Published on March 18th, 2017 | by Guest

7 Things to Look at When Buying a Home Security Camera System for Your Home

Many of the home security camera systems you can find in the market today aim to serve the same purpose. These systems detect events, record events and send you alerts. But, these security systems are not all made equal.

There are some cameras which have been designed with special features aside from the basics. When shopping for a security camera system for your home, there are several important and essential features you have to look for to ensure that your choice will efficiently perform its function, and that is to protect you, your family and your possessions.

Alerts

Once events or motions are detected, home security cameras will send notifications straight to your smartphone. As you cannot watch the live feed the whole way, it is a great way to keep tabs on your property in real time. The camera may send you text alerts once it detects sound, motion, a known or unrecognized face or all of these three. There are also cameras which send alerts simultaneously to multiple people, often someone who is a part of the household with the use of the app of the product. There are also others that send emails together with the text messages as a failsafe in case you don’t have access to your mobile device.

Local Storage

Some home security cameras come with memory card slots together with cloud storage to let you store videos right on the device. This is a very attractive feature since this can get rid of the monthly expenses for storage fees. The only disadvantage if there is no cloud backup is that when the burglar steals the camera, he may also take the forensic evidence found in it.

Cloud Recording

Most manufacturers provide cloud storage plans together with the camera system. When you have this, recorded videos can be sent to a remote server then stored for predetermined time, typically for 24 hours to one week and deleted to give space for the new videos. Even if there are times these are free, such cloud plans typically require monthly subscription, yet are worth it for their convenience and if you like a surveillance record during your vacation and some extended time while you’re away from home.

Battery Backup

A power outage may happen anytime and clever burglars sometimes cut electricity before breaking into your house. If this happens, your camera will go dark and if there is a crime taking place, you will not get any forensic evidence. Due to this, some cameras may also run for a short time using the battery power and it’s the feature you should look for.

Facial Recognition

Some cameras are experimenting with facial recognition, which is a feature that might be more accurately refer to as facial identification. If you choose a camera with this option, you have to take note that this learns faces though increasing exposure to them, so be ready to spend lots of time in front of the camera lens.

Motion Detection

It’s one of the best features that a home security system must have. Built-in sensors pick up any movement within the field of view of the camera and trigger video recording. Since such sensors are sensitive to movement, it is essential that the camera system will also provide you the ability of narrowing the range of detection, adjust the sensitivity of the sensor or customize this feature to reduce false alerts.

Mobile App

Majority of the home security systems today come with a mobile app. It’s a useful feature since you don’t have to open your computer or laptop just to keep an eye on your home. With your mobile device, you can access your home security system.

Tags: buying, camera, home, look for, system, things