Comparisons
Motion-only or continuous recording
Set continuous recording on counters, tills and entrances — the places where the first two seconds of an event decide a dispute — and motion-only on quiet zones like store rooms, stairwells and boundaries. Mixed per-camera schedules can stretch the same hard drive from two weeks of retention to six or more.
Last reviewed
Why busy positions stay continuous
Motion detection needs a moment to trigger, and that moment is often the part that matters: the note handed over, the hand into the drawer, the first push at the door. On a pharmacy counter or a mart entrance, a missing half-second turns clear evidence into an argument. Continuous recording on those channels removes the question entirely, for the price of some drive space.
Why quiet positions should not be
A godown door in I-9 or a back boundary in DHA is motionless for twenty-plus hours a day. Recording that stillness continuously fills the drive with nothing. Switched to motion-only, the same channel might write twenty minutes a day — which is how retention on the same drive jumps from two weeks to two months without spending a rupee more on storage.
Tuning is the real work
Islamabad gives motion detection plenty to lie about: monsoon rain across the lens, insects swarming the infra-red glow at night, headlights sweeping in from the road, tree shadows in a society street. Masking the road and foliage out of the detection zone and setting sensitivity per camera is what separates a working schedule from a phone that buzzes all night.
Should CCTV record all the time or only on motion?
How do I know what a camera missed?
You do not — that is the trap. Missed triggers leave no trace, so review the first week of motion clips against reality before trusting a channel to motion-only.
Can each camera have its own schedule?
Yes, every current recorder supports per-channel modes, including continuous by day and motion by night. We set the schedule from how each position is actually used.
Rather have it done?
CCTV installation means a free survey of your shop, office or home, a camera plan that covers gates, counters and blind corners, cabling run through conduit, a recorder sized for the days of footage you want, and phone viewing working before handover. A four-camera 2MP package in Islamabad or Rawalpindi runs PKR 55,000 to 85,000 fitted.
CCTV installation in Islamabad — prices and scope