CCTV, or Closed Circuit Television, is the technology used in modern surveillance systems. Comtex recommends the use of a Digital Video Recorder (DVR) system that records high resolution digital images to a hard disk drive (HDD) and displays multiple camera images on a monitor. You may remotely view your business from any PC in the world with internet access, easily search archived videos by date, time and camera, and even control your camera views.

Off-site Monitoring — DVR technology allows remote monitoring of live and archived recordings over your corporate network or from any PC that has a high speed connection. Off site, you can control the camera views. Comtex offers DVR models that offer 4, 8 or 16 camera views and recording configurations. You may even enlarge and zoom in on a still frame clip to view details of an image.

Ease of Search- Advanced search capabilities allow you to instantly get to relevant areas of the video, greatly reducing time spent viewing video clips. Rather than using the limited fast forward and rewind functions of a VCR, you may input search defined parameters such as the camera, date and time to find the exact clip you need. You can also playback video forward or backward up to 1000 times the normal VHS speed.

Image Capture — Digital images and the ability to control the viewing experience through software configuration greatly enhance the security experience. For instance, recordings do not have to be continuous. Each camera can be configured independently to record only when it detects motion or by a pre-defined schedule programmed in the DVR. If a motion is detect mode is used, months of video can be stored on a typical hard drive, saving on playback time and hard drive space.

Storage — Using a DVR eliminates the need to store,  maintain and change VHS tapes. No need to replace video tapes, ensuring continuous recording. As the images are stored digitally, the image quality will not degrade overtime, as would a VHS tape when recorded over multiple times. The size of the hard drive will dictate how much you can record.

Multi-Tasking- While analog VCRs can either record or play, a DVR has triple functionality. You can simultaneously review, record and playback up to 16 cameras. While you are viewing an archived video, the DVR can still be recording live action.

For more information on video surveillance systems, cameras and DVRs, please go to our website at www.comtex-nj.com