Is it possible to use a computer to manage security cameras?

There are software packages, some free and some commercial, that allow you to convert a personal computer (PC) into a camera recording system. Some require special cards to be installed in the computer, while others use any camera that is accessible, whether it is connected through a port (such as a USB-connected webcam) or through the local network.

If we focus on free software packages and cameras that do not involve purchasing special cards, we could have a cheap camera system. So why do people invest money in specialized equipment and cameras?

Let's see what are the disadvantages of using a personal computer as a camera system.

1. If you want quality, you will need a good processor and a good graphics card.

In principle, the computer will receive the video sent by each camera and must encode it before storing it on the hard drive. Encoding allows you to reduce the space required by the video: if it were not done, a few hours would be enough to fill the hard drive. And this must be done for all connected cameras.

When using a single camera and low-resolution video, almost any computer can handle the workload. But if you want to work with more than 4 cameras and increase the quality, it is necessary for the computer to have a powerful processor, as well as a good graphics card. Otherwise there will be losses in the quality of the information being stored.

2. A special hard drive is required to store video.

The hard drives that come with personal computers are made for “normal” use, that is, they are on for a few hours a day and their activity (reading/writing) is not continuous. In contrast, a hard drive installed in a recording system is being written to all the time, 24 hours a day. To complicate the situation, when the hard drive is full, a writing process begins over the oldest video files.

What happens to a regular hard drive if it is used to record video from a camera system? Which in the best of cases could survive between 6 and 8 months before starting to corrupt and stop working. That is why  special hard drives are manufactured for camera equipment, which are more expensive than similar ones used in personal computers but can withstand the load of storing video uninterruptedly.

3. A webcam is not a surveillance camera.

Surveillance cameras, by themselves, already have internal functions implemented to detect movement and adapt to changes in lighting, among others. When setting up a surveillance system with web cameras, these functions have to be implemented on the computer, emulating them via software. That is another workload that is added to that of encoding the video, which directly impacts the quality of the information that is being stored.

Some functions, such as night vision or mechanical zoom, cannot be emulated on the computer.

4. Typical computer problems are always latent.

We have sometimes heard phrases like “the antivirus makes my computer slow”, “Windows® had to restart to do an update”, “I had many windows open and the computer crashed”.

As for antivirus programs, in each read and write operation they need to review each piece of information to ensure that there is nothing that could damage our data. So even though we hope that the video coming from the cameras does not contain a virus, the program will have to review every bit of information.

Windows® is an operating system that is continually updated, not only to improve the user experience but to correct errors. These improvements often imply that the computer requests to be reset, or in the worst case, that it does so on its own.

Finally, being a multitasking operating system, if multiple programs are opened simultaneously, all the computer's resources will have to be shared between said programs. Logically, this will impact the functioning of some of them.

All of the above is normal when using a personal computer, but on camera recording equipment, which should function correctly 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, it is unacceptable.

Even if you don't use Windows®, you would have a computer with an operating system designed to be multitasking, unlike professional camera recording equipment, which is made for a single function: functioning as a surveillance system.

5. And what happens when there is a power outage?

Usually, someone must turn on a personal computer after a power outage. In the best of cases, the operating system will be in charge of correcting the errors it finds and will start those programs that have been configured to do so. In the worst case, information will be lost or the help of a technician will have to be requested to correct the errors. So videos may not be able to be stored for a while.

For its part, professional camera recording equipment is designed to resolve errors that may arise during a power outage and resume operation transparently.

In conclusion…

The answer to the question that begins this article is: yes, it is possible to use a computer as a camera system. However, its performance will depend on how much money and time is invested to ensure it performs just like a professional system . This implies that it will be necessary to invest in new components for the computer (processor, graphics card, hard drive) and cameras manufactured for surveillance. Additionally, a computer technician will have to make the necessary configurations for the system to work efficiently. And from time to time you will have to be called to correct possible errors. 



That is why most people are inclined to purchase a professional recording system , since being designed to fulfill a specific function it only requires initial configuration to adapt it to the user's requirements . In addition to this, a device of this nature comes with a factory warranty .