Steps To Check Recorded CCTV Footage On Different Devices

CCTV cameras are a new form of security in modern times. It also enables you to remotely sound an alarm and communicate with anyone who is on the other side of the camera. That said, while these advanced features do make your overall experience better, we cannot ignore the most important aspect of having a CCTV camera: monitoring the targeted area. That said, to monitor the targeted area, you first need to learn how to check recorded CCTV footage on different devices. So, what are the steps to check recorded CCTV footage on different devices?
In this blog, we discuss some of the key steps to check recorded footage on different devices. This includes checking the footage on mobile, PC, TV and monitor.

How Can I View My Security Cameras Online?

Before we discuss the steps to check your recorded CCTV footage on various devices, let’s first discuss where you can view the said footage. Depending on your setup, you can view this footage across many types of devices. Some of these devices include mobile apps, web browsers, port forwarding or VP and DVR. While the aspect of viewing the footage on DVR is rather straightforward, for the rest, it can be a bit complicated. Regardless, the general concept is that the device sends the footage to the receiver and then the receiver converts the said footage into viewable video.

For this, you naturally need to choose a good security camera. Most IP cameras have the capability to be viewed online, which is a positive development. After choosing the cameras, you should then set up the cameras. The number of cameras and how you set them up depends on your needs and the scale of the area that you need the surveillance on.

Once you are done with this, you can finally start viewing the footage cameras. Some of the primary devices where you can view your CCTV camera footage include:

Mobile Apps

Mobile apps are a relatively new way of viewing your CCTV camera footage. That said, it is also one of the most popular ways to view the footage as well. While there is a divide between apps for iOS and Android, most manufacturers of CCTV cameras, including Night Vision, offer apps for both.

You will only have to download the app, set it up with the CCTV camera, and start viewing. Besides the provided apps, there are also third-party viewing vendors that allow you to view your CCTV camera from your mobile using the internet. That said, you do need to ensure that the services provided by the third-party vendors are compatible with your surveillance system.

Web Browser

Along with mobile apps, web browsers are a standard method of viewing CCTV camera footage for surveillance cameras that are connected to the internet. This is because the majority of the IP CCTV Camera or any other form of internet-based surveillance camera have a web-based interface that allows you to access the video feed.

Simply input the correct URL and choose the camera footage you wish to access. The most common medium for viewing the CCTV camera through a web browser is a PC or a laptop. That said, you can also do this through your mobile. That said, the interface can be a bit difficult to navigate when compared to viewing through a PC or a laptop, especially if the interface is not mobile-optimized.

Port Forwarding or VP

You may want to consider the configuration of port forwarding to view CCTV footage directly over the internet. This is a process whereby you will have to configure your router to forward incoming requests across the camera port to the camera IP local address.

That said, you need to be careful while doing this, as it can pose security risks if you do not configure it properly. Investing in a VPN for your home network is a good way to prevent the mentioned security risk. Doing so allows you to connect your surveillance camera as if you are doing it from a local network.

Connect Your DVR Recording Device To The Internet.

Besides more modern ways of viewing your surveillance footage, you can also view it by connecting your DVR to the internet.

The viewing of footage using this method is more traditional, but it remains effective. For this, you do need a modern DVR which can connect to the internet. After obtaining the device, you can connect the recording device to your router using a LAN port and log into your DVR.

If you need more details on how to do this, you can ask your CCTV camera provider, for they can provide you with detailed instructions. That said, you can skip this process if you are storing your footage on cloud services.

These are the four key ways you can view your CCTV footage online. You can use all or a few of these methods depending on the specifics of your setup.

How To Check CCTV Footage On Different Devices?

Now that you have a general idea about where you can view CCTV footage online let’s now discuss some of the key steps to check your CCTV footage on various devices. While there are many ways to view the footage, they can primarily be categorized into two aspects. These two aspects include viewing the surveillance on mobile and PCs and viewing the footage on TV and monitor. Keeping this in mind, let’s discuss how to view recorded CCTV footage on these different devices.

Checking CCTV Footage on a Mobile and PCs

Mobile and PC are two of the most popular methods of viewing online footage. However the two top questions are “How to check recorded CCTV footage on PC?” and “How to check CCTV footage on mobile?” Well, despite their reasonable differences, the process of viewing the surveillance footage on mobile and PCs is surprisingly similar. To accomplish this, you can adhere to the steps provided below:

Step 1: Launch the security camera app
Step 2: Click on “Playback” menu
Step 3: Select the specific camera channel if you have multiple ones
Step 4: Select the particular date you wish to access the recordings.
Step 5: Click on the specific time zone in which you want to view the footage.

