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· Cost: Analog cameras tend to cost less, sometimes even a lot less, than their digital counterparts on a per camera
basis.
· Simplicity: DVR is easier to set up and understand for most. It is one unit with one cost, and the installation is a
bit more straightforward.
• Lower Bandwidth Requirements: Analog recorded video files tend to be smaller, and they are trans-
mitted to the DVR over coax instead of LAN, so transmitting them doesn’t take as much bandwidth and
doesn’t tax your network as much. Plus, DVRs also usually only transmit the information and use band-
width when someone is viewing the video, rather than on a more constant basis.

• More Design Options: With a wider variety of analogue camera designs, you may have an easier time
finding a camera model with all of the features you need at a lower cost.

Disadvantages

• Cabling: Because the cameras need to be connected to both the power supply and the DVR via cables,
you tend to have a lot of wiring to handle, even if you use cables that bundle video and power. Further-
more, coax cables are usually more expensive on their own than the Cat 5 or 6 counterparts used for
digital systems.
• Image Quality: The image quality on analogue cameras is pretty low. Most smartphones today have
higher resolution. As a result, details at a distance may be grainy, making it difficult to identify poten-
tial suspects in an incident with a high degree of confidence. Moreover, there’s no digital zoom. If you
try to zoom in on something on analogue video, you’ll likely get an image that is even more blurred and
grainy.
• Coverage Area: Typically, analogue surveillance cameras have a much narrower field of view than
their digital counterparts, so you may need more of them to cover the area you need.

• Positioning Limitations: Because analogue cameras need to be connected to the DVR, you have to
keep these cameras within a reasonable range of the device, or you risk diminishing the reliability of the
connection. As a result, you become more limited on where you can place your cameras.

• Port Limitations: DVRs have only so many ports on them, so you can only connect a limited number
of cameras to them. If you want to exceed this number, you’ll probably have to get a second DVR.

• Wireless Capability (or Lack Thereof): The reality is that analogue wireless systems don’t work very
well due to government regulations regarding analogue frequencies and signal strength. As a result, oth-
er wireless devices and even fluorescent lighting can interfere with and distort the video signal.

• Encryption: Analog signals can’t be encrypted, typically speaking, meaning that it could be easier to
for unwanted eyes to view the signal.