You can copy the recorded surveillance footage from the DVR onto a flash drive or even a CD disc (the latter applies to models equipped with CD or DVD Rewriter).

You can hook your DVR surveillance system into the Internet and see live images of what is going on in and around your Johannesburg house while you are frolicking on a beach in Durban.

You can programme the cameras feeding your DVR to zoom and rotate, saving on the number of cameras you need to cover any specific area. You can also programme the system to record only when something actually moves, thus doing away with the need to record 24 hours a day and making the most of already generous recording space.

Gigabytes and gigabytes of storage space is the hallmark of digital surveillance. This is achieved by having the surveillance footage recorded onto a hard disk drive. Besides offering ample space for surveillance recording, hard disk drives are also reusable: just set the recorder to overwrite automatically, or erase the data and record again. There will be no loss of quality whatsoever.

Frontier Electronics' DVRs are high quality standalone units. They come without a built-in hard disk drive, which allows you to choose the size that suits your needs. You will ordinarily want to add an 80GB drive to it, but the system can be configured - via the independent disk arrays - to command the whopping 250GB of storage space. That translates into literary months of surveillance footage; of course, the exact length of time any hard disk drive can take will depend on whether you chose to record everything or only motion-triggered events; whether you need film-smooth video or can do very well with somewhat chopped motion, etc.

Standalone DVRs record the video received from surveillance cameras directly, straight onto the DVR's own hard disk drive, without the intermediary in the guise of a computer. Standalone systems can do everything computer-based surveillance systems can do - with a difference. The difference being, one, that standalone systems are less complicated and are very easy to use; the hardware-software configuration ensures optimal performance and eliminates the possibility of conflict between hardware and software. And, two, that standalone systems are more affordable.

The footage can be viewed either on a computer monitor, a dedicated surveillance screen, or an ordinary TV set.

Be sure to purchase a DVR that suits your needs. First, it must support the number of cameras that you need (4, 8 or 16) now, as well as in the future. Second, carefully review how many frames per second you need your DVR to give you. If what you have to keep an eye on involves money counting, for example in casinos or banks, then you will want to purchase the DVD with the highest frames per second available. Otherwise, go for a more rudimentary - and more affordable - unit.

With its ten-year long operating record in computer industry, and with buying offices in Taiwan and China, Frontier Electronics is perfectly poised to offer to the southern African market top of the range surveillance technology that includes motion sensors, multiplexers, image zoom controls, colour quad processor, CCTV cameras, twin lens camera systems, etc.

To celebrate its thrust into the surveillance field, Frontier Electronics is offering the first 50 customers an exceptional deal in entry-level monitoring. Write to sales@frontier-electronics.co.za for details.