CCTVFirst Website changes.
We are redesigning our website to make it easier to navigate. We have added a section dedicated to complete CCTV systems, or video security surveillance systems has they are often called. Most of our customers require a complete system that they can easily install themselves. We have broken the CCTV system section down into relevant areas. I.E. CCTV systems for the home, shops, pubs, clubs, industrial units, etc. We will also shortly be launching a range of products especially designed for use in vehicles. CCTV systems in vehicles are becoming very popular from a health and safety point of view as well as insurance claims when an accident occurs. Health and safety is one of today’s major problem areas and CCTV is growing in popularity in this area. Employers are using it to demonstrate that they have taken due care and attention and it is the employee who has disregarded their instructions. CCTV systems are not just for surveillance or security or to catch burglars. They can be a comfort for people in their own homes, not having to get up every time they here a noise. They can be great for shopkeepers who maybe need to do work in the back office; they can easily see when someone comes in to their shop. CCTV can also be used to reduce theft by employees especially in businesses that handle a lot of cash, like shops, pubs, clubs and petrol forecourts. CCTV cameras can be used to cover store rooms, tills, and counters.
We will be giving our range of CCTV cameras names not just part numbers and technical specifications. Customer want to know what application a security camera is for. A pub landlord may have been told he needs a security camera to cover his entrance door and it must be capable of giving a recognition standard CCTV image. So we call CCTV cameras suitable for this use CCTV door entry camera. The same pub landlord may want cameras to cover his till, hence a camera for this purpose will be called a Till camera. Pubs usually have stock rooms or cellars so a covert camera maybe needed to fit in this area. Hence cameras suitable for this purpose will be called Covert CCTV surveillance cameras.
Shop keepers and CCTV systems in their shops will have very similar requirements to pubs. They will probably want Door entry cameras, Till cameras or covert security cameras.
CCTV First launch new range of Infinity DVRs.
CCTVFirst launch their new range of Infinity H264 standalone digital video recorders this week.
We have waited until the quality and performance of the latest technology DVR`s has meet our exacting requirements. We will be launching the 4 and 8 channel models this week and the 16 channel model in early June when it has finished our rigourous testing proceedure. These DVR`s come with LAN for remote viewing and playback, a USB port for easy back up to USB stick, a CCTV industry standard BNC monitor output and a VGA monitor oputput for use with PC monitors or modern televisions. They come with a remote control or can be mouse operated. The menus of these DVR`s are very simple and setup is easy. The H264 compression allows high quality D1 recording of CCTV images at realtime frame rates. The Infinity DVR`s have excellent build quality and will be offered at very attractive prices for their specification and performance.
CCTVfirst minimum 30 days recording on all CCTV DVRs
From June 2nd 2010 we will be supplying Infinity and Vgaurd DVRs with large enough hard drives to provide 30 days continuous recording. This will also apply to CCTV systems and complete CCTV kits that we offer. You will be able to buy in confidence knowing that your system will record for at least 30 days at high frame rates. Yes you can get most DVRs to record for 30 days, but a lot will only do this if you set them to very low frame rates or very poor record quality. We try to ensure the DVRs we supply either on their own or in our CCTV systems or kits comply with minimum police requirements.
Respectway Ltd t/as CCTVFirst
Respectway Ltd has traded as cctvdirect for a number of years and our domain name was www.cctvdirect.net Earlier this year we decided to improve our website to offer our customers more choice. To achieve this we needed to significantly upgrade our website and hence the new domain name of www.cctvfirst.co.uk
Nothing in our company structure or ownership has changed, only our trading name from cctvdirect to cctvfirst and our website address from www.cctvdirect.net to www.cctvfirst.co.uk. Any searches for CCTV direct, CCTV First, CCTVDirect or CCTVFirst should take you to our new website.
Vguard CCTV DVR
CCTVFirst are the main UK & Ireland distributors for Vguard and the range of Vguard CCTV DVRs. Vguard DVRs offer the best performance is terms of quality and reliability for a very competitive price. Look out for the new range of Vguard standalone DVR`s coming at the end of June. Also Vguard in conjunction with ourselves are site testing their new HD (high definition) DVR we hope to be available in the autumn. For more information on Vguard DVRs and the range of Vguard DVR PCI cards please call sales on 01609 775116
Click here for Vguard CCTV digital video recorders
Dummy CCTV cameras
CCTVFirst offer a range of quality dummy CCTV cameras. These CCTV dummy cameras are constructed from the same components we use for working CCTV camera for authenticity. The external dummy camera and the dummy speed dome make great external deterrents. We are shortly launching a new range of dummy night vision cameras that are identical to working models, even the IR lights come on at night. They will come in 3 sizes, Medium, Large, and Extra Large.
