The simple answer is yes of course we can and have been providing this service for many years. However, there is a caveat that comes with the answer. Gimmicky, bragging rights remote access should not be seen as a measure of the performance of a CCTV surveillance system and pursuing this aspect to the detriment of other more important features should be carefully considered before making rash decisions that you might regret.

There are many reasons why CCTV images to your portable device might not always work, none of which I might add are in all probability due to your CCTV system. Furthermore, I am not suggesting that instant access to live images is unimportant, quite the contrary in fact, I regularly check my live images. But I don’t spend all day constantly looking at them! The beating heart of every CCTV surveillance system should be the ability to record images to provide retrospective evidence in the event of an incident.

Rarely is CCTV surveillance used to catch someone “caught in the act”. So you always want these recorded images to be the best available and to work faultlessly every second of every day, for the duration that you specify in your requirements! What’s that? Are you telling me that you weren’t supplied with a specification detailing how long your images are going to be recorded? Every GuardHome client is provided with a specification, that we produce detailing this and other truly critical system parameters! We were recently asked to look at a system, installed by an electrician that was totally unspecified, I believe it was purchased from a DIY store. The recorded images were low quality and only covered the last 6 hours, about as much use as a chocolate fireguard, the owner was not even aware that this was the case until we pointed it out to him.

In another the case we were presented with a client who had such an appalling and unconventional network connection that the only way that we could get anywhere near reliable images to their mobile platforms was to resort to lower resolution analogue cameras. So they compromised all other features of their surveillance system to achieve this objective and no amount of persuasive technical argument would convince them otherwise. Of course the customer always has the option of ignoring advice, this is their prerogative, but I have no doubt that at some point in the future there may be some regret!