Many people have opted to use the wireless security cameras in the recent past as a form of security in homes as well as business premises. Before discussing the specific advantages of wireless cameras over wired ones it is important to understand the most significant difference – the freedom of installation, flexibility of location, and expandability. But as with any other business and technology, there are also some drawbacks that must be taken into consideration while using wireless surveillance systems.
Wireless security cameras have other benefits that relate to the degree of convenience that they offer over wired security cameras. Wireless cameras do not need to connect video cable from the camera to your network or Digital video Recorder (DVR). This makes it easy to fix cameras at heights, awkward or remote places that would otherwise have been very difficult.
Wireless cameras can be battery operated or solar powered contrary to being placed near power sources such as sockets. Non-cabled cameras, for example cameras that are powered by batteries, can last for months or even years before having to be recharged. Wireless cameras are popular because there is often no power to the area and the video cable restrictions means that cameras can be placed anywhere inside or around your home or business that has a line of sight to the wireless receivers.
Some wireless security camera models also come with utterly no wires, local storage, and wireless capabilities in terms of Wi-Fi or cellular data. This makes it quite convenient to implement temporary or permanent usage of the devices without any local wiring or networking at all.
Despite the enhancements that have been made in wireless security camera systems, wired cameras remain slightly superior due to their capability of providing the best quality video and are very reliable. Wireless cameras send signals via radio frequencies with smaller and compressed video frames which results in more latency and possible interference issues which affect the smoothness of the stream or even break the stream temporarily.
Wired security cameras transmit uncompressed signals in full High-Definition or 4K through specific coaxial cables directly to the recorder or NVR. This offers lower latency, fewer compression artifacts for High Definition (HD) and Standard Definition (SD) video and protection against wireless interferences for live and recorded surveillance camera feeds. Digital IP wired cameras also allow greater control and configurability in addition to analytic capabilities superior to wireless cameras limited by low bandwidth transmission.
But today’s wireless CCTV employing 5 GHz WiFi or other dedicated wireless video transmission equipment can provide decent to almost perfect picture quality for a majority of home or small business clients, also considering that appropriate wireless coverage has been designed for a given location. Well just don’t expect wireless cameras today to be of par with wired cameras used in critical applications such as in business.
Another advantage of the wireless security and surveillance systems is its outstanding flexibility and capability to grow. If more wired cameras are to be added, the cables for video and power typically have to be rerouted back to the existing NVR or DVR or network switch hardware, which is costly, time-consuming, and messy.
It is, however, much faster and less complicated to expand the wireless camera coverage as all you have to do is install more wireless cameras and synchronize them with your wireless NVR or DVR. This certainly offers much convenience to be able to cost effectively scale up your camera numbers and regions to be surveilled in knowledge that you can easily add them whenever with little or no disruptions. You don’t have to begin by installing multiple wireless cameras; it is possible to install a few, and then more can be added later.
As wireless surveillance systems can now support tens or even over a hundred wireless security cameras, adequate expansion characteristics for all types of premises ranging from simple houses to vast warehouses and distribution offices are achievable with no cables, wires, or cords used.
Although the video feeds are encrypted over the wireless connection, there are some security issues to consider due to the wireless nature of the gadgets compared to a closed wired system with CCTV cameras. While there are still cases of hackers intercepting and decrypting wireless video feeds; this is much easier to do than hacking into wired systems that are behind walls and ceilings.
The disadvantage of wireless cameras is that, like any other electronics that use radio frequencies, it becomes possible to jam wireless camera signals with the intent to hinder its function. Thus, while wireless systems offer great physical installation versatility their over-the-air signals offer more vulnerable ETOP than the wired options travelling in solid cables and conduits. It is important that your wireless surveillance system has strong security measures such as encryption and authentication that will keep the system safe when in public domains as well as immunity to jammers and other electronic tampering.
In sum, new wireless security cameras and surveillance systems enable advanced benefits for high-speed installations in various and rapidly expanding arenas. It’s best to be pragmatic about their video quality, security, and reliability constraints compared to cable systems when organizing your video surveillance strategy. When choosing the models of security cameras to install, it will be reasonable to take into consideration the installation environment, placement flexibility, possible risks, and further expansion of the system’s capabilities to determine the proper wireless/wired balance appropriate to your specific application.
