, overnight whilst you are in bed thereby indicating that someone may be lurking around or looking to break-in to your home, or indeed looking to break into a vehicle or even steal your vehicle. It can also be used to help identify criminals, be used to show police, as well as acting as a deterrent to potential intruders.

A CCTV system isn’t overly complicated to use but it’s always better to get an experienced installer to design the system, the positioning of the cameras and the configuration of the system for alert notifications as typically the requirements are different for each client and each client’s property.

Consisting of at least one camera, monitor and recording storage unit, a CCTV system can be scaled up or down depending on the size of area requiring surveillance and it works by the camera or cameras taking a constant sequence of images that are then transmitted by cable or wirelessly (depending on the chosen system type although we typically recommend cabled devices) to the recording device and on to the chosen display monitor, which enables an individual to see the sequence of images as video footage. Depending on the type of cameras used, homeowners may also have the ability to zoom in and out and rotate cameras by 360 degrees.

There are many types of CCTV systems with various quality of cameras that have a number of uses, such as night vision (including the ability to display colour in night mode), automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) and facial recognition. ANPR is particularly efficient (and becoming much more “mainstream”) when positioned at gate entry systems where vehicle registrations can be programmed into the system and when the vehicle(s) arrive at your gate, the system recognises the vehicle as being allowed access and will open the gates to the driveway.

A Smart CCTV system can also be integrated into other Smart Home solutions – so, for example, gates can open and switch on certain lights internal and external to the property whilst telling the Smart Door Lock on your front door to unlock and open your garage door.

Furthermore, the Smart Security system can intelligently turn music on, drop window blinds and/or even turn your TV on. So, there’s no fumbling around on a dark cold winter’s night looking for your keys when you’ve had a long day at work and you’re struggling on the icy driveway and garden path with bags of shopping! Remember that gates don’t always need to be vehicle gates, you may have a pedestrian gate to your back garden and back door – resulting in easy access from the car to the kitchen or utility room, shopping bags quickly unpacked and you’re listening to the early evening news whilst making your teatime cuppa!

Contact us if you’d like to discuss either a new installation or an upgrade to your existing system before the darker nights set in and we can make sure that you can always have a watchful eye on your property whether at home or enjoying the sun somewhere abroad over the winter season!