Securing your home or business can sometimes be a confusing task with everything from where is the best place to buy CCTV and security products to who to fit it? There is a great deal of conflicting information found in magazines and on the internet, with so many products on the market its hard to choose. Luckily we are here to guide you in the right direction, even if you have a good idea of what your needs we are, we are here to help advise and install the right system for you.
To reset your password is a very easy process. We have a great guide on how to reset your Hik-Connect password here.
We would always recomend a "hard wired" solution if complete reliability is needed. They are situations where a WiFi cameras is appropriate. An example of this would be a camera that is installed inside the home and within close proximity to the broadband router.
Many cheap systems on the market claim to work but in our experience they are not 100% reliable unless an assesment is made and testing carried out to see if the solution is feasible.
The best option would be to speak to us regarding your installation and arrange a free visit. We can assess the property and explain the different options available to you.
There is a difference between "face recognition" and "face detection" in that face recognition will analyse a face and then either store that face to a database for future recognition, or cross-reference the face with a server database to identify an individual. There is also analytical data stored about the biometric characteristics of the face for future identification. Face detection on the other hand simply "detects" a face and then can trigger an alarm or a notification based on a face being present. No identification of a particular individual is done with "face detection" but it can prove extremely useful in reducing false alarms when wishing to be notified of the presence of any people at a property. It wouldn't pick up a cat, a dog or even a spiders web on the lens whereas an intrusion alarm may.
When deciding how high your CCTV installation should be it is important to consider a few factors. The first thing to consider is the view of the camera and its ability to record useful images. You would ideally have the camera positioned so that you get a direct view of the face.
It does not have to be head height but just out of reach would be the optimum height. You may wish to simply observe the area in which case a higher position is recommended. You may also want to consider the appearance and practicality of the installation. It is also worth considering accessibility of the cabling.
There are a few factors that determine if you will be able to see number plates from your CCTV. During the day time if the camera is at a high enough resolution then you will be able to see car number plates. A 4K resolution camera would be recomended as lower resolutions are not able to capture enough detail.
The height and distance from the vehicle is also critical, however all standard CCTV cameras can not capture number plates reliably at night or moving quickly unless some settings are optimised for capturing plates. These settings unfortunatly make the camera unsuitable for general use.
A few of the settings include:
We have covered this in more detail if you are wondering why your CCTV doesnt capture number plates.
If capturing number plates is a priority then you may want to look into our ANPR systems that are specifically designed to capture and log vehicle registration plates.
Yes we do, in fact, the Hikvision 4MP IR PIR Fixed Cube Network Camera is a popular choice if you looking to buy a camera for indoors and we can set this up with no on going fees, it supports a 128GB SD card and 2-way audio! Used alongside our alarm systems this can provide what is known as "video verification" which as the name suggests can be used to verify the seriousness of an alarm activation.
These products are consumer market products and in most cases need a subscription to be able to record and playback footage. Hikvision, however, requires no ongoing fees and records either with an SD card or an a DVR. The app is completely free and will remain so. All you need is a good internet connection to stream live and playback footage to your phone or device. Hikvision is our preferred brand to install. You can only purchase Hikvision with the generous 3-year warranty from a legitimate trade installer. The equipment is not legitimately sold directly to the end user. It does sometimes appear on auction sites as grey market goods. You can read more about this in our blog post - Why we choose Hikvision
We supply a few solutions that would be good as a care solution, sometime known as care cameras or welfare cameras. The indoor Hikvision cube camera is perfect for this with two way audio you can even speak with your elderly relative! You can even watch and listen in on carers and visitors.
Another option is the Pyronix enforcer wireless alarm panel that has the ability to create a medical alert from a key fob which can be worn around the neck as a lanyard. This is perfect for someone that wants to keep their independance but still have the ability to instantly call for help if needed.
No, They can be used as a traditional alarm system using codes to set/unset the system but if you can use a mobile phone you can control your whole security system via simple apps from either IOS App Store or Android Google play.
We would do any of the complicated set up of both alarm panels and cctv that is needed to run on your mobile phones and tablets.
Our systems dont cost anything per month, there are no ongoing fees! The CCTV is free to view from multiple devices forever. The smart alarm system's app is free for the first year and then a nominal fee of £35 per year for just the app. Please note this is only the price for monitoring from the app, the alarm will still continue to work perfectly if you decide that you dont want the app anymore and you can even decide to use the app at a later date. Just contact us and we can reinstate it.
This used to be the case with older wireless systems whilst they were in their infancy. However, we use a brand of alarm system that has overcome this by detecting a jamming attempt and alerting the alarm owner. The system will also change frequencies to enable the system to continue operating as usual and will still activate as normal during an intrusion. This ultimately rendering jamming equipment useless with our systems.
Anyone, as long as you have WIFI access and a good connection most CCTV systems can be viewed from your mobile phone. Wireless alarm systems may not even require an excellent internet connection as long as a reasonable connection is available.
You can receive alarm alerts on your mobile phone from anywhere you have signal or WIFI and we also provide CCTV systems with smartphone apps, viewable anywhere you can gain a mobile connection.
There are many other benefits using these types of alarms. The first reason most people choose a wireless system is because they dont want to disturb their home by having cables installed. With the advanced features of the panels we use, you can see when your alarm was disarmed straight from your app, providing you with knowledge of when your staff have opened and closed your premises. Although these smart features are also available with our wired systems.
Another benefit of these alarm panels is that staff don't need to know any codes, we can provide tags and keyfobs which can be removed from the system if a staff member leaves and doesn't return them. You will also be able to create individual codes for staff members so you know exactly who is arming and disarming your alarm and again simply remove the user should they leave.
One of the best features of using a wireless system you can simply take the alarm with you, should you move premises.
No, the detector batteries last on average around 2 years. This is achieved because whilst the system is disarmed the detectors and contacts are put into sleep mode, they also have other technical features that preserve battery life. Although a system service would be advisable where we would change the batteries on an annual basis to ensure reliability. The system will also alert you of any batteries that are running low on power, sometime before the operation of equipment is affected.
This is not a problem we have a really helpful guide on resetting your Hik-Connect password.
