LOCKSMITH SERVICE

CCTV & Video Doorbells

There is a myriad of options available when it comes to home security and CCTV, and most of the decision is not about the cameras. We give personalised recommendations for your property and your budget, and we would rather talk you out of spending money badly than sell you a system you do not need.

What a camera does and does not do. This is worth being straight about. A camera does not stop anybody getting in. What it does is deter the opportunist who would rather pick an easier house, and give you a record if something does happen. The thing that keeps a door shut is still the lock and the mechanism behind it. A house with good cameras and a weak cylinder has bought the wrong thing first, and we will say so.

Where it goes matters more than what it costs. The single most common fault we see in systems already fitted is siting. A camera mounted high and wide gives you a lovely view of the top of somebody’s head and nothing you could identify anyone by. Coverage of the actual approach — the gate, the drive, the door people come to — at a height where faces are in frame, is worth far more than extra megapixels. Two well-placed cameras beat five badly-placed ones.

Video doorbells. These earn their keep for a specific set of problems: knowing who called while you were out, parcels, and being able to answer the door without opening it, which matters more to some households than others. They are not a substitute for a lock either, and a doorbell that only records once somebody presses the button is doing less than people assume — motion recording is usually the setting that matters.

Subscriptions, and avoiding one. A good deal of the market is built around a monthly fee for cloud storage, and for some people that is the right answer. For others, local storage on a card or a drive does the same job for nothing after the initial outlay. Both are available, they suit different situations, and the difference over five years is considerable. We will tell you which one your setup actually needs.

Pointing a camera at other people. If your camera or doorbell captures the pavement, the street or a neighbour’s garden or windows, you take on some responsibility for that footage under data protection rules. It is not a reason not to fit one, and it is usually solved by angling the camera or masking part of the view. It is worth thinking about at the point of fitting rather than after a conversation with a neighbour.