"What DVR Security Systems are the Best for my Family?"

DVR security systems are used to record video surveillance for your home security system. There are multiple options that are available to you. Before deciding on a DVR system you need to determine what your overall home security strategy is.

Some things to consider when looking at systems include:

• CCTV security system or digital surveillance?
• How many cameras are you going to use?
• Do you want a quick and easy installation?
• Are you looking to eventually upgrade cameras?

Two Main Categories of DVR devices

On a very high level, DVR devices can be classified into two groups. The first group are devices that are stand-alone. These devices are also called a dedicated NVR (Network Video Recorder). These devices' only task is to record your video surveillance. They are similar looking to the DVD players that you use to watch movies.

The second main group of DVR recordings are based on using computer hard drives on computers to record your video surveillance. You can use your PC to handle the recording and viewing. Video management software provides for sophisticated recordings and video accessibility.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Each

The stand-alone devices are very easy to use. Their only function is video surveillance, so there are fewer things that can go wrong.

A disadvantage of these type of devices is that many are very inflexible. If you want to upgrade in the future, it may be tougher to do. The devices may only be able to handle a certain number of cameras. Also, you are limited to the features that each device might have.

When you use your PC to record video feeds, you want to make sure that you have the technical proficiency in dealing with the software and PC. Also, since you are using your computer's hard drive in storing images, you will want to make sure that you have the necessary memory and processing speed to handle the amount of power and bandwidth needed to view the video images.

Storage and Video Accessibility

When you are thinking of the type of DVR security systems for you, you definitely need to think about how much digital storage you need. You also need to think about the image quality that you'll need to view the video surveillance.

The amount of disk space depends on various factors. If you use a number of cameras, the amount of disk space needed will be more than if you only had one camera.

If you decide to use surveillance on a continuous basis, you will need more disk space than if you only recorded when the camera gets triggered. For instance, you can have a camera start the surveillance feed when motion is detected.

You also need to figure out how long you will keep the video surveillance saved on your hard drive. If you want to save surveillance for three months, you will need a good deal of more disk space than if you saved surveillance for a week period.

Also, the level of video quality that you want will affect the amount of disk space that you will need. Features that you might need, like compression and frame rate, will determine how much space is needed.

Summary

There are a number of considerations to take into account when considering DVR security systems.

Another positive of digital video systems is that some systems are able to convert analog CCTV camera signals into digital bytes.

The analog CCTV systems used to be saved on video cassettes. This was a cumbersome system for both storage and accessibility reasons.

These DVR systems let you use the advantages of DVR security systems while using CCTV cameras.