Video surveillance system or security camera system is a combination of security or surveillance cameras, depending on their specific purpose, and the video storage or video recording unit. This is the easiest definition, but not always the correct one, as we are entering a new age for surveillance systems. For example with Verkada cameras, there is usually no on-site recording device. Each and every camera works as an independent capturing, processing, recording and storage device. However they all can be linked with one central management software or cloud interface. In either case surveillance system is still a combination of a number of cameras linked to central monitoring device or software.
Traditional surveillance systems have a specific number of cameras, each one directly connected to the video recording device, DVR or VCR. Each camera had its own dedicated cable, often running throughout the entire building, or from one building to the next. Installers would run hundreds and thousands of feet of cable to provide an adequate protection for the entire facility. It was expensive and had its limitations. One of which would be the maximum distance between the camera and the recording device. Those traditional systems are still a great solution for a specific applications. Very common in retail, banking, warehousing, office and professional spaces and residential installations. Anywhere where all the cameras are within one structure and the cameras are within no more than a few hundred feet from the DVR.
Things get a little more complicated when the building is larger or there are more than one building. In the old days, several strategically located recording units could do the job. But today the technology allows us to be much more creative when it comes to system design. Internet Protocol Cameras, or IP cameras are usually the solution. With IP cameras, system designer can utilize already existing local area network including wireless access point and bridges, to incorporate the cameras. Security cameras can be located not only anywhere in the building or a building complex, as long as they have access to the network, but they can also be located virtually anywhere in the world, as long as there is a decent internet connection. With the current network infrastructure, the quality and the bandwidth is sufficient to transfer Ultra HD quality video across the network. IP surveillance systems are also often much more reliable. There is no centralized recording device and instead the video can be store on a local server or several servers and even in the cloud. IP is the present and the future, but there is still some room for traditional surveillance systems.