What's up, guys? It's Chris Majestic here with Majestechs.
I know it's been a little while since I've posted a video.
I'm actually getting over the flu and had a whole lot of stuff going on, but a few weeks
ago, I reviewed the Arlo Pro cameras and I had a lot of questions related to camera systems
and just security cameras or whatever, so I do wanna cover some of those questions,
and I wanna tell you everything you need to know about security cameras, so stay tuned.
So when it comes to security cameras, you have four different types.
You have fixed indoor cameras, dome cameras, PTZ cameras, and bullet cameras.
Now, fixed indoor cameras are stationary cameras that come in a variety of different styles,
and these have become really, really popular over the past couple years.
Dome cameras are what you would typically find in a ceiling of a department store or
in public places.
PTZ cameras, or Pan-Tilt-Zoom cameras, allow you to pan side to side, tilt up and down,
and zoom remotely.
Bullet cameras are fixed cameras that can be used indoors or outdoors.
They're a little bit larger than the other options, but these are most commonly found
in most security camera kits.
Now, aside from camera types, I wanna break these cameras down into two categories.
One is gonna be wireless and the other's gonna be wired.
Now, there are pros and cons to both, and wireless cameras have gotten really, really
popular over the past decade or so.
People use them for general surveillance, baby monitors, or just to see what's going on.
Now, there are two different types of wireless cameras.
You have traditional wireless cameras and you have wire-free wireless cameras.
Now, I know that sounds kinda complicated, but it'll make more sense in a second.
So, traditional wifi cameras, also known as IP cameras, have a power cord that has to
be plugged into the wall in order to power the camera.
Now, this is true for indoor and outdoor wireless cameras.
Now, this isn't such a big deal for an indoor wireless camera, but for an outdoor camera,
it can be a pain, considering that you have to deal a hole into your house in order to
get the wire inside the house to plug it into the wall.
Now, the other type of wireless camera I wanna talk about are wire-free cameras.
Now, these cameras are battery-operated and they connect through wifi, so they have no wires.
This means they can be placed just about anywhere you want, and some wire-free cameras like
the Arlo, the Canary, or the Ring Stick Up Cam, are also weather-resistant so they can
also be placed outside.
Now, do keep in mind that some of these wire-free cameras, for example, the Arlo camera, does
have a base station that does have to be wired, so even though the cameras, themselves, are
wireless, you do have to wire that to your router.
Now when it comes to wired cameras, you also have two different types of cameras as well.
You have analog cameras and you have POE cameras, which is short for Power over Ethernet.
Now, before I explain the differences between those cameras, I wanna explain the difference
between a DVR and an NVR.
So, a DVR or a Digital Video Recorder, is a box that you're gonna connect your analog
cameras to, and that's gonna allow you to view, manage, and record from those cameras.
An NVR is a Network Video Recorder, and that's gonna work with POE cameras and IP cameras.
Now, an NVR works just like a DVR, but it has a few extra features.
One thing is that some of them have POE ports in them, so if you have POE cameras, you can
plug the cameras directly into the NVR, and you can record your video and manage the cameras,
but you also have the ability to connect your IP cameras that you have on your network to
that NVR as well, and even though they're not directly connected to it, they may be WiFi.
It can still manage them.
Another thing to keep in mind is that NVR support way higher camera resolutions than DVRs do.
Now, analog security cameras use a technology called BNC.
Now, BNC is an older video cable technology that used to be used for older surveillance
equipment and video equipment, but it is capable of supporting full HD cameras, so if you have
newer analog cameras, you can use BNC to support HD resolutions.
Now, analog cameras are going to require you to have a DVR because that's what you're gonna
connect into in order to see the video and manage the cameras.
The analog camera kits are usually gonna come with really long cables, 'cause you do have
to wire them throughout your house, and those cables are gonna consist of a BNC connector
on both ends, and a power cord, in order for you to power your cameras.
So now, the other type of wired camera is gonna be a POE camera, and as I said, that's
short for Power over Ethernet.
So, POE cameras are gonna use a single Ethernet cable for power and video, so it's a single-cable solution.
Now, keep in mind, in order to use a POE camera, you do have to have a switch that supports PoE.
Now, it's important to note that most consumer network switches don't normally support POE,
so you may actually have to go out and buy a switch that has POE ports on it, but instead
of doing that, I normally recommend that you buy an NVR that actually has POE ports on
it, and the reason why I say that is because it's gonna help you with network traffic.
