34 • CCTV
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Wired or Wireless?
Asks Umar Haq, founder of Manchester-based Learn CCTV.
»»Do you remember the days
when the first cordless telephone was on
the market? With the retractable aerial
which you would push back down when
the call would end? And when you would
walk too far away the line would start
crackling. Over time they got better and
better to the point where you can walk
over a few 100m away from the base and
the call will still be crystal quality.
Then to the days of wireless video: how
many of you had invested in a transmitter
box which you would plug into your Sky
box downstairs and then plug the receiver
in your bedroom TV upstairs, thus
allowing you to watch Sky wirelessly? But
sometimes the picture would begin to pick
up interference and you’d have to move
the receiver around a bit.
Wireless products work on signal – from
a transmitter to a receiver. A few years
ago, everything would be on an analogue
system. Mobile phones, terrestrial TV, Sky,
cordless phones etc. But now everything
has moved over to digital; which brings
us to the topic of CCTV wireless cameras
or wired. I cannot begin to tell you the
number of times I have visited a client’s
site and been asked the question: “Can’t
we put wireless cameras here?” I then
proceed to inform the client about
wireless. Previously, wireless CCTV
Cameras used only to work if you had
“line of sight” which basically meant
that there was nothing in-between the
camera and the receiver ie, no walls. Now,
in the real world that is near impossible
unless you were using them at a builder’s
yard or tip. Following a few years of
more R & D and the allowance from the
government to be able to use a digital
‘You could have a
plasterboard wall in the
way and this wouldn’t
affect the picture’
frequency, 2.4 GHz, the wireless products
actually started working well. You could
have a plasterboard wall in the way and
this wouldn’t affect the picture. Then
other products began to use the same
technology eg baby monitors which are all
practically digital nowadays.
A NEW KIND OF CCTV –
THANKS TO WIFI
But there is a new kind of CCTV wireless
device on the market which uses what
most homes and business have nowadays,
WiFi. They work in a similar way to
wireless devices. Basically, you connect all
the recorder via the WiFii signals and then
the recorded collects all the images and
records them as a conventional dvr would.
The idea seems great. No need to start
running cables through ceilings, outside
walls, etc. etc. But is the technology ready
to go mainstream yet?
locksmithjournal.co.uk | jan/feb 2015
When
anyone ever asks
me the question, would you go wireless
or wired CCTV, my answer is always the
same. Would I rather have a device which
is hardwired directly back to my dvr or
would I have something which is relying
on wireless signals and the battle with 100
other Wi-Fi devices in the vicinity?
What would happen if the device lost
its connectivity and could not reconnect
back, well some devices have the option of
a backup recording locally in the camera,
but this would only record for 30 / 40
mins or so?
The next thing I tell the client is that
you have to run a power cable anyway to
the wireless camera, so why not just run a
video cable at the same time?
So is the new WiFi technology
taking off? Well, it is selling. Domestic
consumers are being sold on the fact
there is no need to run cables (apart from
power). Would I quote it for a commercial
client? No. Why? Because you are unsure
of connectivity from different brands.
With a conventional wired CCTV camera,
you can mix and match different cameras
with different brands because they all give
out a video signal over coax. So if one was
to fail, any engineer could replace it with
another camera which would be available
from all CCTV distributors.
But the proof will come in time. Will
another form of wireless technology be
developed or will the end user stick to
wired? This is a subject I will revisit in
The Locksmith at a later date. Watch this
space.
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