Quality and Quantity of Security Camera Footage

Security cameras have a lot of applications. If you have a residential security camera system, you can use it to tell when a package has arrived at your front door. If you own a restaurant you can use your security camera to convict someone who broke a drive-thru window for chicken nuggets.

Whatever you are buying a security camera system for, you are going to have the debate of quality versus quantity before you buy it. Most security cameras are connected to Digital Video Recording or Network Video Recording devices (DVRs or NVRs) which have hard drives for storing security camera footage. And this is where the question of quality versus quantity will pop up for you. You can have a terabyte of memory storage for your security camera footage but if you are running several cameras on an okay resolution – such as 1280 x 1024 – at 30 frames per second, you’re going to have to delete recordings within two weeks or less. But that is only if you want to get the best image quality on your camera footage.

Most individuals and businesses would consider it overkill to run their cameras at higher resolutions and on 30 frames per seconds due to the fact that lower settings can allow you to store security footage for a whole year or more. But if you have your own security system, don’t use the lowest possible settings, especially if you ever hope to use your security system to identify a burglar or robber. Unless you are only using your cameras to catch your own employees stealing from you, a video recorded in potato quality won’t help you or the police identify a culprit.

Defining what your purpose is for setting up a security system will help you determine an appropriate balance between quality and quantity for your surveillance footage. As a closing tip, if you are going to opt for lower video quality, consider placing your cameras in places which can best capture potential culprits’ faces. If your camera is positioned in the corner of the room on the ceiling and the image quality is already not that great, you might have problems trying to use your camera video as useful evidence.

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