Choosing a CCTV System

We supply the equipment; we do not fit it. What we do have is the part most people find hardest — knowing how many cameras a building actually needs, where they go, and what happens to the recording. This page is that advice, free, whether or not you buy from us.

To be plain about it: dotpk.pk does not provide an installation service. If you need someone to fit a system we will happily tell you what a good job looks like so you can judge the quotes you get, and we can often point you at an installer locally. But the fitting is not ours, and we would rather you knew that here than after ordering.

Which kind of system

• Wi-Fi cameras — two to six cameras recording to a memory card or the cloud, no recorder and no cable pulling. The right answer for most houses and single shops, and the one most people can mount themselves. Browse Wi-Fi cameras.
• Cabled IP on PoE — cameras, a switch, an NVR and a surveillance hard drive, recording continuously and surviving the internet going down. For larger shops, offices and warehouses. Browse IP cameras.
• Video intercoms and access control — door phones, intercom kits and face-recognition terminals. Browse intercoms.
• Extending what you have — adding positions, replacing a failed camera, or reusing coaxial cable already in the walls rather than rewiring a finished building. Bring us the model you already have and we will tell you what is compatible.

Working out what you need

1. Say what you are trying to see. "General security" and "I want to know who is at the gate at night" produce different systems, different cameras and different money.
2. Count the positions, not the cameras. Walk the building and list the places where something you would want on video happens. That list is the system.
3. Check each position with a phone. Ten minutes holding a phone camera where each unit will go saves the conversation that starts "that is not what I thought it would see".
4. Then price the equipment. Send us the list and we will quote it, tell you where a cheaper model does the same job, and tell you where it does not.

Typical situations

A house. Usually three or four Wi-Fi cameras: the gate, the front door, the back, and the room valuables are kept in. No recorder needed.

A shop. Four positions that earn their place — the till from behind the counter, the entrance at face height, the expensive stock, and the back door. A fifth on the frontage if the shop justifies it. See how many cameras a shop needs.

An office. Entrance, reception, server room or cabinet, and the stairwell or lift lobby. Access control on the main door is often more useful than another camera.

A warehouse. Cabled IP, because of the distances. Loading bays, the goods-in desk, the aisles from one end, and the perimeter. Cable runs and PoE budget matter more here than camera choice — see PoE explained.

The decisions that actually matter

Number of cameras. Four in the right places beat eight in the wrong ones. A supplier who over-specifies is easy to spot and expensive to hire.

Placement. Point cameras away from windows. A camera facing glass exposes for the glass, and everyone walking in is a silhouette.

Night vision. Full colour at night gives you a shirt colour; infrared gives you a grey shape. On the one camera that matters most, pay for colour.

Resolution. A 2MP camera shows you that somebody was at the counter; a 4MP camera shows you who. Spend it where you might need to identify a face or a number plate.

Storage. Work out the days before buying the drive, not after — the arithmetic is in how much storage CCTV needs.

Load-shedding. A UPS on the recorder and the switch. A system that is off during load-shedding is off during the hours you most want it on. This is not optional here, and it is the single most common gap in a system somebody else specified.

Remote viewing. Every camera we sell works from a phone app. Check before you buy that the app is one you can live with — it is the part of the system you will use daily.

What to insist on from whoever fits it

You are paying for workmanship, and workmanship is judgeable. Ask for:

• Cable in conduit wherever it is exposed. Bare cable on an outside wall is a cut cable.
• Cameras at 2.2 to 3 m — high enough to be out of reach, low enough to record a face rather than the top of a head.
• A drip loop at every outdoor unit, so water runs off the cable instead of into the housing.
• Every cable labelled at both ends. The day a camera fails, this is the difference between ten minutes and an afternoon.
• A handover where you personally view live footage, find a recording from a stated time, export a clip, and are given the recorder password in writing. If any of that was not demonstrated, the job is not finished.

More on this in what to ask a CCTV installer before you hire one.

Talking it through

Call or WhatsApp 0300 120 3210, or email support@dotpk.pk. Tell us the building and what you are worried about. If you have a quote from somebody else and want a second opinion on the equipment list, ask anyway — we would rather correct an over-specified quote than sell into it.

Related: wholesale if you fit cameras for a living.