KEY SECURITY CAMERA FEATURES

You might consider extra pixels worth the price for a better picture

So you’re ready to invest in a smart security camera for your home – exactly what features should you be looking for? At first glance the selection can seem daunting, but as you start to do some research you’ll quickly begin to pick up on the differences between devices, and the features that you’re absolutely going to want to have.

As with most tech purchases, you’re going to need to weigh up the budget you have against the specs that you’d like: security cameras cover all sorts of price points, which means that you can get a load of bells and whistles if you can afford them, but you should cut back and go for something more basic if you can’t. Some upgrades are nice to have while others are essential, and which fall into which category really depends on your own personal preference and how you want to use your cameras.

The key spec you’ll usually see listed first is resolution. The norm at the moment is 1080p (1,080 horizontal lines per frame), though you’ll also come across 720p on cheaper models and 4K on the higher-end ones. Obviously a higher resolution is better for getting a sharper shot, but at the same time 1080p is usually fine for most purposes. This isn’t Netflix – you’re probably not going to settle down with the family to watch some security camera footage on your 4K TV – but at the same time you might consider extra pixels worth the price for a better picture.

There are then two different ways of categorising security cameras that are important to consider. The first is indoor cameras versus outdoor cameras, which is fairly self-explanatory: some cameras are built to be weatherproof and to sit outside your home, while others are designed to be permanently inside buildings. Obviously this is a fairly easy choice to make, depending on where you’re putting your camera, though you’ll usually have to pay extra for the more durable outdoor models.

The second major split is between batterypowered security cameras (which are usually but not always outdoor models) and cameras which rely on a wired connection to a power socket (which can be indoor or outdoor cameras). The battery option gives you a lot more convenience for setting the camera up – especially if it’ll be outside – but you do then have to deal with recharging the battery every so often. Typically, batterypowered cameras can last for months between charges, but it does have an impact on features such as round-the-clock video recording – while a wired camera might be less convenient to set up initially, you don’t have any maintenance to worry about.

Speaking of recording, most cameras now record footage to the cloud, which is sometimes associated with an ongoing subscription fee. A minority of models let you save clips to an integrated memory card, so you can save on cloud storage and just pay once for the memory card. Most security cameras now come with an optional subscription plan of some description – as well as cloud storage, these plans will typically give you more days of video history to look back through, and extra perks like premium tech support.