To understand how IP camera systems work, you need to understand what a network is. Installing IP cameras is not much different than adding a printer to your PC. When you add a printer to your pc or hook a printer to a print server you have yourself a network.

Basically you can buy a CCTV (closed circuit TV) camera and hook it to a video server which is just a computer which will generate an IP address or you can buy a IP camera that’s already network ready and eliminate the server. Either the video server (computer) for CCTV cameras or the IP network ready camera will provide a unique computer address known as an IP address.

Now any computer can search and find the IP address, and connect to it with the proper user and password. The IP camera can be at home hooked into your personal computer, a server for video storage (another computer hooked into your pc) or a dvr, again for storage. The computer you are viewing on can be in the same room as the IP camera or it can be at your job, could be a library computer or be located in India; it really doesn’t matter. Now this does not mean you can find an IP address and watch someone else’s video. Just like any computer, server or pc you are signing in to needs a user name and password to sign in.

Now if you want to store video disc space on your pc may be an issue as the video will be stored on your hard drive. You can hook your cameras to a DVR which can store the video and you can watch the video on your pc with the dvr connected to your pc. Or you can add more space by adding hard drives to your pc and record directly to it. All the software for set up and viewing should be included with the IP cameras.

Once you have the IP address of the camera you can simply plug a wired IP camera using a ethernet cable into your dvr or pc or you can connect a wireless IP camera’s receiver into your DVR or PC. For either wired IP camera or wireless IP cameras let us say you have a pc or dvr that has four inputs. You could have four cameras that have four IP addresses and you can watch any of the four cameras from your pc no matter where you are. There are also an indoor – outdoor IP camera if you so desire that.

Here’s another great feature. You can set up this system to email you if motion is detected. You don’t have to miss anything going on in your home.  This may be a simple explanation of how to set up an IP camera system but with these cameras it really is simple to do. Just remember video takes up a lot of space so you really need something to store video or have a pc with a huge amount of disc space. Or you can just watch the video real time and not store the video.

The reality is IP cameras are a great way to watch your home, your pets or a babysitter while you are not home. And unlike CCTV cameras you do not need a server, unless used for storage, to generate an IP address so that you may watch your home or business remotely.