Recording modes

Recording Modes - all our DVRs can be set to record in a number of ways:

Continuous. This is our recommended recording method. The DVR records all the time, when the hard drive fills up it goes back to the start and records over the earliest footage on a rolling basis.

Motion sensing. The DVR monitors the picture coming in from the camera. If it sees movement then it starts recording. You can choose which areas of the screen the DVR looks for movement in, you don't have to use the whole screen as a trigger area.

We don't recommend using only motion-triggered recording. There is a risk you will miss vital footage and what happened in between the gaps? Imagine you have ordered something off the internet and on arriving home after work it isn't where you expected it. You call the delivery company who tell you they delivered it at 1.30 pm but your motion-only CCTV system doesn't have any footage. The delivery company said it must have missed the event or not been working properly and it is very little you can do. If you record 24/7 you will be able to guarantee no delivery was made because you have footage covering the whole time period so we know the system was working correctly. 

You can use motion triggering to generate "bookmarks" within the 24/7 recording to quickly identify potentially important events that might have taken place without having to trawl through hours of footage. Our DVRs allow you to use both methods side by side.

Alarm triggered. The DVR starts recording when triggered by an external sensor such as a PIR (passive infrared) motion sensor or magnetic contact "reed switch". This method is reliable in terms of not generating false triggers but involves additional wiring and sensor hardware.

Scheduled. You can decide what type of recording takes place at various times throughout the day and on particular days of the week.  This helps reduce the amount of space taken up on the hard drive but the downside is if an event occurs when the DVR is scheduled not to record you will miss it.