How CCTV cameras work

If you are willing to learn how CCTV cameras work and install some of them in your home, don't look any further because you are in the right place. 

Welcome to the best article ever written about CCTV cameras. This is not for the mega, super, hyper experienced users... this article is for people that want to learn how CCTV camera work without getting into the non-sense technical language.

Just keep reading to the end and you will understand the fundamentals of how CCTV cameras work and what are best models to use in your home.

Do you feel some kind of anxiety when you leave your home and keep thinking about how it could be unprotected? Perhaps you have something valuable to protect or somebody that you love will be at home while you are on a business trip. 

Sometimes a CCTV camera can make you feel much better and have some peace of mind. If that's your case, just go for it and install a CCTV camera.

It's a device that can capture and transmit video to a Digital Video Recorder (DVR), Network Video Recorder (NVR) or other a media such an SD card. 

OK, that's a basic definition. Just keep that concept in mind before I start talking about how CCTV cameras work and what types are available on the market. 

Don't worry... I will talk later about DVR, NVR, and all other stuff.

For now, you just need to understand that CCTV cameras need to use a device or SD card to storage videos. That's why you see them in the picture.

Pretty simple, just as the name implies, a CCTV camera recorder is a device that is used to record the camera footage. This device can be analog or digital.

I will talk briefly about the different type of ways to record videos:

It's a device that is used to record footage from analog CCTV cameras. A coaxial cable is used to connect the camera to the Digital Video Recorder. 

It's a device that is used to record footage from digital CCTV cameras. A network cable is used to connect the camera to the Network Video Recorder. 

A digital CCTV camera can also record video into an SD card. Later it's possible to retrieve the recorded video remotely from a computer on the same network.

John wants to install 4 CCTV cameras in this liquor store. He needs something as simple as possible, so he will use an analog CCTV camera system. 

He wants to install the CCTV cameras to monitor the store aisles and watch the recorded video later. The customers should be aware of the cameras.

So, it's a pretty basic project. Let's see what John needs to buy:

That's a pretty simple project. John just needs to buy everything and install by himself or hire a professional CCTV camera installer (which I recommend). 

For this simple project, John could buy a CCTV camera installation Kit that is pretty easy to find on stores such as Wallmart or Amazon.com

So, John is happy with his new security system but he wants to learn more about how CCTV cameras work. Let's start talking about CCTV camera technology.

So, back to John's CCTV camera project, you can see that he is connecting the analog cameras to the DVR by using coaxial cables. That's the simplest way to install a CCTV camera, just connect it to the DVR and start recording. 

See the picture below where there's an analog camera connected to a DVR using a coaxial cable. The video is converted from analog to digital, so it can be recorded into the DVR and it's possible to use a monitor to see live and recorded videos.

Traditional analog CCTV cameras are the one ones that send analog signals to the Digital Video Recorder (DVR) which convert those signals to digital. 

That's the reason this device is called Digital Video Recorder. It can convert signals from analog to digital and record the video into a hard drive and it can also send a video stream through the local network or to a remote location on the Internet.

That means John can also watch his CCTV cameras on a remote location by connecting the DVR to the Internet. But let's keep that for later. 

OK, John did not buy a digital security system, but he could. His small CCTV camera project can also work using digital cameras (also known as IP cameras).

I will start using the name IP camera, that's the way people refer to this type of digital CCTV cameras, so let's understand how it works.

See the picture below where there's an IP  camera connected to an NVR using a network cable (also known as UTP cable). The video is sent from the IP camera to the NVR and it's possible to use a monitor to see live and recorded videos.