Article Directory

In the past twenty years, devices such as nanny cameras have moved from the domain of the rich and famous and into the living rooms of ordinary, nine-to-five working folk. The same is true of formerly unaffordable technologies like door and window sensors and motion detector alarms.

Magnetic alarm contacts, the twin magnetic pads used to make door alarms, cost less than $4, and are available at the majority of major hardware stores. These contacts are used to form a circuit that's broken when a door or window is opened. They're so easy to install that many people these days are undertaking the job of incorporating them into their home security surveillance system themselves. Of course, if mucking about with silicone guns and tubes of wood glue isn't your bag, security companies such as ADT are usually willing to do the job at minimal cost for their customers (though this will, of course, only apply if you're signed up for their security services).

Installing contacts should be your first priority, as they constitute the first line of your home security surveillance system's defense against that hostile world trying to break into your home. The second line, should someone succeed in breaking in by smashing or cutting the glass of your windows, should be motion detector alarms. These are also fairly inexpensive. There are a few different types, which use different technological principles but wind up having pretty much the same effect. UWB (Ultra-Wideband) radar detectors are one. These emit sonar or radar signals, the same technology used to, you guessed it, detect enemy submarines in times of war. If the signal such a device emits gets bounced back sooner than expect, the device will register that something has moved across its detection field, and activate the alarm siren.

PIR motion detector alarms, on the other hand, are sensitive to the infrared or 'black body' radiation emitted by the objects in their cone-shaped field of view. These devices are very effective and have become a staple of home security surveillance systems across the globe. Simply put, when an object of one temperature moves past an object of another temperature, disrupting that object's infrared emissions, a PIR motion detector alarm will read this change as motion. The term 'PIR' stands for Passive Infra-Red, as PIR detectors don't shine an infrared beam like those hi-tech security systems in the movies - you'd have to shell out significantly more cash for one of those babies.

Out of all home security surveillance system components, nanny cameras are probably the devices that have evolved the most. From the fuzzy, pixilated footage of yesteryear, these devices are now more sensitive than most human eyes and can be easily rigged to stream their footage to your very own secure website, allowing you to check on your baby even if you happen to be a continent away with nothing but a cellphone.

You can even have the data gathered by your home security surveillance system sent to a remote online storage cluster. Such clusters sell users whatever quantity of space they require at low rental rates. Assuming you're using a looped system of recording (which is really the wisest option, as multiple nanny cameras might record many terabytes worth of footage if left running for too long) you could purchase enough space to store days or weeks of footage for later perusal.

The smart way to circumvent the need for vast quantities of disk space is to have your door and window alarms and your motion detector alarms activate your home security surveillance system. Numerous brands of nanny cameras and home security cameras actually come with motion detection software or hardware pre-installed, so shop around to see what's on the market before you dive in to using software to integrate your door and window alarms with your cameras.