Professional CCTV Camera Installation
K9 Protection provide a CCTV installation and support service to both the domestic and SME sector; with CCTV solutions to suit all requirements and budgets. As a Newport & Cardiff CCTV installer that are manufacturer trained and have many years experience in all things security, we'd love to talk to your to discuss your needs in detail.
Like many security companies and CCTV installers, we have our favourites when it comes to brands and technologies, but we regularly evaluate new hardware from across the market in order to make sure that our team know all of the current options available to match with the needs of you, our client. CCTV Installations which we manage range from basic two camera systems for small residential properties to 70+ CCTV camera systems across multiple buildings. Each client's need is looked at on a case by case basis, and we'll work with you to specify, demonstrate, and install a CCTV camera system that is robust, reliable, and provides the level of coverage that is needed of it.
Just as important as the CCTV cameras is the recording system, whether it's an NVR (Network video recorder), or DVR (Digital Video Recorder). When we install a system, we will calculate the amount of storage needed and how many days retention that you can expect to achieve from your cameras. The days of changing video tapes on a daily basis are long behind us, and storage is straight to a hard disk which will continue error-free for many years in usual operating conditions.
Trusted CCTV Installers
K9 Protection have been established since 2011 and has always operated in the Cardiff & Newport areas (including the wider South Wales Valleys region) and from our early days providing mobile CCTV control rooms, working with CCTV cameras has never been far from the heart of what we do. As standard, all of our installations will be carried out by installers trained by the respective CCTV brands and will always use quality fixtures and cabling.
A "relatively" young British brand of CCTV equipment who manufacture a great range of NDAA compliant professional CCTV cameras and are backed by support which is second to none. Serage cameras come in both black and white cases, and their CCTV recorders (NVRs) do exactly as promised and boast several high end features as standard - things like facial recognition, Automated Number Plate Recognition, Person & Vehicle detection, and many more "smart" functions that would normally come at a high end price. We like installing Serage.. it does exactly as expected, every time.
Our engineers have been trained by Serage and whether it's a new system, a complete retrofit, or a phased upgrade then we'd love to give you a demonstration of this hardware.
K9 Protection are proud of our status as an Ajax Systems approved installer, and people that know us will know how much we rave about the brand. Ajax's recent foray in to the CCTV market is innovative in a way that only Ajax could be - they've looked at CCTV from the ground up, and rather than taking what's there, shaving a bit off the edges, and pushing it to market have actually thought about what is needed by the client and designed a series of cameras and NVRs (network video recorders) that provide a perfect solution.
Whether it's the Ajax NVR, or the 8mp Ajax cameras, the hardware has been designed from scratch and is manufactured in Europe. The sytsem is fully NDAA compliant, features fully encrypted data transfer between the cameras and the NVR, and can be used with multi-factor authentication. Security of your data is at the forefront of the system and is secondary only to the user friendliness of the interface.
As with anything Ajax, it comes with free-for-life access to their easy to use smartphone app.
Contact us today for further information.
Hikvision are one of the OG's of the CCTV surveillance world. Forgetting the controversies and often misreported concerns that have been dramatically embellished by the press in recent years, it's hard to look at CCTV without seeing the innovation that Hikvision have brought to the market. Hikvision make some of the most reliable, technically advanced CCTV cameras and recorders available on the market today. With over 100 different cameras and variants available, there's sure to be a Hikvision camera that does what you need. Over the last 12 years, we've had a solid experience of Hikvision cameras, recorders, and software, and definitely recommend it.
A dome camera, as the name suggests is one where the camera, its lens, and its electronics are all encapsulated with a smooth dome covering the whole enclosure. The benefit of a dome camera can be that it makes it difficult to see clearly which way the camera is facing. Dome cameras can be installed indoors or outdoors. Nowadays, most dome cameras that we install are of a vandal-resistant variety in that they are designed to make it difficult to mask the camera, providing a wipe clean surface and a level of protection from impact to the camera, its lens, and its sensitive electronics. The key disadvantage we've seen over the years with some dome cameras is how in particular circumstances that certain light sources can refract and glare on to the light source. Another time this can be apparent is when night vision emitters activate and the reflection from the infra-red emitters on the cameras can cause wash-out on the edge of some cameras. The big use of dome cameras today is still in anti-vandal and semi-covert applications; places you might see one installed could be above the cash drawer in a small business, or in the reception area of an office complex.
A CCTV turret is a modern design that brings together some of the benefits of both domes and bullets, but does so without the potential pitfalls of that form factor. A turret CCTV camera that has the directional pointing abilities of the bullet camera, and some of the vandal resistance of the dome camera in that it's very difficult to re-point one that's been properly installed. Turret cameras have their lights whether infra red or a white floodlight mounted on the surface of the cameras' body, meaning they don't suffer the same glare and wash-out features of some domes. Turret cameras are the perfect choice when mounting cameras under the soffits on a home, factory, or commercial premises. Turret cameras are equally at home on indoor or outdoor requirements; in the porch or fully exposed in the garden.
Bullet Camera is the name given to the more traditional CCTV cameras that we've come to know.. you know the one, with a bracket that can be angled at one end and a long oblong bodied camera that can be pointed at its target. The bullet camera form factor is very good when you want people to see at a glance where a camera is pointing as they act as an effective reminder that someone's being watched. Another place that bullet cameras come in to their own is when they're installed in areas that the image could be affected by atmospheric lighting - most modern bullet cameras have a canopy that can be slid forwards to protect the image from sunlight and ambient lighting. A disadvantage to bullet cameras is they can sometimes be "hooked", and due to the way they're designed with a hinged bracket it's possible to pull them off target with something as simple as a sweeping brush. Bullet cameras are typically used on places like construction sites where cameras might need to be regularly moved in order to cover various areas of a site as they develop.
