What is CCTV ?

It wasn’t until 1949 that the CCTV system was first used commercially. In that year, an American company launched Vericon, to keep an eye on dangerous industrial processes or bring a close-up of surgical operations to students.

Modern technology helps to secure places with the use of access control and modern security cameras. Perhaps you already saw the term "CCTV" while researching around but you really don't know what it means.

Bullet cameras are long and cylindrical in shape and are ideal for outdoor use.

The idea of a CCTV system is to generate, store and display the videos on a monitor, the diagram below exemplifies this concept on the 3 blocks.

Thanks to CCTV technology, audiences can enjoy pay-per-view sports streaming in the 1970s. “The Rumble in the Jungle” fight alone drew jaw-dropping 50 million CCTV viewers worldwide at that time – a quite historical event!

The idea of a CCTV system is to generate, store and display the videos on a monitor, the diagram below exemplifies this concept on the 3 blocks.

Their strengths lie specifically in applications which require long distance viewing.

The primitive CCTV systems was not applied in security monitoring until 1968 when New York was first to install video cameras in an effort to fight crime. Since then, CCTV cameras began to spread across the world – rapidly and unstoppably.

nstalled within protective casings, the cameras are shielded against dust, dirt and other natural elements.

The CCTV cameras generate the images, a recorder stores the footage and finally, a monitor displays the video from the camera or tape recorder.

The primitive CCTV systems was not applied in security monitoring until 1968 when New York was first to install video cameras in an effort to fight crime. Since then, CCTV cameras began to spread across the world – rapidly and unstoppably.

The cameras can easily be mounted with a mounting bracket, and come fitted with either fixed or varifocal lenses depending on the requirements of its intended application.

There are more than 350 million CCTV cameras worldwide mainly for security monitoring in public areas or private residences – a truly enormous amount!

If you are in the US, you will be captured by security cameras over 200 times a day – not a surprise if you know every 10 people in America own more than one security camera.

Cassette tapes for VCRs were produced on a large scale for use throughout the world in residential and industrial systems, but the technology has many limitations in terms of quality and practicality.

Coming with detachable lenses, C-mount cameras allow for simple lens changes to fit different applications. C-mount cameras can cover distances beyond 40 ft thanks to the possibility to use special lenses with these cameras,

People in different countries call security cameras as different names, like surveillance cameras or IP cameras. The British prefer to use “CCTV cameras” when they mention security cameras.

Another major problem with cassettes for to CCTV footage was the quality deterioration of new copies of the tapes.

A majority of CCTV cameras are IP cameras that connect to the Internet and can work without space limitation. You can not only link your security cameras within a limited area as before, but also access them remotely. That means CCTV cameras are not totally “closed-circuit” anymore.

Capable of operating in both normal and poorly lit environments, these cameras benefit from not requiring inbuilt infrared illuminators as they can capture clear video images in the dark thanks to their extra sensitive imaging chips.

Even in an analog CCTV system, it is possible to use cameras with advanced features. Those cameras can be controlled remotely from the surveillance room by sending commands from a joystick. Those camera models are known as PTZ (Pan, Tilt, and Zoom), have a built-in motor to control horizontal, vertical and zoom movement,

The CCTV camera system at first only consists of security cameras and monitors. Afterwards, various recording units come out for video storage and review.

cameras allow for discreet placement which means you can capture good footage of theft and criminal damage

A CCTV camera system, with full form in English as closed-circuit television camera system, is showed in the following diagram.

In large CCTV projects, it is possible to find a mix of CCTV camera models, most of them have a fixed viewing angle and other models such as the PTZs mentioned above are used for patrolling the area.