Instead of clogging your network with the video data, you can just have it going to
your NVR, have your NVR manage the cameras and the recordings.
Now, POE cameras definitely provide the best image quality of all the different camera
types, and that's just because they're using Ethernet, so it's gonna support high bandwidth.
So if you need a really high-resolution camera, you can buy a POE camera, and it's gonna allow
you to do things like zoom in to get a license plate without losing image quality.
Now, speaking of image quality, let's talk about resolutions, 'cause that can be really
complicated as well with these cameras.
So, depending on which camera you buy, it's either gonna be measured in pixels or TVL,
which is short for Television Lines, which is an older terminology.
So, for example, if you see a camera that says it's 1920TVL, that's roughly close to
1080p resolution.
Another measurement that you'll see is megapixels, so you'll see some cameras say they're two,
three, or four megapixels.
2.1 megapixels is roughly close to 1080p, and any camera beyond two megapixels is usually
gonna be a POE camera, since Ethernet can support the extra bandwidth.
All right, so now that you know the difference between all these cameras, let's talk about
some of the pros and cons.
All right, so let's first start with wifi cameras, not to be confused with wire-free
cameras, but wifi cameras or traditional wireless cameras are one of the most common type of
cameras that you're gonna see out there, and they're usually gonna have better image quality
than most wire-free cameras.
Now, there are a lot of different wifi or IP cameras out there, so do keep in mind that
the difficulty can range from easy to moderately difficult, depending on which one you get,
especially if you're gonna be putting it outside.
Also, keep in mind that if you want to buy a lot of wireless cameras, you need to be
careful because you can bog down your wifi and cripple your network, so you definitely
wanna be careful with that.
Now, the simplest of all these camera options is definitely gonna be the wire-free cameras,
since they're so easy to install and set up.
Now, I normally recommend these for a place where, like, maybe you're renting or you're
in an apartment or something like that, and you can't run wires, since they can easily
be moved around, since they're battery-operated.
Another thing I like about the wire-free cameras is that most of them actually have some really
reasonably priced monthly storage options, so if you wanna store your videos out there
on the cloud, that's usually the way to go.
They also come with really nice smartphone apps that walk you through the install, and
they have a lot of different features, and they make it really simple for the average
user.
Now, some of the downsides to these wire-free cameras is that they're battery-operated,
so if you put it in a high-traffic area and it's getting a lot of motion, that's gonna
drain your battery really quickly.
Another thing is that the image quality isn't as good, because the videos are so highly
compressed, and they do this to conserve the battery life and to make the files small enough
for them to store on the cloud.
Now, if you do have one of these cameras in a high-traffic area, you may find yourself
replacing the batteries fairly often, which can definitely be a pain.
Now, the one exception to this is the Ring Stick Up Cam, because if you wanna put that
outside, they do have an optional solar panel, so you wouldn't have to worry about charging
at all in that case.
Now, analog security cameras are definitely the least expensive if you're looking to do
multiple cameras.
Now, aside from running cables throughout your whole house, they are not that difficult
to install.
Now, configuring a DVR does take a bit more patience, but installing the cameras, themselves,
is not really that difficult.
Now, one thing to keep in mind is that you do have to pay attention to the resolution
of cameras you're getting, because there are a lot of kits out there that aren't HD or
they have some false claims or they may be claiming that the cameras are clear, and then
they actually are, and BNC, being an older technology, means that some of these cameras
are phasing out, just because people are looking for more high-resolution cameras, and POE
is gonna be the way to go.
Now, that brings me to POE cameras, which are definitely my favorite, since they have
the best image quality and they're really reliable.
The ability to support really high-resolution cameras, like five megapixel cameras, and
the use of a single cable make these a great option for a business or somebody who just
really wants really high video quality.
Now, there are a few downsides to POE cameras.
One thing is that they are gonna be a bit more difficult to install.
Some of them are gonna require you to make your own Ethernet cables, and of course, you're
gonna be required to run Ethernet cables throughout your house as well, which is something to
consider.
They're also gonna be a lot more expensive than analog cameras and some wireless cameras.
All right, guys, that's gonna do it for this video.
I will post a few of my favorite camera systems in the description of this video.
They're gonna be Amazon affiliate links.
Clicking those links does help support the Majestechs YouTube channel, and if you have
questions and comments, go ahead and post in the comment section.
I'll respond to your comments and your questions, as always, and I'll see you guys in the next
video.