CCTV installation done for evidence, not for coverage counts
Most camera systems are sold on how many cameras you get. That number tells you almost nothing about whether you'll be able to identify anyone on the footage. What matters is where each camera sits, what it can resolve at that distance, and how it behaves at 2am.
Identification, recognition and detection are different jobs
A camera that shows you someone walked across your driveway is doing detection. A camera that lets police identify a face is doing something much harder, and it needs far more pixels across the target. In practice that means a camera covering a wide yard will never also be your identification camera — you need one tight camera at the pinch point every intruder must pass through, usually a gate, path or door. Systems that skip this end up with eight cameras of footage and nobody identifiable in any of it.
Night performance is where cheap systems fall apart
Almost every break-in happens in the dark, and that's exactly when infrared cameras produce grey, motion-blurred images. Low-light colour technologies — Hikvision's ColorVu and equivalents — keep colour at night, which matters enormously because clothing colour is often the only usable descriptor. The trade-off is that they need either a warm light source or a very sensitive lens, and they're less effective in genuinely pitch-black areas. Choosing between IR and low-light colour is a per-camera decision, not a whole-system one.
Recording length is a storage calculation, not a guess
How far back you can look is set by the number of cameras, their resolution, frame rate, compression and drive size. Two weeks is a common target because break-ins are often discovered days later, especially at businesses over a long weekend or homes after a holiday. Motion-only recording stretches retention a long way, but it's worth understanding that it also means gaps. This gets calculated up front, not discovered when you need footage from nine days ago and it's already been overwritten.
The network is half the job
IP cameras are network devices. They need adequate PoE budget from the switch, sensible cable runs, and ideally their own VLAN so a camera with outdated firmware isn't sitting on the same flat network as your laptop and your accounts software. Recorders left on a domestic router with port-forwarding open to the internet are one of the most common serious faults found on existing systems. Controller-managed gear — TP-Link Omada or Ubiquiti, depending on the site — handles the switching and segmentation properly, so VLANs and PoE budget are managed rather than guessed at. It's the part most installers skip entirely.
Cabling decides how long it lasts
Queensland sun and summer storms are hard on outdoor work. UV-rated cable where it's exposed, proper glands at entry points, no unsupported spans, and terminations that aren't sitting in a spot that fills with water. None of this is visible on the day of handover, which is exactly why it gets skipped — and why systems start dropping cameras eighteen months later.
What you get on every job
Labelled cabling
Cables are identified, so the next person to open the cabinet — whether that's us in three years or someone else entirely — can tell what goes where without tracing every run by hand. It costs a few minutes during the install and saves hours later.
A camera position and coverage plan
A site plan showing where each camera sits and what it covers, agreed before anything is installed. It's how the design conversation happens — you can see what you're getting and move a camera on paper rather than after it's on the wall. It stays useful afterwards as a record of what was agreed.
Your credentials, in writing
Admin passwords, app logins and account ownership are yours and are handed over documented. This shouldn't be worth mentioning, but installers withholding credentials to protect their service work is common enough that it's worth being explicit: it's your system, and you'll be able to administer it or hand it to someone else.
A commissioning test record
A record of what was tested and the result — night footage actually reviewed, detectors walk-tested, remote access checked from outside your network. It comes from commissioning industrial plant, where nothing is considered finished until it's been proven under the conditions it has to work in. The same principle applies to a system whose whole job is to work at 2am.
Common questions
How many cameras do I actually need?
Fewer than most quotes suggest, if they're placed well. The approach is to cover the points every intruder must pass — gates, paths, doors — with cameras that can identify at that distance, then add wider cameras for context. A well-placed four-camera system routinely outperforms a poorly-placed eight-camera one.
Will the footage be good enough for police?
That depends on whether a camera was positioned to identify rather than just observe, and how it performed in the light conditions at the time. It's the specific thing the design aims at — but no honest installer can guarantee an outcome for an event that hasn't happened.
Can I view the cameras on my phone?
Yes, and it's set up and tested before handover. Remote access is done through the manufacturer's proper cloud service rather than by opening ports on your router, which is both easier for you and considerably safer.
Do you work on existing systems?
Often. Plenty of systems are fundamentally sound and just badly configured, poorly aimed, or running out of storage. Where existing cabling and cameras are worth keeping, they get kept.
Which brands do you install?
Hikvision, HiLook, Dahua and Axis for cameras and recording, with TP-Link Omada or Ubiquiti for the network. The right choice depends on the site and the budget rather than on a single preferred brand.
Why do quotes vary so much for the same number of cameras?
Because camera count says almost nothing about a system. Night performance, how many days of footage you keep, whether a proper PoE switch is included and how much labour the cabling takes all move the number substantially. There's a full breakdown on our page about what CCTV costs.
Talk it through before you commit
Servicing Brisbane, Logan, Gold Coast.