Professional Security Camera Systems in Ontario & British Columbia

Typically, homeowner's insurance is reduced by 5 to 15% for having a monitored home security system for burglary, intrusion, fire and flood monitoring. Security cameras typically do not provide an insurance discount on their own because they are not monitored 24/7. Every insurance company has its own discounts that they offer for different security features.

For IP security camera systems that record in HD or 4K, it is recommend to have a minimum of 1TB of hard drive in the NVR for every 4 cameras. Hard drives can be added to any NVR if you would like to be able to go further back in time when playing back recorded footage. Typically a 4 camera system with 1TB will be able to record 2-6 weeks of footage depending on whether recording is set to motion-only or 24/7 recording.

Analog cameras are more traditional cameras that transmit video over coaxial cable to a DVR (Digital Video Recorder). IP security cameras transmit the recorded video to an NVR (Network Video Recorder) in the form of digital signals by using Cat5 or Cat6 ethernet wire and a PoE switch. This eliminates the requirement of power cables that are needed on Analog systems. The image quality and frame rate is higher on IP cameras which makes them more ideal, especially for areas that require greater detail or that have a lot of motion. IP cameras can cover more area than Analog cameras so less cameras could be needed for the property. Analog cameras are not encrypted, which means a hacker could potentially access your information but IP cameras are encrypted, making them more secure. The number one reason to get an Analog system over an IP system would be the cost as they are significantly cheaper than IP camera systems. Although, it is recommended to stick with an IP security camera system as the advantages far outweigh those of an Analog CCTV system.

With a wired security camera system you can have as many cameras as you would like installed. When first considering the installation of a security camera system you will want to ensure you purchase an NVR that can handle the number of cameras you may want and also take into consideration that you may want to add some additional cameras in the future. NVR's typically come in 4 channel, 8 channel, 16 channel, 32 channel and 64 channel versions. A 4 channel NVR can handle up to 4 cameras, an 8 channel NVR can handle up to 8 cameras and so on. Additional NVR's can also be added if required.