When you decide to shield your home with cameras, your first impulse might be to go to an e-shop and buy 3-4 cheap wireless Wi-Fi cameras. They look easy to install, require no cables and promise high resolution.
But if you ask any security engineer (Security Installer) what they would put in their own home, the answer will be unanimous, categorical and without second thought: Wired PoE cameras with local video recorder (NVR).
Why is there such a huge gap between what the general public (DIY) buys and what professionals consider "real security"? Let's break down the myth of Wi-Fi, the dangers it hides and explain the standard that dominates all serious installations worldwide: Power over Ethernet.
Wi-Fi cameras are great for watching your pet in the living room, but when it comes to outdoor security, they have three fatal drawbacks:
If the camera does not have a battery, it needs to be plugged in. So "wireless" is only in data; the power cord remains, and often requires you to drill a large hole in the wall to get the bulky transformer through. If it has a battery, you have to climb the ladder every 2-3 months to charge it.
A 4K camera captures a huge amount of data. If you have 4 Wi-Fi cameras constantly sending video to your Router, your home network will be brought to its knees. Netflix will freeze and pages will be slow to open. That's why Wi-Fi cameras usually don't record 24/7, but only when they catch motion.
Herein lies the greatest weakness. Modern burglars use cheap, illegal devices called Wi-Fi Jammers. These emit "noise" at the 2.4GHz frequency. With the push of a button, your Wi-Fi cameras instantly lose connection to the Router. The intruder gets through unmolested, and you just get the "Camera Offline" message.
The solution to all of the above is called PoE (Power over Ethernet). It is a technology where a single network cable (the classic UTP Cat5e or Cat6) undertakes to do two jobs at the same time:
Why does it dominate? Because the cable is not hacked with Jammers. The signal never drops, no matter how bad the weather. The camera works non-stop, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. And most importantly: No need for a power socket (230V) on the external walls. The electrician drills a hole in the wall with just a 6mm drill bit, pulls out only the thin UTP cable, and the installation is spotless.
In Wi-Fi cameras, the video is usually stored on a small SD card inside the camera (if the thief rips the camera, they take the video with them!) or in a Cloud with a monthly subscription.
In the PoE system, the "heart" is the NVR (Network Video Recorder). It is a metal "box" (looks like a DVD player) that is placed in a safe place in the house (eg on a shelf or in the Rack together with the Router).
On the back of the NVR there are several network ports (4, 8 or 16). You nail the camera cables directly there. The NVR immediately powers up the cameras and starts receiving video.
Inside the NVR is a special recording hard drive (eg Western Digital Purple series, designed to work non-stop). That's where the video is stored locally. You don't pay any Cloud subscription. A 2TB or 4TB disk can keep continuous (24/7) several weeks of history for 4 cameras, writing the new videos over the old ones (Loop Recording).
The NVR is connected with a cable to your home router. So, through the official application of the company (eg Hikvision, Dahua, Reolink), you see all the cameras live on your mobile, see the recordings and receive notifications, absolutely free, anywhere in the world.
Another huge advantage of the wired NVR system (which IT engineers love) is privacy.
Many cheap IP cameras (usually from Asia) are "famous" for security holes. If you connect such a camera to your Wi-Fi, you are practically exposing your home to the internet. With the NVR, the cameras connect directly to the recorder (on an isolated, closed subnet). They don't have access to the internet themselves, so they can't be hacked from the outside. Only the NVR has access to the internet (on controlled ports), offering a firewall between the cameras and the outside world.
If you're renting and can't drill into walls, a good Wi-Fi camera with a battery is your only realistic (compromise) option. But if you are building, renovating, or have the ability to run UTP cables through eaves and walls, there is only one choice: PoE cameras with NVR recorder. It's a one-time investment, requires no subscriptions, is unaffected by Jammers, and offers video quality that can actually recognize faces and license plates when you need it.
Next Step: So far we have focused on home security (intercoms, NVRs, smart locks). But what if our field of action is a business premises, an office or a multi-employee building where the keys are just... dangerous?
We continue to the next specialist guide: Access Control Systems: Electrical requirements for door locks, magnetic locks and card readers (RFID) in offices.
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