How to Connect CCTV Camera to Computer with Cable

CCTV cameras connect with some physical cable that sends the video signal from the camera to the computer. How to connect CCTV camera to computer with cable is a question of great interest for many people.

Whether they are professionals or just home users, it’s even easier than you might think! You can choose between two options: using a USB 2.0 port connection, using a DVI-I port.

Here are a few ways on how you can connect your security camera to your computer.

This article will discuss how to use the USB connection, the firewire connection, or using a network cable for this purpose so you can access all your videos from one place.

CCTV camera

At home, the likelihood of having a CCTV camera is pretty high because many homeowners are using it for security purposes.

For example, suppose you own a shop or restaurant. In that case, it’s also highly recommended for you to have one installed because of CCTV cameras as evidence in case any incident happens inside your property.

CCTV Camera Types And Specifications: CCTV camera systems are essential tools to help deter crimes in society.

Public areas, commercial structures, and even private homes for security purposes, and law enforcement organizations first used CCTV cameras.

First, find the IP address of your local CCTV camera. The easiest way to do this is to find a similar network and guess what its IP address might be.

If you’re in a large building with several cameras, find a nearby CCTV IP address closest to the main entrance or exit.

What if you only need it temporarily?

It turns out that some people would like to use them for other reasons, but no suitable device is available.

They don’t want to buy something permanent but temporary. Having this situation in mind, let us discuss connecting a CCTV camera to a computer with the cable.

So, what do you need to know about it? As the title suggests, this article will help you connect a CCTV camera to your computer with a cable.

Once you have connected the computer to the internet port, you will need to configure a port forwarding IP camera to access port 80 on your local area network.

The first is that you can find two types of cables – the power cord and video cable.

You might be wondering now – “what’s the big difference between them?” While they serve similar purposes (to transfer data).

Their specification varies since one is for sharing electricity. At the same time, another one to transmit video signals through different mediums without using the power supply.

That’s why if you intend to connect a CCTV camera to a computer with a cable, make sure that the latter fits your needs perfectly because not all devices have this feature.

Of course, if you want to use them for security purposes, it’s highly recommended to buy one that comes with a power cord because, in this case, the device won’t consume much electricity.

Either way, both are already available in computer or electronics stores, so feel free to choose which type you like.

What type of cable do you need?

As mentioned before, if you’re interested in using CCTV cameras to see what happens inside your house when you’re not at home.

Please get one with a power supply because this will help improve its performance.

However, keep in mind that some low-quality cables might stop working after a few months of usage, which means that even though they don’t require much energy, their lifespan is still limited to specific periods.

Also, the price of such products is usually affordable, which makes them more suitable for temporary or test purposes because you don’t need something too costly only to use it sometimes.

On the other hand, if you’re using CCTV cameras for security purposes, get one with a video cable instead.

This type doesn’t require any power supply and will work perfectly without any difficulty.

If you want to prevent any accident from happening inside your store or restaurant, make sure to get one that works well and won’t stop working after a few months of usage.

It could seriously affect your business, especially when there are already some incidents later on.

What methods do you need to use for connecting my CCTVs?

Two options to connect the best outdoor security camera system to PCs are:

Option 1: Using Audio/Video cables

It is the most common way of connecting DVR systems to computers. In this method, you need two sets of A/V cable or RCA connectors usually included in the package while purchasing a CCTV camera.

In this option, one has to purchase an extra set of cables and assemble them using both ends that fit into each other.

It is advisable to use bundled A/V and power supply wires with built-in wire heads rather than separate ones as they provide quality performance and security at competitive prices.

If your budget doesn’t permit buying additional cables, then you may consider purchasing splitters. They follow a similar principle but transmit data from one input to more than one output.

Option 2: Using USB Cable

Another way of connecting your CCTV camera to a computer via an A/V cable is to convert it into a USB port, but it comes with a disadvantage.

This method doesn’t provide high-quality video recording and transmission as they don’t transmit audio and video data through a single wire.

In this option, the input data gets divided, which results in distortion or noise in the image, thus rendering them useless for security purposes.

Moreover, most available USB cables are not compatible with DVR software, but some brands promise up to 1080p resolution using their software only.

If you still want to go for this option, you should ensure that the device is compatible with your software.

How to connect CCTV camera to computer with cable

Many people are curious to know how they can connect their CCTV camera to a computer with a cable.

Yes, you can indeed connect CCTV cameras to your laptop or desktop with the help of cables.

This article enlightens what hurdles you may face while connecting the DVR system to PC using cables, Determining video standards used by the cameras and how its compatibility with USB compression codecs is determined, etc.

CCTV cameras are beneficial for keeping track of what is going on at a specific place.

Many security systems use CCTV cameras to keep an eye out for trouble and capture the evidence they need.

We have seen them in countless TV shows and movies, but if you do not need a professional system, it’s easy enough to make your own with a simple camera and a computer.

However, one thing is holding most people back from using their CCTV cameras – how can you connect them to your computer?

There are different ways to accomplish this goal. They vary between USB cables or FireWire connections as well as VGA connections via S-video cables.

Once you have your camera, it is time to find the proper cable to connect the camera to your computer.

You need an S-video or VGA cable depending on what type of port you are looking for on your computer.

The FireWire connection will require a different cable than either of these two options. Make sure that you purchase the proper cable before continuing to the next step in this process.

Once you have purchased all required items, place the camera near where you want to view it and plug in all necessary cables.

If using an S-video or VGA cable, make sure that they are correctly connected – red plugs go into red ports while white ones connect with black ones.

If you are using the FireWire connection, plug it into an available port on your computer and plug the other end of the cable into the camera.

Now that all the connections are done, it is time to calibrate your monitor to see everything correctly.

There is often a small button somewhere on the monitor. Press and hold the button for about five seconds or until all images appear.

You may need to search around a bit before finding where this button is, as each monitor model will be different.

This step gives your monitor instructions on what type of input it is receiving from the camera – such as S-video.

For example – and makes sure that everything displays appropriately with its intended settings rather than defaulting back to its standard settings.

Once your monitor starts calibrating, you should see the images on your computer screen very clearly with no problems at all.

If there seems to be a problem, try unplugging the camera and then plugging it back in again.

It works most of the time when dealing with technical difficulties with inputting video signals into the computer system.

Related Topics: