Welcome to the digital CCTV world

Analogue VHS video cassette recorders (VCRs) with time lapse (slow tape speed to increase the time stored but reduce the quality) were used for recording CCTV images. The fixed resolutions of 330 TV lines black/white and 240 TV lines colour plus the low frame rates used gives limited recording quality. Wear and tear on the machine and video tape also means quality deteriorates further with time.

Digital CCTV recording offers consistant high image quality with selectable levels of compression to suit different requirements. Cheap high capacity hard disks mean the total number of archived images has increased with weeks of time (millions of images) available compared to only 3 hours (half a million images) on VHS tapes.

Digital systems provide video inputs, built-in multiplexor, integrated video motion detection and advanced alarm management. Still images are displayed without any shaking or quality loss and further digital image enhancement is possible to obtain more detail. Motion detection allows the recording of images on movement only and it is also possible to record pre and post alarm images.

Easy searching is a significant advantage as the required images can be quickly found by criteria such as date, time or event making image evaluation easier then viewing completely recorded VHS tapes.

Digital CCTV systems can be connected to private or public networks allowing remote control of Pan/Tilt or High Speed Domes and transmission of live or playback images.