The main reasons why property owners and business owners are considering adding wireless cameras to their Wireless DVR security systems is the convenience and ease of installation. There are no hassles installing the wires from the camera to the DVR unit. Furthermore, perhaps less anticipated, there are hassles with wires under certain circumstances. My friend Karl used to line a wire from his house to a security camera mounted in a tree overlooking the house. He quickly found that, in addition to wire being a favorite munching snack for the squirrels and birds, the troubles did not end there. He even found squirrels running up and down the wire one time. So this arrangement did not last long. He decided to switch to a wireless camera for that tree.

We'll go over the main reasons why wireless cameras might be preferred over wired cameras for your home or business here. Also we will touch on the main disadvantages of wireless cameras for DVR security systems.

Advantage: Hassle-free installation of wireless security cameras

With no wires needed between the camera and the DVR, the installation of the cameras is a cinch. It reduces to screwing the camera bracket into the wall securely. There is no messy extending of cables across the sides of the building, or through the walls. This certainly is a big advantage of wireless security cameras.

Advantage: Mobility

When you need to move the camera around, such as when you need to observe a different parts of the house, or when your work place is shifting in your business, the added mobility that is afforded by a wireless security camera, is a big bonus. Usually, the transmission distance is several dozens of yards in open spaces, so one is quite flexible with the positioning of the cameras. Also, if you are using a wireless DVR as well, you can take your equipment on the road with you and secure your belongings in the hotel to keep an eye on the hotel maids, you can install them in your car, and just about anywhere else.

Advantage: Hidden camera

Since there are no wires, you can afford to install a wireless camera as a hidden or spy camera. For instance, you could install it as a nanny cam, or a baby monitor. You could monitor your babysitter for the evening. Or you could ensure that your kids are behaving at home as while you are at work. Hidden cameras have been successful in identifying burglars when visible cameras were disabled by them.

Disadvantage: Wireless communication problems

The biggest drawback of wireless security cameras is the wireless communication problems. They manifest in the form of interferences from other wireless devices such as wireless routers, cell phones, wireless handsets of home phones, or any other devices that use the free 2.4 GHz spectrum of wavelengths for communications. This is quite unpredictable; anyone in the range, neighbors, bypassers, can interfere. Our customers even report completely giving up on their wireless cameras for the simple reason that they were completely unable to establish a good recorded image from their outdoors wireless cameras. So wireless cameras are not for everyone and definitely not for any situation. In general, you will need to be patient when setting up the cameras. You will possibly need to adjust the antennae as the image quality will depend strongly on that. It could get frustrating to achieve a high quality picture from a camera removed far away from the receiver.

Disadvantage: Possibility of external intrusion into the wireless signal

Despite encryption that scrambles the wireless signal from the camera to the receiver on the DVR end, it is still possible for a dedicated intruder to break in, unscramble and see the wireless signal from the wireless security camera. This completely defeats the purpose of the camera and renders that camera virtually useless.

Disadvantage: Self interference

Another problem with wireless cameras is self-interference, or interference between two or more cameras of the same type. For that reason, only one wireless camera can be used in one area. The problem can be solved by purchasing multi-frequency set of up to four cameras, however, these are quite a bit more expensive, over $100 each, and they have flaws of their own, such as frequency drift.

Because of the disadvantages mentioned, we feel that it is a solid advice to a builder of a wireless camera DVR system to limit the number of wireless cameras. For example, when building a 16 channel DVR system, you would be well advised to keep the number of wireless cameras below 4 and supply up to 12 wired cameras. We feel that this is the excellent choice that provides with all the benefits of the wireless cameras while keeping the disadvantages at a reasonable level.