After a breakin soon after moving into our house, we used our cash reserve to improve security. One of these updates was an 8-channel DVR with four external CCTV cameras.
The DVR exposes the cameras over TCP/IP, but I'm going to assume it will require replacement as well.
The cameras are "good" for outdoor standard definition closed circuit cameras, but with the use of some HD IP cameras for other purposes (bird monitoring, etc.) we've decided to improve the resolution of the security cameras both for identification purposes as well as being able to tolerate some loss of image detail with the use of wider-angle lenses.
These are currently cabled with twinned power and video cables that are broken out at the outdoor cameras, with power and coax (single-cable BNC) video broken out indoors.
When replacing the cameras, will I need to replace the cabling (assuming I don't go cat5/5e) or should "decent" HD cameras be able to reuse the same video feed?
I'll also be rewiring the power injectors because the installer ganged a bunch of cheap wall-warts onto a power strip, so I can increase power within reason.
Or, should I use the existing cable as fishtape and run new cabling?
Best Answer
Coaxial cables are good for pretty much any resolution. So a full HD security camera will probably be fine over your existing coax. After all, your HD television signal probably arrives via coax to your TV or STB.
What you will need at the other end of the cable is a receiver that can record full-hd images at a reasonable FPS over the number of channels you have active. If you have HD cameras and a recorder that can record your HD images, then you should be good to go.