Closed Circuit TV "CCTV"

If you’ve been in the security department of any hospital, hotel, casino or even mall, you might have noticed an array of television screens stacked from top to bottom showing various locations of the premises. Although you may not have realized it at that time, you were witnessing what has come to be known as closed circuit television. Closed circuit television, as the name suggests is a broadcasting system that is closed, or open only to those with the authority to access it. It is a surveillance system that is used in places where the security officers need to monitor the action of people in the premises or even to keep watch over the area. Most malls have a closed circuit television system to monitor the activities of the shoppers and to track and identify shoplifters. Hotels have it too to keep an eye on the security and safety of their guests. Casinos use closed circuit television to identify people who may be using underhand methods or sleight of hand to increase their chances of winning. And hospitals and research facilities use closed circuit television to monitor various areas, patients and even to track doctors.

Basically any area that needs to be monitored discretely uses closed circuit television as the medium of choice. Unlike broadcast television, closed circuit television primarily serves as a surveillance medium. This is how it was envisaged and it has proven very effective in providing round the clock surveillance that regular manpower is either incapable or providing or proves too costly to use effectively. Another advantage of closed circuit television as a surveillance methodology is that the eye of the camera catches everything and misses nothing. While a human being on the surveillance job may be distracted, may fall asleep or even be occupied with something else, a close circuit television system is on the job, with full focus and concentration 24/7. But the biggest advantage closed circuit television has over conventional surveillance methods is that everything that is seen, is recorded. And this proves to be invaluable when a crime has been committed and evidence is needed.

Which is one reason why most corporate entities and even private individuals use closed circuit television surveillance methods to protect themselves, their assets and their privacy from prying eyes. While it may sound ironical that a closed circuit television is being used to ensure privacy, it is something that most celebrities have resorted to nowadays. And the business of closed circuit television is bigger than one would imagine. Nearly all the manufacturers of regular broadcast and consumer audio visual equipment have a line of closed circuit television products. Sony, Panasonic, Hitachi and other such reputed names offer an entire range of closed circuit television equipment. And contrary to popular belief, closed circuit television is not just a regular television set stacked one on top of the other. It is an intricate network of cameras, audio equipment, wired and wireless connectors and display systems that come together to provide the finest surveillance system known and used today.