As the world has developed, the line between what is a CCTV camera and what is a computer has blurred somewhat, with modern IP CCTV cameras being feature-packed with far more technology than the two systems mentioned above. IP (Internet Protocol) cameras make use of a network made up of twisted pair cabling and can be connected in a far more flexible manner than any traditional system; cables no longer need to go back to a central recorder, and instead multiple cameras can be wired to a network switch with only one copper wire (or fibre optic uplink) being required to link this switch to the Network Video Recorder (NVR). Power can be provided to the cameras via local power supplies, or it can be provided from the network switch or NVR through Power over Ethernet technology (PoE). 99% of camera systems that we install are based around IP cameras; we like the technology, we like the ease of running single network leads and not requiring multiple additional pairs of cabling, and we like the ease of management, software patching, and connectivity that IP cameras bring.
The quality of IP cameras is measured in megapixels, with true 4K HD being achieved when using 8Mp cameras.
Modern IP cameras include several smart features as standard - things like intrusion detection, line crossing, and human detection are almost always included on the cameras which we sell & install. Alerts can be configured to sound an alarm on the NVR, or send through a clip to your email address in real time.
Most IP cameras arer wired, and whilst wireless wi-fi technology is available we would never recommend something as important as CCTV being ran wirelessley.. The bandwidth that's required on a 24 hour basis often means that all but the most commercial wi-fi infrastructure will often struggle to cope with the constant high resolution data.
In recent years full colour night modes have become very widely available from all camera manufacturers; whether it's the Night Colour mode from Serage or the ColorVu mode from Hikvision, both are able to make good use off ambient light to enable a full colour image to be shown; when the light level becomes too low, the Serage cameras will revert to black and white mode until motion is detected, and once motion is detected will turn on their own bright white LED, thus giving a full colour image at night.
IP Cameras have a lot more going on that traditional camera systems and can communicate many more things with the NVR over just one cable - the days of audio (two way audio or just audio recording) needing a second pair of cables, or ptz telemetry (pan, tilt & zoom) needing an additional data cable are long gone. The camera can alert the NVR of certain things it detects, but can also alert the user directly via email when no NVR is installed. We have many Cardiff CCTV and Newport CCTV installations under our belt using this technology.
TVI (Transport Video Interface): TVI Cameras are a digital camera technology which us digital cameras, digital recorders, and make use of the coaxial cable traditionally associated with analogue CCTV systems. TVI is considered a half-way house between true digital cameras mentioned below and the analogue technology of yesterday. The massive benefit of a TVI based solution (such as Hikvision Turbo) is that they can be retro-fitted using existing cabling and therefore reducing costs and disruption of a new install. A further development over recent years is the refinement of the technology that now allows power and signal to be sent along the same coaxial cable, thus reducing the need for external power supplies and additional pairs of cabling.
Largely obsolete now, the relatively low resolution of analogue cameras used to be measured in TV Lines, similar to the resolution of a VHS video recorder; even when recording on to a digital video recorder (DVR), the resolution of analogue cameras would be very low when compared to modern camera systems. Over the years different manufacturers have tried various things to push the line count on analogue cameras, but they've largely been surpassed by their digital cousins. Analogue CCTV runs over traditional coaxial cable, with a second pair of wires for power, and a third pair of wires if any telemetry & triggering is needed (pan, tilt, zoom). Analogue signal is traditionally more susceptible to loss than modern digital counterparts and as such it's not uncommon to require booster technology it larger installations.
Speciality CCTV Cameras
In addition to the largely fixed cameras mentioned in the section above, there are several different types of camera that have a more specialist use. These could be Forward Looking Infra-Red cameras, which became commonplace during the covid pandemic, or more common cameras such as a speed dome, where the camera can move and track a subject. Other camera technologies which are growing in popularity include fish-eye cameras that can record a whole room, but act much like a speed-dome to pan around and monitor specific areas of interest. Another growing technology is that of panoramic cameras, where a camera comprise of typically 2 to 4 lenses where the output is digitally meshed in to a seamless wide angle view - ideal as a perimeter security camera on a large property such as a farm or sports field. There are variations on all of the above systems too, with varifocal cameras being available in all form factors which allow fine tuning of the focal length of the camera - something that's essential in applications such as ANPR.
System Design
Each type of camera has a place in an installation, and each has their own benefits and drawbacks - the paragraph or so written about each kind of camera above is by no means a comprehensive for-and-against. Speak to one of our team about your specific environment, and we'll be able to suggest practically which cameras will prove most effective for you and give you the protection you require.
When it comes to CCTV, there's lots of different things to consider before purchasing a system. We'd recommend any prospective client come and speak to us and allow us to devise a solution that fits with the brief. With all of our systems, there's no ongoing subscription cost to use the features, no monthly charges, and no hidden extras.
All of our CCTV systems come with:
- Professional installation
- Minimum 3 year warranty
- 30 days free re-configuration
- First annual health check is free
- Great value support, monitoring & 24/7 backup plans available
Supporting Apps
Both Serage and Hikvision systems can be connected to both PC software and a mobile phone app, allowing you to view live footage or view recorded footage from your mobile phone. CCTV evidence can be downloaded with your phone and exported to be sent on to the police with ease. Within minutes and only a click or two within the app, your CCTV foogate can be on its way to the cloud.
There is no charge for the app, and no ongoing subscription to use this application.
