How to Turn Your PC Into a Professional Grade Security DVR

Conduct a review of the property you want monitored. Decide which areas are considered to be potential threats where intruders would be able to easily access the premises without being noticed. This will help you beef up security and add extra layers of defense.

Purchase a video surveillance system software package that will turn your PC into both a video surveillance DVR and the control center of your web-based surveillance system. This package will include a software disc and a PCI-DVR card that is easily installed into the PCI slot inside the PC hard drive. After the PCI has been installed, you can then install the DVR software onto your computer.

Purchase wireless web cameras with motion-sensor technology that turns it on when movement is occurring in the vicinity. Purchase as many as you need, which is based on the surveillance threat analysis that you did in section one. Since these are web-based cameras with IP addresses, they will have to be temporarily connected to your PC's USB port and installed in the surveillance software to be accessed online. Web cameras can be either battery-operated or plugged into an outlet source if there is one nearby. If it's battery operated, then its power status can be closely observed via the DVR surveillance software that is installed on your PC computer.

Draw drill holes using a pen or pencil to indicate where each web camera will be mounted into the walls. Drill in a hole and mount in the screws to connect the web camera. Remember to make sure that the web cameras are in hard to reach locations.

Test the cameras using the DVR video surveillance software to see if it's broadcasting the visual real-life images of your property. Also, check to make sure that daily surveillance footage is being saved and can be retrieved from your new PC security DVR surveillance system.