There are many DIY home security systems as well as individual products available on the open market today that can be installed by the individual homeowner with relative ease and can be purchased through various retail outlets; from basic systems to complex ones that have video surveillance, the particular system you end up buying will depend on your expertise, budget and the perceived threat of intrusion.

Installing window and door contacts is a relatively simple job, which requires some rudimentary knowledge of how low-voltage wiring works, knowing how to handle a few basic hand tools, and an electric drill. DIY home security can have monitors and closed-circuit television cameras that can also be hooked into a digital recorder or a videocassette recorder to record any activity.

As a general word of caution, cameras should never be positioned in areas where your family members or visiting guests have an expectation of privacy. Bedrooms and bathrooms are areas in which the location of cameras should never be setup. DIY home security video surveillance and commonly used areas of your home as well as outdoors is basically excepted, however videotaping in certain areas may cause legal actions which are based on the violation of privacy, even in your own house.

If You Can Afford It, Go Wireless

Numerous devices, which are available as part of a DIY home security system, can be bought in wireless format. This does away with having to install expensive wiring running through your home which makes the DIY faster and easier for you to install. Even the use of cameras are available in a format that is wireless, which gives you the ability to make your installation outdoors without the need to put holes in your outer walls.

If you want to attach your system to a videocassette recorder, you will benefit greatly if you have a time lapse VCR, which has the capability of saving up to 24 hours of recorded video onto a single T-160 tape. The result of this is that the tape only has to be switched once a day. It is a smart choice to also keep at least one weeks amount of video.

While many people who hook up a DIY home security system have said that 24 hours is enough, if there are no disturbances or unlikely occurrences happening then just tape over it, others have the contention that it could be a day or so before it is possibly discovered.

Digital recording devices are the most beneficial in either a DIY home security system or a professional system and if you can equip it with a 600 Mb hard drive, you have the ability to record 24 cameras with the video being available for about 30 days before it begins to record over any previous images. An additional advantage is that the video can be played back through your home computer system and the still images can be outputted through your printer.

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