CCTV installation: what a good system looks like.
Most home CCTV is bought on resolution and bundled in a box. Then it gets screwed to a wall pointing at a hedge, and a year later nobody can make out the one face that mattered. A good system is mostly about placement and setup, not the sticker on the camera. Here's what separates the two.
Placement beats megapixels.
The best camera in the wrong spot is useless. We start by working out what you're actually trying to see: the approach to the house, the gate, the front door, the side return everyone forgets. Then we place cameras to cover those, at the right height and angle, lit so faces aren't lost to glare or backlight.
Get that right and four cameras do more than twelve scattered around hoping for the best. It's the same lesson as cinema, really. The room, or in this case the view, decides everything.
The bits that actually matter.
4K where it counts. Enough resolution to identify a face or a plate on the approaches, not just register movement. You don't need it everywhere, but you need it where it matters.
On-site recording. Footage kept on your own hardware, viewable from an app, not held hostage by a cloud subscription or your broadband upload speed.
Night performance. Most incidents happen in the dark. Cameras chosen and set up for low light are worth more than headline daytime specs.
A network that holds. Cameras are devices on your network. On a commercial-grade one they stay reliable; on a cheap router they drop exactly when you need them.
Quick answers.
- What makes a good home CCTV system?
- Cameras placed for coverage rather than convenience, 4K resolution that actually resolves a face at the gate, recording kept on-site on your own hardware rather than locked in a cloud subscription, and a stable network underneath. The kit matters less than where it's put and how it's set up. A handful of well-placed cameras beats a dozen pointed at hedges.
- Is 4K CCTV worth it?
- For the shots that matter, yes. 4K gives you the detail to identify a face or a number plate rather than just noticing 'someone was there'. You don't need it on every camera, but on the approaches, the gate, the front door, it's the difference between footage that's useful and footage that's only reassuring.
- Should CCTV record to the cloud or locally?
- We favour on-site recording on your own hardware, with remote viewing from an app. Cloud-only systems tie you to a monthly fee, depend on your upload speed, and put your footage on someone else's server. Local recording keeps it yours, keeps it fast, and keeps working if the internet drops.
- Does home CCTV need a special network?
- It needs a reliable one. Cameras are just devices on your network, and on a flaky consumer setup they drop, lag and miss clips. We run security on a commercial-grade network, often the same one the rest of the smart home sits on, so it stays up when it's needed.
Cover the right things.
We'll survey the property, work out what you actually need to see, and design security that's discreet and reliable rather than a row of cameras for show.