New Life Telecom provides cabling and wiring services for office surveillance cameras and NVRs for businesses throughout the greater Sacramento area.
If you need surveillance cameras at your business or office, we can help you determine the best office surveillance cameras for your needs. Give us a call to discuss your surveillance camera system install. We’re happy to help.
This article was written by a human. 🙂
What is the best video surveillance system for your small business?
The best camera surveillance system for your business is the one that matches your company’s needs – and this means there are quite a few things to consider. You’ll need to determine your budget first as costs can vary greatly by feature. You should also first develop a general plan for your system. Identify camera placements and the location of your NVR (where you’ll be monitoring the camera video. Next, consider the different features of a surveillance system and which are most important to you.
Considerations for Office Surveillance Camera Installation
If you’re looking to add cameras to your office or place of business, here are a few things to consider first:
- Do you need a surveillance camera system, or security camera system?
- Where do you want to monitor your cameras from?
- Do you want to be able to monitor and even control your cameras remotely through an app on your cell phone?
- What areas are you legally allowed to monitor and record in your place of business?
- Where will you place your cameras for optimal coverage of areas you’re concerned about?
- What level of resolution and detail will you want to see?
In this article, we’ll discuss these questions and other important considerations for your surveillance camera system.
What is the difference between a surveillance camera and a security camera?
Surveillance cameras are used to view and monitor a place of business, whereas security cameras are used by a security company that remotely monitors your business for you and intervenes if necessary.
Oftentimes we hear the words “surveillance” and “security” being used interchangeably when it comes to camera systems, so what’s the difference? When it comes to the actual cameras, surveillance cameras and security cameras are the same thing. In short, the difference between a security system and a surveillance system is how they’re used and who is using them.
If cameras are being installed as part of a security system, this means that a 3rd party company will be providing security services for a fee. If you’ve hired a security company to monitor your cameras and respond to incidents, your cameras are a part of a security system, and will likely be installed and configured by your security company.
Low voltage companies, on the other hand, will install surveillance cameras according to your request and help you configure them so that you can monitor your own business. There are multiple types of cameras and NVRs, so a low voltage company that has extensive experience with surveillance systems can help you determine what components are best for your company’s needs.
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How do you choose a video surveillance system for your business?
If you’ve started looking for surveillance cameras, you’ve likely realized that it can be a very complicated process. There are a lot of things to consider. Consulting with a low voltage company like New Life Telecom can really help. We’ve installed countless surveillance systems for businesses throughout the Sacramento area and can help you choose a system that’s right for you.
If you want to learn more about surveillance systems and how to choose the best one for your business, read on to learn about each component of a surveillance camera system.
The 3 Main Parts Of A Surveillance Camera System:
1. Cameras
The first step in choosing cameras for your surveillance system is to determine what level of quality and resolution you need. Do you want high definition cameras that allow you to read license plates and capture faces? These cameras are more expensive, so be sure to figure that into your budget. If you just want to see if there are people walking around your place of business after hours, you might not need to pay extra for the highest level of quality.
Will you want your cameras to be PTZ (pan, tilt, & zoom)? PTZ cameras can adjust remotely to move around and zoom in. These can also be programmed to continually rotate the view so that you can cover more area with one camera. Some PTZ cameras can even detect humanoids and auto track subjects. These cameras will track and zoom in on a subject according to the parameters you’ve set and their systems can even push alerts to your phone with captured images.
There are also additional features you can find for some camera systems. Audio recording capabilities, talk back, strobe lights, warning messages, and more.
Indoor Surveillance Cameras vs Outdoor Surveillance Cameras
If some of your cameras will be installed outside your building, you’ll need to purchase outdoor rated cameras. Since these cameras will be constantly exposed to sun and weather, an indoor camera won’t survive the elements.
There are special outdoor housings, however, that can protect a non-outdoor rated camera installed outside. However, it’s most economical to purchase an outdoor rated camera for all of your exterior camera installations.
2. Cabling
While some older systems and companies may still be using coax cabling for their camera systems, most installations now use ethernet cabling (Cat 5, Cat 6, etc.) and IP cameras. Coax is still used, however, in long camera cable runs over 327 feet (100 meters), where ethernet cabling can no longer extend. In these longer runs, camera quality is diminished. If you have camera cable run longer than 327 feet, let us know and we can help you discover your best options.
Cabling Considerations For Outdoor Surveillance Cameras
You will, of course, need to consider your camera cabling when planning to place cameras outdoors. Most applications are simple, with cabling running inside your building’s walls and then connecting directly through the wall to the exterior camera.
Sometimes, however, this just can’t be the case. Sometimes the structure of your building or placement of your cameras require cabling to be run outside the building.
In this case, outdoor rated cabling and/or conduit may be used to run the cables to your cameras.
We’ve installed quite a few challenging surveillance camera systems using creative methods to achieve the best results. If you’ve got a tricky or unusual system design, give us a call – we can find the very best cabling solution that will work great for your business.
3. NVR (Network Video Recorder)
Your NVR will allow you to monitor what the cameras are seeing. You will connect the NVR from the camera system you purchased to an external monitor to view the camera video. It’s not a good idea to mix and match cameras and NVRs, so it’s a good idea to purchase a complete system and use the NVR that comes with the cameras. For PTZ cameras, you’ll be able to adjust each camera’s view and zoom. You can also view and oftentimes control your cameras through an app on your mobile phone, which connects to your NVR through security protocols.
What Type of Company Installs Surveillance Cameras?
Surveillance camera systems are installed by either a security company, a camera installation company, or a knowledgeable low voltage company. As we mentioned above, if you will be using a 3rd party to provide security services for your business, typically that security company will complete the install for you. There are some companies that specialize in camera installation and they’re a great choice if all you need is a camera system installed. However, we have installed many surveillance systems for our existing customers who prefer to work with us.
We also provide surveillance system installation alongside complete business wiring jobs for our customers. It can be helpful to have your network cabling, patch panel wiring, conference room cabling, and camera system cabling all done by us as one job. Since all these jobs involve cabling on your network, it’s helpful to create the most efficient plan and avoid the messiness of having installations completed by various companies and different times.
We're happy to help you with your surveillance cameras.
We can install your camera surveillance system for your business. Give us a call and we’ll help you figure out exactly what you need and how much it will cost to get it all installed for you.
