As home security moves forward in the digital age, it is only natural that explosive growth has surrounded digital security camera systems.

Digital security cameras play much the same role that their analog counterparts in 1960s and '70s closed circuit TVs (CCTV) played. Mounted in strategic locations, they enable the owners to monitor whatever areas are otherwise vulnerable in a home or business.

The digital nature of these new cameras, however, makes is possible to do so much more than analog security camera systems could ever do. Digital CCTV cameras and systems offer much more advanced combinations of recording power as I explain below.

How Digital CCTV works

By installing a video capture card in your PC, you turn your computer into an advance digital video recording system, otherwise known as a DVR. This enables you to record super-high quality digital video direct to the hard drive of your computer. The video output from your digital CCTV camera is referred to as a digitized recording that gives you an impressive array of features and benefits.

Benefits

The ability to view recorded or live video from a remote computer or 3G mobile phone anywhere in the world is perhaps one of the most popular benefits. Once your system is set-up, all you need to do is log in to your system and view what's going on. How about checking on your home when you are away on business or vacation?

Another great feature of your digital surveillance system is the ability to easily search your recorded video data. Rather than the long and boring process of rewinding and fast forwarding through a VCR tape to find a specific date and time, you can navigate right to that point in the recording with digital video.

With computer software you can program your digital CCTV camera to include or exclude certain movement or images. For example, you can program it to stop recording when no movement is captured after a set period of time, or to excluded movement with part of a camera's field of vision. When movement is detected you could program your system to send you an text or email. This would be great, for example, if a camera detects movement inside your garage or home when you are away.

With multiple camera systems, you can program your digital surveillance cameras to alert another cameras to pan over to its area for another view of some unusual activity. You can control all these actions of your cameras manually, in real time, while viewing the video recordings from your computer, as well. You are only ever limited by the software and hardware you decide to purchase.

Drawbacks

Digital surveillance systems are not completely without their drawbacks. The files generated onto your computer's hard disk by your security cameras can quickly fill up a hard drive. However, hard disk storage these days are very cheap, so it is wise to install the biggest hard disk you can afford. Also, the ability to program your cameras to stop recording when no movement is detected will save you huge amounts of hard disk space.

Is a digital surveillance camera system right for you?

Digital CCTV cameras certainly offer you much more flexibility than an analog system by including a great array or powerful features. And they offer these things with the convenience of being able to monitor your digital camera system from anywhere in the world. If you're looking for a top-notch high tech system to protect your business or home, a digital CCTV system is definitely one that I would recommend.