There are many different types of CCTV camera and these all have slightly different benefits and uses. The old fashioned CCTV that many of us will have seen in shops and restaurants then now looks quite out-dated and isn’t something that you would use for a larger business with more space under surveillance and more valuable stock and assets.
The limitations of analogue CCTV are many they require wiring up, they can only record from one camera at a time, and they leave you with VHS tapes that you need to fast forward and rewind for long periods of time in order to look through. All this means that a digital camera is much more useful.
A digital camera is a camera that stores files on an internal storage or on a storage card of some sort, and these files can then be edited and manipulated like any other file on a computer they can be compressed to reduce size, they can be sent over an internet network and you can skip through them to any point. The fact that the camera is digital then means that you can use software to analyse the footage and this enables you to record only when there is movement on the screen for instance, or only when there is human looking movement. However some digital cameras still require wires and this is what sets an IP camera apart.
Essentially ‘IP’ mean ‘Internet Protocol’ and this means that the IP camera itself is able to connect wirelessly to a network and to send and receive files this way. This in turn then means that you don’t have to have wires all around the building in order to set it up. This is of course much easier to use and means that it can be far more versatile. At the same time though it also means that you can pick up the footage from anywhere if you have an internet connection and that means you can watch your IP camera footage from home or on business trips. This is then on top of all the other features that come from having a digital camera in the first place so you can set up your cameras in such a way that they record only if there is something interesting happening, and so that they alert you to that fact. You can then watch the footage remotely and decide whether you need to go and inspect it further.
Lastly another option is to get VoIP which means ‘voice internet protocol’ and which gives you yet more features. Essentially this allows you to speak through your IP camera so that you can speak with your staff or clients and direct them or so that you can ward off trespassers. At the same time it also means that you can hear through the camera and that then means that you are able get a better picture of what is going on on the premises. Not all IP CCTV however will be VoIP enabled so you need to look into this if it’s something you want.