How to connect Hik-connect to your NVR V4.0
How to connect Hik-connect to your NVR V3.0
How to share your device on Hik-connect app
How to use line crossing/intruder detection V4.0
How to enable line cross/intruder detection on Hik-connect app
Trouble Shooting Videos
V Series Tutorials
- Assign IPC to NVR
- Moving camera position on your display
CCTV Common Installation Problems
For IR reflection issues please download the following trouble shooting instruction manuals.
CCTV Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is CCTV? Why is there a need for CCTV?
CCTV is the abbreviation for Closed Circuit Television. It is a visual surveillance technology system designed to monitor the desired surrounding environment and its activities. In recent years, the role of CCTV has grown to unprecedented levels.
CCTV is fast becoming an integral plan for crime control policies and social behaviour control theory in an effort to maintain ethnical public behaviour and public order. It has become an icon for security and its presence is guaranteed to generate a sense of security and welcomed by many.
2. Can CCTV prevent crime?
CCTV acts as deterrence rather than prevention to crime. CCTV deters 'opportunistic' crime, where people take advantage of a situation on the spur of the moment.
The cameras are also creating a vastly increased rate of conviction after crimes are detected. Virtually everyone caught committing an offense on camera pleads guilty nowadays. Once people know they have been videotaped, they admit the offense immediately.
3. How to choose a suitable CCTV camera for your needs.
Choosing the correct CCTV Camera that fits your digital surveillance requirements is very important. Below is a simplified set of guidelines when choosing the correct CCTV camera for you application.
a) Location: Indoor or outdoor application
b) Requirement for day and night surveillance
c) The angle of view requirement. Wide angle coverage or a narrow field of view is required.
d) Budget
4. How does focal length affect angle of view?
Focal length is measured in mm. A short focal length (e.g. 2.8mm) represents a wide angle of view while a long focal length (16mm) represents a narrow angle of view.
5. What is Day and Night Camera?
Day and night cameras are cameras that are able to provide video surveillance even at low levels of illumination. A day and night camera displays a full colour image during the daytime but produces monochrome (Black and white) video images at times when the lighting is poor. The camera has a device that is sensitive to the surrounding light conditions and switches the camera between colour and black & white modes automatically. It is designed to increase its light sensitivity in poor lighting conditions and at the same time reduce noise level in the images.
However, the day and night camera will fail if the illumination (Lux) level is too low.
6. What is IR camera?
IR is the abbreviation for Infrared. IR cameras have image sensors that are designed to sense and process infrared light emitted from IR LEDs. Similar to Day & Night cameras, IR cameras turned to monochrome mode when illumination falls below a certain Lux. An IR camera differs from a Day & Night camera in which an IR camera is able to capture video images in absolute darkness with the help of infrared light source.
7. What is CCTV DVR?
DVR is abbreviation for Digital Video Recorder, it main function is to compress images recorded from the cameras into a particular image compression format and store them.
8. What is the difference between a PC-based DVR and an Embedded DVR?
A PC-based digital video recorder is basically a personal computer that has been modified with hardware and software to work as a DVR. An embedded digital video recorder is a video recording machine that has been manufactured specifically to record video input from CCTV cameras. In embedded DVRs there is typically one circuit board with software burned into its processor chip.
The advantage of an embedded digital video recorder is that they are extremely stable and reliable as they consist of fewer circuitry parts. The software is often written in basic machine code or Linux code which tends to be more stable.
9. What features should I look for in a CCTV DVR?
All DVRs are different. There are various factors to consider when purchasing a DVR besides price comparison. The basic and most important factors to consider are:
i) Number of cameras supported, i.e. number of video inputs
ii) Recording at how many frames per second (fps)
iii) Compression technology used
iv) Hard disk space, number of hard disk it can support
v) Network connection / remote viewing capability
vi) Motion detection or scheduling recording functions
vii) Video backup means, by USB, CD, DVD or other means.
viii) Easy and comprehensive search capabilities
10. What is the term frames per second (fps)?
Frames per second (fps) relates to how many pictures the DVR can record in a second. Real time recording is about 30 fps. To calculate the fps per camera, take the total fps that the system could offer and divide it by the number of video inputs. For example, a 100 fps DVR with 4 video inputs would give u 100/4, 25fps per camera.
11. Do I need 30 frames per second (fps) recording on all security cameras?
CCTV surveillance systems are generally intended to capture images and not to make movie quality videos. Recording rates of as low as 1 or 2 frames will be sufficient to capture critical moments for example, a criminal act in progress. Even at low frame rates, recording on motion, the compressed video files produced per day are huge in size. Therefore, it is not advisable to set all cameras to be recording at a high frames per second rate.
12. How many days/weeks of recording can I store?
This depends on the size of your hard drive, the number of cameras, which recording mode (on motion, on alarm, continuously, etc.), what type of video compression you are using, quality of resolution used. Typically on a standard 4 channel analogue H.264 DVR, recording at 30 frames per second, a 500 gigabyte hard drive will store 12 days of 24hr footage. Most DVRs are factory defaulted to record on motion sensor, as to save memory on the hard drive and record only the important events.
13. What is the maximum length I can pull my cameras away from the DVR?
Using RG59 Coaxial cable, the maximum distance is approx 200 meters away from the DVR and up to 300 meters using RG6 Coax. For longer distances, a video amplifier should be used.