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Question: Wired surveillance cameras vs. wireless surveillance cameras? (Posted by: Sam on 2009-08-13 12:24:02) I thinking about installing some surveillance cameras in my new house but I not sure which to get. I know wired cameras are not easy to move once installed but the wireless cameras are. However, I heard that people might hack into your system and see everything your wireless cameras see. So please recommend which is best and why. Strong points...weak points..all is welcome. Thanks

Answers:

Posted by: Little Dog on 2009-08-13, 13:29:29 It depends which wireless or wired cameras you are talking about. "Wired" cameras have a connection for power, a connection for video (and sometimes a connection for audio). These wires are all bundled into a cable that splits out on both sides (the camera side and the monitor/recorder side). If the walls are not yet up in the new house, it is easy enough to run coax or CAT5 or CAT6 cabling. Typically, in a house, the cable runs are short enough that CAT-5 cable works fine - worst case is you can add a balun to both ends. Because they are wired, there is no over-the air signal that can be intercepted. Since the power is in the cable-end, it is pretty easy to deal with - you typically don't move the power...These cameras can be analog, composite, video based or IP network based. You can pre-wire the CAT-5 cabling all over the place. That way, you don't move the cable - you disconnect the camera from the cable and connect to the "other" cable that was prewired. Typically, there is little reason to move cameras. They are there to observe entry and exit - doors and windows. Wireless cameras have a connection for power. They transmit only the video (and sometimes audio) to a base station. For analog video cameras, the base station has a wire for power and a wire for connection to a monitor/recorder. So, ironically, a wireless camera uses more wires that a wired one. The frequencies they generally use are shared spectrum (2.4 GHz or 5.8 GHz). The camera and base station "channels" are matched - similar to the way a garage door opener is matched to its remote device or or blue tooth device is matched to a phone or computer. For IP cameras, there is no "base station" exactly - assuming your house has a wireless router or network access point, the IP-based camera just connects wirelessly to the LAN in the house. If your home network can be hacked, then the video captured by the IP based camera will be visible to the outside. The "recorder" is a dedicated computer being used as a video storage server. Moving an IP camera is easier - but you still need power and adding power can be a challenge. My suggestions: 1) I would not put ANY cameras inside. This just seems creepy to me. 2) Out-door cameras for outside - and analog wired ones, at that. 3) If your house is new - and being built or designed, hire a professional to design the structured wiring to support the cameras as well as the rest of the home's network. If the house is already built and the walls are up, you are sort of stuck. When I built my house, I had the contractor put a riser from the 2nd story attic to a closet on the first floor. I can run cables through it. The closet has power and the surveillance DVR, battery back up for it and the cameras and some other stuff is in this closet. The cameras have views of the driveway, various windows and entry ways... and the DVR is connected to a pair of wires that have RCA jacks near the TVs... so ALL the TVs in the house also are connected using an "extra" AV-in... in addition to being connected to cable/satellite using their other AV-in jacks. The DVR also has a network connection so the Windows computers in the house can see what the cameras see, too. (Not the Macs, though - stupid DVR surveillance manufacturer is too lazy to make a Mac client). If you go IP cameras, then all your computers might be able to access the cameras, but not any other monitors/TVs...