When gathering footage from your CCTV cameras outside your house or company, it’s reassuring to know that you can examine the footage at any time if necessary, but is this something you can accomplish on your own?
Mostly home-based and commercial Surveillance cameras allow you to watch security camera footage on your equipment, whether a smartphone, tablet, or laptop. However, install the necessary security camera watching software and monitor your CCTV footage online.
The great thing about modern technology is that you can now watch CCTV footage on your computer, and even on your phone! But first, you’ll have to know how to connect the camera to your laptop or desktop and do the CCTV installation.
Luckily, it’s super easy. You just need a USB cable, which you probably already have. Plug the USB cable into the port at the back of your camera, then plug it into the port on your computer. The software that came with your CCTV will install automatically, and now you can watch live CCTV footage on your computer! If you don’t have a laptop but do want to see what’s happening at home or work when you’re not there, consider buying a monitor for CCTV. These can be mounted on the outside of a building to give you eyes in areas with no windows or doors. If you want to keep tabs on what’s going on around your house while you’re out, home security systems will immediately call the police if they detect a break-in, activate lights in case of motion detection, and more.
If you want to watch CCTV footage on your computer, you’re in luck: there are various ways you can do it. One of the most popular is the USB connection. It’s simple and easy to connect, and you can use a USB cable to connect your CCTV camera to your computer. Another option is an HDMI cable—this method is also straightforward, but it will only work if your camera supports HDMI output. If not, then you’re out of luck. The third method is wireless—this is one of the most complicated methods involving setting up a wireless router to connect your CCTV camera to your computer. This method may be difficult for beginners since it configures a wireless router, which can be quite tricky for beginners. Watching CCTV footage on your computer is pretty simple. If you have an IP-based security camera system, then you can just install the software that comes with your cameras and voila!
If you have an analogue CCTV system, it’s a little more complicated. You have to install a video capture card in your computer—and if your computer doesn’t have an expansion slot, like newer models, you’ll have to buy an external USB video capture device. If you want to watch CCTV footage from a camera that’s plugged into another source—like an external monitor—you will need an HDMI cable and some software that allows you to view the feed. Some cameras have this capability built-in; others require additional hardware and/or software.
You can also use a smartphone as a monitor for CCTV by downloading an application from Google Play Store or Apple App Store. This app will allow you to see what’s going on in real-time from anywhere in the world with an internet connection! And if something happens while you’re away—like someone breaks into your house—the app will send out an alert so that help arrives quickly before any damage is done!
Ah, the classic question. Whether you’re trying to keep an eye on your pets or just want to know if your house is as clean as you left it, there’s only one thing you really want to know:
The short answer? You can. CCTV footage is meant to be recorded and stored for future reference, but many CCTVs have the option to stream out for real-time viewing. If you’re trying to keep an eye on your pets while you’re at work, consider getting a smart camera instead of a CCTV system since they are also a handy option for many purposes. Smart cameras are more or less like CCTV and are designed with remote monitoring in mind—they’ll stream video directly to your phone via an app.
If you’re worried about storage space, don’t be: most systems come with at least some built-in memory for storing footage. And if you want to know how long CCTV footage can be kept for, it depends on the law in your area and what you’re using the footage for—but it’s typically around 30 days.
If you have a CCTV system and want to watch it on your computer live, there’s no need to break a sweat. You can do it at home with just a few tools and some patience. First, you’ll need to connect the CCTV camera to your computer. You’ll need an Ethernet cable, a power adapter, and a router to do it. Once everything is connected, go to the Control Panel on your PC and click on “Network”. Here, select “Network and Sharing Center” and there you select the “Change Adapter Settings”. Right-click on the Ethernet connection you want to use to view the CCTV footage and enable it by clicking on “Enable”. Then open Google Chrome or Firefox and type in the IP address of your CCTV camera in the address bar. If you don’t know what it is, you can find it by searching for it online or using an app like Fing (available for both iOS and Android). Once you enter the IP address into the browser, you should be able to see live footage from your CCTV cameras without any issues.