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Many people are familiar with the term ‘security camera’ but are not quite sure what an ‘IP camera’ is and what ‘IP’ actually means. IP stands for Internet Protocol and is the standard that sends data across a network. 

In this third part of our multi-part series on setting up your first home security system, we’ll be looking at network video recorders (NVRs) and the different storage options available to you as a first-time buyer. We’ll cover NVR hardware and how to balance footage quality with storage space and network bandwidth.

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We’ve just received in the office two new Hikvision NVR models brand new for 2016 – the DS-7716NI-I4-16P and DS-7608NI-I2-8P. Both represent fantastic upgrades from the previous range, combining improved hardware with a wide range of support for cameras up to 4k in resolution!

They are perfect for use with Hikvision 4MP IP cameras, and therefore make a great base for any new IP camera CCTV system in 2016.

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Taiwanese Network Video Recorder specialists QNAP Security have released their latest Firmware update V3.5.0 for their VioStor NVR series for free. Their press release describes the key improvements of this version and new features such as:

• Dynamic E-map: allows users to pinpoint the position of each IP camera on a multi-layered digital map.
• Video Segment Backup to External USB Device: users can now back up specific video segments of the camera channels from the VioStor NVR to an external USB storage device.
• Real-time Digital Watermarking: real-time digital watermarks are embedded to the videos of the IP cameras as soon as they are recorded to the VioStor NVR.
• 16-channel Simultaneous Video Playback: the new V3.5.0 firmware has largely increased the maximum number of channels for simultaneous remote playback from 4 to 16 to enhance the efficiency of video investigation.
• New IP Cameras Support: in addition to more than 1,000 models of IP camera and video server, QNAP Security has added the support for Samsung, Yokogawa, and ONVIF-compliant Bosch, EverFocus and Hunt IP cameras to its compatibility list for the VioStor NVR series.

For more information, the QNAP press release, the firmware download and our product pages for QNAP VioStor NVRs please use the links below:

• QNAP Security Press Release
• QNAP Firmware V3.5.0 Download
• QNAP NVR Product Pages

Hard disc drives continue to get larger all the time, especially when you need them to record megapixel CCTV cameras 24hrs per day.

As unlikely as it seems, we are now headed towards 2 TeraBytes on an SD card!

We’ve covered this topic of MegaBytes, GigaBytes, TeraBytes and PetaBytes before, but we realise that it still confuses people, so we just thought it might be worthwhile mentioning Google’s inbuilt converter and calculation functions for those that aren’t already aware of them.

If you want to know exactly how MegaBytes compares to GigaBytes (or whatever), just type your query into Google’s search box in the following format:

500MB in GB

Google’s first ‘search result’ will be:

500 megabytes = 0.48828125 gigabytes

You can use this for any conversion using:

KB = KiloBytes

MB = MegaBytes

GB = GigaBytes

TB = TeraBytes

PB = PetaBytes

It also works for other conversions:

4 pounds in kilos

4 pounds = 1.81436948 kilograms

2 feet in cm

2 feet = 60.96 centimeters

Google will also tell you the current time in most World Cities:

time Brisbane

10:18am Wednesday (EST) – Time in Brisbane, Queensland

Hope that’s handy to know?