If you are curious about the uses of USB for the modern day DVR or digital video recording technologies for your home or business security, you have come to the right place. We will discuss three ways the USB revolution has affected the DVR security industry. In fact, the availability of USB serial connectors combined with lowering costs of computing equipment, has enabled big changes in home and business security in terms of additional offerings and lower costs. The two major ways the USB DVR connector plays a a role in DVR security equipment is for CCTV camera to USB conversion, and for DVR USB backup drives. Let's look at both.

CCTV Camera to USB Conversion

The speed of the current USB 2.0 is approaching 60 Mbyte per second. This is sufficient to "multiplex" four CCTV security cameras into one USB cable and connect it to a USB-enabled DVR. The advantage of this configuration is that you can upgrade your DVR unit to a modern unit with higher capacity while at the same time retaining your workhorse CCTV cameras, cables, etc. You can save yourself a lot of hassle that way.

To be sure, if you are buying your entire system from scratch, then this solution is not recommended for you. However, if you have the CCTV cables and cameras that you want to keep, take a close look into CCTV to USB converters. You can see a selection of them at Amazon through this link.

USB Backup Hard Drives

Many modern DVR units have high internal disk capacity, as high as 1-2 Terrabyte. However, for backup and storage, it is still useful to employ a DVR that has USB connector to attach an external USB hard drive. The "multiplex", i.e. triplex or pentaplex DVR will have the capacity to review the past footage, backup it, and continue recording current footage all at the same time, so there is no downtime during review or backup. You can find a selection of USB DVR units, for example this USB DVR unit at Amazon through this link.

There you have it. Whether you are looking for CCTV Camera to USB converters for USB DVR or you just want an USB Hard Drive enabled DVR to perform backups of your footage, they are here for you. Your choice of using USB is a smart one. USB's speed and versatility make up for a very easy-to-handle security system. As you have seen above, the use of USB in your DVR system saves you time and money.

For additional info on how to use a DVR PCI card alternative, see DVR PCI Card Choice. For a DVR USB selection, see USB DVR.