Choosing the right CCTV system for your home

Why every Australian home needs CCTV

Australia's residential burglary rate sits at around 2% of households per year — roughly one break-in every two minutes nationally. A visible CCTV system is one of the most effective deterrents, and modern IP cameras make it straightforward to set up a reliable, high-resolution system without professional wiring.

In this guide, we walk through the key decisions: camera type, resolution, night vision technology, recorder selection, and storage sizing — everything you need to spec a system that fits your property and budget.

Camera types explained

There are three main form factors for home CCTV cameras, each with trade-offs:

• Turret cameras— compact dome-like housing, vandal-resistant, wide field of view. Best for eaves-mounted positions.
• Bullet cameras— elongated housing with longer IR range. Best for perimeter coverage and driveways.
• PTZ cameras— pan-tilt-zoom with motorised lens. Best for large properties that need active monitoring.

For most Australian homes, a mix of turret cameras for close-range coverage and one bullet camera for the driveway gives the best balance of coverage and cost.

Turret vs bullet: which to choose?

Turrets offer better close-range image quality, are harder to redirect (no external pivot), and handle lens flare better with their recessed housing. Bullets have superior IR range (60–80 metres vs 30–40 metres for turrets) and are more visible as a deterrent.

For a typical 3-bedroom home, we recommend 2–3 turret cameras covering entry points and one bullet camera on the driveway or front gate.

Our recommendation

The Hikvision 4MP ColorVu turret ($129) offers full-colour night vision — a significant upgrade over traditional IR. Paired with the Dahua 8-channel NVR ($249), you get a system that handles 4K recording with room to grow.

NVR and storage

Your network video recorder (NVR) is the brain of the system. Key considerations:

• Channel count: buy more channels than you need now. An 8-channel NVR costs little more than a 4-channel and lets you add cameras later.
• PoE ports: an NVR with built-in PoE simplifies wiring — one cable carries both power and video.
• Storage: a 2TB drive gives roughly 14 days of continuous recording at 4MP. We recommend 4TB for peace of mind.

Installation tips

For DIY installation, run Cat6 cable from each camera location back to your NVR. Keep cable runs under 90 metres. Use outdoor-rated cable for any external sections. Mount cameras at 2.5–3 metres high, angled slightly downward for the best facial identification zone.

If you're in Sydney metro, our installation team can handle the entire job — from cable runs to NVR programming. Starting at $199 for alarm systems and $249 for CCTV.