A security camera system is the planned use of a video camera (which are sometimes hidden from public view) to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It is very different from broadcast television. Today, hidden security cameras are often used for surveillance in areas that need monitoring against attacks of different kinds such as banks, casinos, airports, military installations, and convenience stores.
One of the most popular uses for such security camera systems is to guard one’s home or personal belongings. Many people can monitor their children’s nannies and babysitters, as well as safeguard against theft from house cleaners.
There are two types of systems – the first type operates continuously without any breaks and the other one is used to record or monitor a particular event or period of time only. The most common format for hidden security cameras is digital. This is large because they can more easily accommodate the size constraints by allowing everything to be housed in such a tiny package. Users can also benefit from this format because of its ease of manipulation. It can be readily edited or saved on a computer, preventing the hassle of having to manage recorded tapes.
This technology is also referred to as CCTV or closed-circuit television. It has contributed immensely to detailed forensic examination that takes place after crimes have been committed. CCTV cameras are used for this purpose. They can produce images or recordings for surveillance purposes and can be either video cameras, or digital stills cameras. CCTV recording systems are often used at modern launch sites to record the flight of the rockets, in order to find the possible causes of malfunctions, while larger rockets are often fitted with CCTV allowing pictures of stage separation to be transmitted back to earth by radio link.
The use of CCTV has become very common in banks and stores to discourage theft, by recording evidence of criminal activity. Their use further popularized the concept. In recent decades, especially with general crime fears growing in the 1990s and 2000s, public space use of surveillance cameras has taken off, especially in some countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Industrial processes that take place under conditions dangerous for humans are today often supervised by CCTV.