Doktor Jon's brief introduction to CCTV

Most people think that CCTV is a relatively new invention, but then again, many still don't know what it is ... well, certainly outside the UK.

First things first, what exactly is Closed Circuit Television?

Well the television bit is perhaps self explanatory; it's simply about putting a picture onto a television screen, or 'video monitor' to give it the correct title. Incidentally, older basic video monitors were essentially televisions, but without the additional circuitry needed, to receive and decode the Radio Frequency 'TV' signals, which are normally transmitted through the air.

Now the 'Closed Circuit' bit is also quite straightforward.

Let's say for example, that you subscribe to Satellite TV. If you watch your favourite television programme, you and perhaps a few million others will be able to receive the transmitted signal through the dish and 'set top box'.

As anyone with a correctly tuned 'Telly' can access this signal, we can safely describe this type of arrangement as an 'Open Circuit Television' or 'OCTV' system.

Now if a signal is being linked from any source, whether it's a DVD player, a camcorder, or a surveillance camera, directly to a display device such as a television, this is described as a 'Closed Circuit' simply because it is not normally available to anyone else.

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So you can see that in the early days of developing video surveillance security systems, the pictures from the cameras were almost always sent to a monitor, or a video recorder, or indeed a sealed Control Room under 'Closed Circuit' conditions, hence the now widely accepted term "Closed Circuit Television" or "CCTV".

Whilst the now widescale use of video cameras for security, has really only taken off in the last dozen years or so, the technology has actually been available in one form or another, for perhaps the last forty years (more info. available in the "History of CCTV' section).

Now of course, "CCTV" cameras appear to be everywhere, and even domestic household cameras can be bought for very little cost; so the longterm development of security surveillance looks assured, with new 'Digital' and 'IP'' based network technology products opening up opportunities for developing even more sophisticated "Network Surveillance" or "IP Video" systems, as conventional "legacy" CCTV analogue systems are destined to gradually decline in popularity over the coming years.

For the moment at least, analogue CCTV continues to outsell IP Video, although this is unlikely to continuefor any length of time.