5 Big Fatal Mistakes When Buying CCTV

The choice of CCTV is very important in the security design in order to ensure appropriate image quality being captured. The Cameras, DVR, Internet service provider, Equipment quality etc. The 5 Big fatal mistakes when buying CCTV are given below:-

1. Paying a Premium Price for a Budget CCTV System:

CCTV installation and purchase can be problematic for many organisations. Issues include identifying reputable companies, achieving an understanding of the requirement, being able to compare offerings based on different solutions and equipment, how the system should be operated to provide effective security, ensuring that the system meets current legislative requirements and produces pictures of evident quality.

Even if CCTV companies have been required to quote for the same system it can be difficult to determine if the lowest quotation is offering best value or using inferior equipment to gain a price advantage.

Under these circumstances it is not unusual for a company to simply opt for the least expensive solution on offer. Quite often this will fall into the 80% of systems that fail to meet police standards and the money may well be wasted. All too often the system chosen while being cheaper than the other two is still far too expensive for what is being provided and the customer ends up paying a premium rate for a system which is not fit for purpose.

2. Putting Your Trust in a Local or Nationally Known CCTV Installation Company:

As our Principal Consultant conducts CCTV audits for organisations as diverse as Her Majesty's Prison Service, the NHS and leading organisations in the retail and leisure industry, he has been able to obtain a unique insight into the quality of installation in the UK. Sadly, he has found that each installation depends on the individual salesperson who designed the system and the size or public perception of the installation company offers little assurance of good design. His own experience would indicate that the police statistic of 80% of cameras not being fit the purpose is, if anything, a conservative estimate.

3. Choosing the Wrong Lens:

Most Internet Sales Companies will not give you the following information as you would quickly realise that many of the Cameras they are trying to sell would not produce pictures that are fit for purpose.

The biggest problem with CCTV installations is that the wrong lens is chosen. This normally results in people being too small to recognise and with CCTV pictures only being around 40k each, and not the 10 million you get on your photo camera, you cannot electronically zoom in. To be able to recognise a 1.7m person on a standard* CCTV system they must be at least 50% height of screen (the standards of Detect and Observe are not good enough to recognise person simply to observe what a group is doing or detect a person is present in the picture)

4.Choosing the Wrong DVR:

Until 2009 you could simply evaluate the recognition standard of a CCTV system based on what percentage of the screen a person filled (see previous section). But with the latest standard from the Home Office things are slightly more complicated. These percentages are based on the PAL televisions standard which was used for most systems. Now, however, there are a number of recording resolution formats available and the above sizes depend upon the quality of each format.

5. Installing an Illegal System:

CCTV is subject to the 62 legal requirements of the Data Protection Act.Understanding the DPA could save your organisation £250,000 +. Imagine if my wife were to enter our local supermarket and instead of the monitor simply showing her entering the store (legal) it was showing the wine and spirits aisle (illegal). As she looks at the picture she recognizes me walking down the aisle, but unfortunately I'm kissing and cuddling another woman. Were this to end in divorce my wife would almost certainly sue me for half of my pension, half of our home and 50% of the other properties we own. This would certainly come to £250,000 and maybe a good deal more. This aspect of the divorce, however, would not worry me overmuch as I know that I can sue the supermarket for every penny, as they disclosed visual data on me to my wife without my permission.