Dummy CCTV cameras from CCTVfirst
CCTV Security systems
We specialise in the designing and pre building of CCTV systems and CCTV security systems for our customers to install themselves. Our CCTV kits come complete with everything you need to install your CCTV security system.
Our CCTV security cameras are very easy to install and setup. The CCTV security DVRs offer a large range of features. CCTV surveillance just doest offer security it also offers peace of mind. Look out this week for a new range of CCTV systems based around our new range of Infinity H264 DVR`s
CCTV Wholesale
CCTV wholesale is available from us. We have been wholesaling CCTV and security equipment since we first started in business. We can offer very attractive terms and prices on CCTV wholesale volumes. See our trade centre page to apply for a trade account
Security surveillence cameras
Security cameras or video surveillence cameras are available from CCTVFirst. We keep a range of models from dome cctv cameras, night vision CCTV cameras, covert surveillence cameras, fully functional PTZ CCTV cameras. We always have a large stock of security cameras for immediate delivery.
Home CCTV & Home CCTV Security
Check out our range of home CCTV equipment. We have designed some CCTV security systems for home use. These home cctv systems are easily fitted and come complete with standalone DVR and cameras and cables. the DVR`s now supplied with these systems have been upgraded to included a LAN port for networking and remote viewing and also a VGA monitor output so that the DVR`s can be used with both standard CCTV monitors as well as PC monitors or modern televisions with a VGA input.
Product page for home CCTV systems from CCTVfirst
CCTV Surveillance systems
CCTV surveillance systems, CCTV systems and CCTV security systems are all the same thing. The big difference is that modern systems are a lot more sophisticated and can now be viewed over the internet. They use digital video recorders rather than old VCR`s to capture the recorded CCTV cameras.
Choosing your DVR
The DVR is the heart of your security system; it will ultimately control the quality of your recorded images. Its no good having very high spec CCTV cameras that are giving great live pictures on your monitor, if when you come to playback the recorded footage the recordings are totally inferior to the live image and are of no use to anybody.
There are several main things to look out for in choosing your DVR
1) What type of compression does the DVR use?
The early DVRs used variations of Mpeg, Jpeg, MJpeg, or Mpeg2 etc. There are still a lot of DVRs on the market that use this compression technique. Why you may ask are they still building machines using effectively old technology. The answer is simple Recorded Image Quality. If this is the case you may ask why are other types of compression being used. The reason is file size; a good quality single frame image using the above compressions will use 20 – 25kbs of hard drive storage, approximately 8 times more than the very best H264 compression techniques. So if I want 30 days recording I need to use massive hard drives or reduce my frame rate to a snails pace.
Advantages.
Good recorded image quality.
Tried and tested reliable technology.
Price they tended to be cheaper.
Disadvantages
Recording times generally only good for storing one weeks recording
Frame rate generally only achieve about 6 recorded frames per camera per second.
Recommended uses.
Small CCTV system using say up to 4 cameras, not good for 8 or 16 camera systems (Use to much hard drive capacity) Great for domestic security systems or small commercial low security risk environments.
Some DVRs use Mpeg4 compression which is again well established and was the great leap forward over the old Mpeg, Jpeg etc. However not many manufacturers invested in this technology for CCTV DVRs most stayed with the older mpeg and tried to tweak it or went straight into trying to make H264 compression based DVRs.
My personnel opinion is this was a mistake because I believe that Mpeg4 gives the best compromise for CCTV image recording in the terms of Image quality, frame rate, storage capacity, price and reliability.
A good quality Mpeg4 DVR will use about 4 - 6kbs of storage space per frame at 704 x 576 pixels or D1 resolution as it is commonly referred to. This means that 30 days recording is achievable using modern high capacity hard drives i.e. a 500 GB hard drive will record 4 cameras at D1 resolution at 8 frames per second for more than 30 days.
Very few Mpeg4 based DVRs will record at real time frame rates say 15 – 25 frames per second per camera without reducing image size and quality. However most will do between 7 – 10 fps at D1 resolution. This frame rate is acceptable for most security system applications and exceeds most police forces requirements.
The recorded images are of a quality very similar to the live image and do not suffer from the blocking effect associated with H264 compression. Also the image size is small enough to make transmission of live pictures over networks or the internet of a reasonable quality and speed.
Advantages
Good recorded image quality
Good frame rate at high image quality
Tried and tested technology
Value for money.
Disadvantages
Not capable of true real time recording.
Mainly available as PC based DVRs rather than standalone
Recommended uses.
Great for any installation that needs to meet police requirements. Good for 4 8 and 16 camera systems.
