Your Source for Security Cameras & Other Security Equipment
Enhance Your Home Security
Home burglaries happen more often that we would like to think. While we want to protect our home, families, and our possessions, our security measures may be lacking. Here are some ways you can enhance your safety and secure your home.
Landscape
Walk around your property to identify and eliminate potential hiding spots for thieves. Clear away any overgrown areas and maintain your landscape.
Police
Speak with your local police department as they can offer insight on break-in trends in your area.
Neighbors
Take the time to get to know your neighbors and engage with people in your neighborhood. You can use each other as allies to watch for any suspicious activities or keep a look out when you’re away.
Lighting
Outdoor lighting can play a key role in your home security. Installing motion-sensor lights around your property can enhance your safety and prevent your home from being targeted by thieves. For indoor lighting, you may want to consider implementing timers or smart light bulbs that can be controlled remotely. This will allow you to make it appear as if you are home even when you’re away.
Shopping
Online shopping is convenient, but can also draw the attention of thieves. To deter porch pirates, have your packages sent elsewhere or require a signature for delivery. In addition, your trash may give away that you recently purchased a new computer or flat-screen television. Be sure to break down boxes and keep your trash inconspicuous.
Safety Routine
Establish a routine of regularly locking all doors, shutting windows, and arming your alarm system when you leave your home. And avoid leaving a spare key outside as thieves are privy to common hiding spots. Instead, leave a spare with a trusted friend or neighbor.
Visibility
Be sure that you can see who is at your front door without opening it, whether it be through a peephole, window, or a video doorbell. Do not place valuables where they can be seen from the street and keep your alarm system panel out of sight from windows so that people outside cannot see you arming it.
Outdoor Valuables
Anything outdoors is an easier steal. Sheds, garages, and other outdoor buildings are prime targets, as they are usually easier to access and contain valuables. Be sure to secure your grill, lawn mower, bicycles, and other outdoor gear.
Vacation
Going away? Hold your mail and deliveries, and ask a friend or neighbor to remove flyers from your property. If it’s for an extended period of time, arrange for snow removal and lawn mowing to keep up the appearance that you are home.
Share your own home security tips with us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.
Browse our stock of quality surveillance equipment and security cameras online at SecurityCamExpert.com. Contact us at 888-203-6294 to request a free quote or schedule a site survey.
Upgrading Security Camera Systems
It’s about time to upgrade your analog cameras to HD-CVI or IP security cameras. By upgrading, you are equipping your home or business with more advanced surveillance solutions. These advanced cameras deliver top quality, with 720p or 1.3 Megapixel and up to 4K resolution. Worried about the compatibility with your current system and the new cameras? Luckily, there are products out there to aid in a smooth transition. And if you have any questions, you can always call SecurityCamExpert.com at 888-203-6294.
Here are some tips to help you ease into a better quality surveillance camera system.
Storage
If you are only upgrading a few cameras, hybrid and tribrid DVRs allow you to use new HD cameras with your existing equipment. However, higher resolution cameras will use more disk space.
If you want to maximize your storage space, you may want to consider is decreasing the frames per second at which you are currently recording. For example, if you are recording at 30 frames per second, you may scale that back to 15 frames per second. You will save storage space while still producing quality images.
In addition, if you are currently recording around the clock, you may want to switch it to motion-only. This setting allows your camera to remain in standby mode and only record when motion is detected.
Wireless Bridge
A wireless bridge is used when you want to install a camera in an area where it is impossible to run cables. It can be set up as a transmitter or a receiver. Each camera needs one transmitter, but the receiver can receive signals from multiple transmitters.
But remember, this will only work with network or IP cameras. And for most cameras, you will still need a power source.
Baluns
You may be hesitant to upgrade because wiring your system can be a costly hassle, however, baluns could be the easy and convenient answer.
Your existing cables depend on the type of security camera system you have. Most IP camera systems use CAT5 or CAT6, while traditional analog systems and HD-CVI systems run on cables more commonly known as Siamese cable (which is coaxial cable along with and 18/2 power wire).
A balun is a type of converter that you put on each end of your existing cable. Depending on the type, it will either allow you to convert CAT5 to an analog signal or use your analog cables with IP cameras.
DDNS (Dynamic Domain Name Service)
For remote access and viewing of your surveillance footage, you need to connect your system to your home or business IP address. Unfortunately, these are usually provided by your internet service provider (ISP) and they will often change this IP address, making it difficult for you to connect to your system.
The DDNS is a personal domain name (ex. “YourLastName.DDNS-service.com”) which will always resolve back to your home IP address regardless of what the IP address is, even after it has changed. Thankfully, a DDNS configuration is built-in most new security recorders, so when your home IP address changes it will contact the DDNS service and update it so that your domain name will always resolve back to your home or business.
If you need helping choosing a new security camera system for your home or business, please feel free to contact us! You can browse our stock online or give us a call to speak with one of our representatives directly. You may also connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. Your security is our priority and we are always happy to help.