While you are on the fifth step, you can also drag the footage to be specific regarding the time. Do note that this is just the process of viewing the footage on a physical device such as an SD card or DVR. If your footage is stored on the cloud, the process changes significantly. To view the footage from the cloud, you can follow the process below:

Step 1: Log into your FTP server of the cloud account
Step 2: Choose the device and date on which you want to view the recorded footage.
Step 3: Click a specific video clip

These are relatively simple steps to view the CCTV footage online, and with a few times of practice, you should be able to do them intuitively.

Checking CCTV Footage on TV and Monitor

While viewing CCTV footage on TV and monitors are a bit traditional mediums, they still are some highly effective ones. That said, before you can check the footage online on TV and monitor, you need to connect your CCTV camera to the TV or a monitor. Once you do this, you can start the viewing process. Although the specific viewing process depends on your configuration, the general procedures include:

Step 1: Click the camera device you wish to see in full screen.
Step 2: Go to the playback button
Step 3: Select the camera you want to view the footage of
Step 4:Select the video type
Step 5: Select the start and end time of the video you want to view
Step 6: Click on the play button

Once you follow all of these steps, you can start viewing the footage on a monitor and or TV. Now, do note that while the steps do mention “clicking”, you do not need a mouse to do this, as you can easily do so with a remote or menu buttons on a TV or a monitor.

Conclusion

With the advancing technology, the means of security have advanced as well. One such advancement in surveillance technology is CCTV cameras, which allow you to record and view surveillance footage of a targeted area. Furthermore, you can view the said footage online across many forms of devices, such as smartphones, laptops, PC, and monitors.

Viewing CCTV footage online, however, depends on the details of your installation and what kind of device you view them on. Nevertheless, these can be summarized into “viewing the footage on mobile and PC” and “viewing the footage on monitor and TV.”.

In this blog, we provide you with an overall guide on steps to check recorded CCTV footage on different devices. We hope you found this helpful. If you seek further insights into various other aspects of CCTV cameras, do check out some of our other blogs. And if you want the best CCTV camera manufactured in Nepal, look no further than Night Vision. Thank you for reading till the end.

Also Read:

1. Night Vision CCTV Camera Price List in Nepal | Buy CCTV Camera
2. Guide on How to Use the CCTV Camera Software: Learn Here

FAQs On How To Check CCTV Footage

How to check recorded CCTV footage?

The specific process of checking recorded CCTV footage depends on your configuration and the device you are using to view the footage. With that said, here are the detailed, overall processes on how one can achieve this:
Mobile/PC:

• Launch the Security Camera application.
• Double-click the menu option labeled “Playback”.
• Select one if there are more camera channels.
• Choose the date of footage that you need.
• Then select an appropriate time zone or drag the footage towards the perfect required time.

For Cloud-stored footage:

• Login with your account to your Cloud/FTP server.
• Choose which device and date you want to view, then click on the particular video clip.

For TV/Monitor:

• Double-click on the camera to view on full screen.
• Go to the playback button.
• Select the camera, video type, and start and end time.
• Press play.

How can I view CCTV on two screens?

As with the previous answer, the specific process depends on your configuration, and we can only provide you with a general process.The general process entails the following:

• Connect the camera to the storage device/management of video
• Connect the said device to a video splitter
• Connect the video splitter to monitors
• Power the monitors and test the system.

How to playback CCTV footage?

If you want to playback CCTV footage, you can follow the following steps:

• Go and open the security camera app or software.
• Navigate to the “Playback” menu.
• Choose the camera channel, date, and time of the footage you wish to view.
• Drag or select the footage based on your preferred time to start playback.

For footage stored on a cloud service:

• Log into your cloud/FTP account.
• Select the device and date.
• Click on the specific clip to playback.

Can I check the CCTV footage online?

With that said, following are the step-by-step, general procedures on how one can carry this out:

For Mobile/PC:

• Launch the Security Camera application.
• Double-click the menu option labeled “Playback”.
• If more than one camera channel is available, click to select one of them.
• Choose the date that the footage you need was recorded.
• Then choose an appropriate time zone or drag the footage towards the perfect required time.

For Cloud-stored footage:

• Sign in with your account to your Cloud/FTP server.
• Select which device and date you want to view, then click the specific video clip. That said, while doing so you do need to follow strict privacy laws.

How Long Is CCTV Footage Kept?

The specific duration depends on the storage capacity of the device or cloud storage. If you do not have much storage capacity, your CCTV footage might only be available for one or two months. However, if you have multiple terabytes of memory, the footage can last for more than a year. Your footage can also be periodically deleted because of security and privacy concerns. Regardless, you should still have a few month’s worth of footage.