Door peephole cameras are fairly new. They are increasing in popularity all over the United States. It seems that people cannot get enough of them because they really are such an improvement. The old peepholes that people used to have on their doors were a hassle because you actually had to walk up to your door and peep into the hole. Hence, the name. But imagine the effort and time. Now, digital peepholes take all the hassle out of figuring out who’s at your door. This is next level stuff. Seriously. We are talking about high-tech mini TV-like instrumentation where you can see not only the face of the people coming up to your door but a wide-range angle of the space in front of your door.
Furthermore, you can record this footage so if there is any lawsuit or some sort of criminal investigation in the future, you can get the evidence of you want to get the relief you are looking for. This sounds awesome, right? It is very easy to get excited about this type of product.
Unfortunately, given all the hype surrounding very popular products, you can get confused by all the smoke and the hype and not be able to see the light. It creates a lot of heat and smoke, but you will need the fire. Do you see where I am coming from? So, in this article, I am going to spell out the most important consideration that you should focus on when shopping for these very important pieces of home security equipment.
Why would You Want to Record Peephole Images?
The first question you need to ask yourself is why would I want to this? Why would I want to use door peephole cameras to record peephole image footage? Well, think of them as supplements to your closed-circuit TV security system. They are not really any different than closed-circuit TV systems in the sense that they can view the people going and out of your premises and record that footage.
In fact, in a way, they are more limited than CCTV cameras because CCTV cameras can swivel. Additionally, you can place many different CCTV cameras at various angles at the entry and exit points of your premises. Still, you would want to record peephole images because they give you another view in an otherwise multi-view approach to your premisesf security.
How Long would It Last Between Charges?
This is a very important question. Door peephole cameras require batteries. They have to last long enough to record footage properly. The last thing that you want is for a crime or an accident to happen on your premises, and your door peephole cameras along with your other recording equipment are out of commission because of dead batteries. Pay attention to battery life as well as alternative power sources.
How Easy is it to Access?
Once any kind of recording equipment is installed, the question that begs to be asked is how easy would it be to access the data that it recorded? Thanks to WiFi technology, a lot of door peephole cameras are very easy to access. In fact, if you know how to access your tablet, smart phone or laptop or desktop computer, you have all the skills needed to access your door peephole camerasf footage. Still, you need to ask the access question because you do not want to buy a unit that requires you to be some sort of a brain surgeon or rocket scientist to operate.
How Long to Replace It?
We would all like to imagine that all the appliances we buy would last forever. Unfortunately, this is highly unrealistic in the world of security equipment. In fact, it is a good idea to upgrade constantly your security equipment every few years. You have to stay abreast with technology. In other words, you want to keep pace with the change of technology as far as security hardware equipment is concerned. You do not want to be left behind. You do not want to use antiquated or obsolete equipment to record such sensitive security information.
Finally, you need to pay attention also to archiving issues. There is a whole host of questions you can ask regarding archiving, and it is really important to focus on this point because if you get this wrong, then you have wasted your money on your door peephole cameras seriously. Why? It all boils down to image clarity and if the archive shows very blurry or fuzzy images, it is going to be extremely difficult to get any sort of relief or justice based on the recorded footage.
Door peephole cameras are not created equal. It is very easy for people to shop for products in such a way that they think that what works for their friends would necessarily be effective for them. This is why most people tend to be quite lazy when it comes to product selection. They think that they just need to identify a brand and a model, and they are good to go. While this is easily forgivable, for the most part, because a lot of people tend to share the same needs as their friends, this can be very problematic if you are a commercial user.
Commercial users, of course, deal with volume. They also have a tremendous scale to worry about. Make no mistake about it, the needs of a homeowner are going to be different from the needs of anyone who owns an office building or a residential tower. Do you see the difference?
So it is really important to focus first on the differences in circumstances rather than similarities when it comes to product recommendations. This is how you avoid problems early on. Blindly taking up a recommendation of a friend often made through Facebook or some other social media platform can sure be a one-way ticket to disappointment and discouragement. You would not want to waste your precious time, effort and money pursuing a bad lead.
One of the most important concepts you should understand early on when it comes to shopping for door peephole cameras is the fact that they are not created equal. Sure, a lot of them come from China and many follow the same basic design principles, but the similarities end there.
Whenever we are dealing with any kind of market, you have to understand that there are all sorts of providers entering the market, and these providers are very different from each other. They have distinct manufacturing capabilities; they have diverse manufacturing philosophies. A lot may be more than happy to cut corners while others place a really high premium on quality, dependability and trustworthiness.
Unfortunately, telling these brands apart may not be as easy as you think. To make matters as simple as possible, one of the first things that you need to do is to disabuse yourself of the idea that door peephole cameras are created equal. Sure, they have equivalent functions. In many cases, they are of the same size and in terms of design, they do not really vary all that much.
However, the bottom line is you cannot allow yourself to be tricked by this seeming uniformity into believing that the quality is going to be the alike. You are just going to end up shooting yourself in the foot if you continue to believe this. How are they not created equal? How can you tell the difference?
Focus on Your Needs
The way out of this forest of often competing claims and confusing brands and model descriptions is simply to remember the basics. You have to go back to first principles and focus on your needs. What makes sense in your particular set of circumstances? What makes sense in your specific area? What outcomes are you looking for? What kind of objectives do you have as far as security is concerned?
Your needs should come first. Forget about what other people say. Forget about the brands they recommend. Forget about the products that they are championing. Focus more on what you need first. You need to do this because your needs are going to be the filter that you are going to apply to whatever information other people feed you.
Archive and Access are Important
Now that you have a clear idea regarding your needs, let me break down two very relevant factors that you must pay attention to. Archiving and access are all essential when it comes to security footage. Think about it, you may have the very best door peephole camera recording all sorts of footage under all sorts of circumstances and settings, but it would be completely worthless if you cannot access the material that it recorded. It is quite straightforward, right? This is pretty black and white. There is no need to be a rocket scientist to figure this out.
By the same token, the archive of the camera should also be fairly easy to access, manipulate and handle. If the archive is short lived or it easily gets overwritten, then the door peephole cameras you installed are essentially worthless. You might as well not have installed them in the first place.
Power Source is Crucial
Another point of differentiation among various brands and makes of door peephole cameras is where they get the power source. The general rule of thumb is that the smaller the unit, the more likely that it would be self-powered or autonomous. In other words, the more probable it would be to use batteries as its primary source of power. Now, this is not necessarily a bad thing, but depending on your particular needs, it may be a good idea to supplement this power source with a direct electrical line. This way, the unit is actually recording off a direct electric source with a battery as a supplemental source of power.