Webcams can make excellent, inexpensive home surveillance devices.
The most commonly used piece of surveillance equipment for the home is the security camera, which can be fitted with a motion detector and a video recorder. Motion-activated lighting is also popular.
History
Surveillance cameras made their debut in the mid-1960s, when urban police departments started using them to keep watch on crowded public places. There were no means of recording the video, so the video shot by the cameras had to be continuously viewed if it was to have any deterrent or crime-solving usefulness. Today, surveillance video and audio is easily captured and stored by inexpensive, computerized surveillance systems.
Types
Surveillance for the home can consist of something as simple as a burglar alarm system for monitoring the house when no one is home. It can also get as sophisticated as a system of networked, high-definition video cameras mounted in several strategic locations throughout the interior and exterior of the house which feed into a multiplexed digital video recorder (DVR) that can simultaneously record the audio and video feed from each camera. The owner can access these cameras from anywhere in the world over the Internet.
Function
Surveillance systems can be used for more than just home security. Video surveillance in the form of nanny cams can provide some peace of mind for parents. Web-enabled video cameras fitted with motion sensors can be programmed to send you an alert email or text message if, for example, motion has been detected in the kitchen of an elderly parent's house. Parents can keep an eye on the new baby sleeping in his bedroom down the hall.
Tags: fitted with, fitted with motion, home security, video cameras, video recorder, with motion
