CCTV, closed circuit television, uses a video camera to transmit signals locally to a predetermined monitor or monitors. These types of television broadcasts are different from the broadcasts you normally watch on television. These are broadcast signals that are open transmission. CCTV is a private or closed system and restricts the viewing of the broadcast to specific areas and screens.
Closed circuit television is a method of either watching live or recording specific areas within one building, a complex of buildings or even a much larger area or perimeter. If the images are stored to watch “after the fact” then VHS, CD or DVDs are used or a computer based program. Sometimes the use of telephone lines allows remote viewing but the type of transmission depends on the complexity of the CCTV system.
Who uses CCTV
Places that use the CCTV for surveillance includes casinos, cities for both traffic control and crime control, banks, businesses and some individual homeowners as an additional protective device. The first use of CCTV however, was at a rocket launch site back in 1942. Siemens AG installed the equipment in Peenemunde, Germany at Test Stand VII. The designer of the system was Walter Bruch.
Even though today scientists still use these systems at rocket launching sites, they’re often fitted with the cameras at various stages of the rocket’s separation. This way the messages that show the separation go back to the scientists to see if there was any malfunction or help them find ways to overcome the problem if there was.
In 1968, the first city to use CCTV on its main business street in the United States was Olean, New York. It was among the first technology used to fight crime in the city. The activities of the main business area went directly into the police station at Olean.
The borough of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk in the UK were the first to use public CCTV to monitor the town center in 1987. They eventually expanded to cover residential areas, parks, industrial areas, sports facilities, shopping areas and parking areas. Those who use the system, such as merchants, pay King’s Lynn and West Norfolk for the service.
Types of CCTV systems
There are various types of systems available for the consumer. Some of them are stationary and others are moving. If you purchase a stationary system, you set the camera to focus on one area 100 percent of the time. It might take a shot of the hallway in a building or other area, but regardless never deviates from the area it’s set to monitor. Some of the stationery cameras in CCTV are in enclosures for either vandal resistance or discreteness.
Systems that use moving cameras are PTZ systems. The PTZ stands for pan, tilt and zoom. They allow an operator at a central station to follow objects or pan areas of interest. The operator uses a joystick type of control to pan the camera in different directions.
Banks often use this type of CCTV but have the sequence of panning preprogrammed over a specific area. Sometimes the PTZ systems include motion detection. In these systems, the camera pans to areas where a motion detector triggers. Normally, these systems are for security use in industrial areas and occasionally private homes.
Low light or night vision CCTV
Many of the more sophisticated systems also use technology that allows for low light or night vision. Some interface with alarm systems or access control systems. If a camera has a motion detection system and interfaces with an alarm, it has the capability to warn the security personnel if there is a potential problem in a specific sector. In some very sophisticated equipment, there are also facial recognition biometric systems.
Many of the larger systems are primarily automated systems. Some of them use hundreds of cameras, making it almost impossible to monitor at one time. In order to make the system less cumbersome, “hands free systems” are used. These are possible with interfacing alarms that trigger when an event occurs such as a door opening or other similar type of event. The image goes sets off an alarm and records while the guards do a personal investigation.
Nanny cams
Aside from using home CCTV for securing the perimeters of your land and aiding in warding off break-ins, CCTV is probably best known as in the form of a “nanny cam.” These systems hide the camera in an inconspicuous place in the home to monitor the babysitter or nanny while parents are away at work.
Some of the cleverly designed cameras come in the form of a digital clock, a smoke alarm, an air purifier, a rock and even poor teddy bear acts as a policeman while the parents are away. The Teddy bear nanny cams offer a wireless camera, as do several other options.
Some of the CCTV systems use motion sensors built into the system that activates recording. Others may look like motion detectors but actually use body heat to trigger a surveillance video in action. Many of these systems are self-contained and record onto a removable SD card to view or store later in the computer. The heat sensors are more sensitive; however, some of the systems found in retail stores combine both technologies and offer cameras that trigger to both body heat and motion.
With the creation of home alarm systems that use simply the camera and a PCI card to set up the system in your PC. Some have a DVR card that allows you to use the Internet to view the activity from a distance on a PC, PDA, iPhone, Smartphones, Blackberry and Android Phones. The newer technology makes CCTV a viable possibility for the average homeowner.
Even though the newer technology makes the product more inexpensive than it was previously, CCTV systems still range in the hundreds of dollars. Cameras vary in the system and lower end cameras may not have the capability added when you pay more for the system such as infrared recording for night.
Home alarm systems offer protection from intruders but can’t help you find the intruder if he leaves the minute he hears the alarm. CCTV solves this problem and provides video of the intruders or vandals to aid the police in finding your perpetrators. Often insurance companies offer additional discounts for these types of systems, which mean over the years, your CCTV system could pay for itself in the form of insurance premium discounts and the protection you receive is a free benefit.