Home CCTV systems by house type
A house is sized by its doors and its approaches, not its floor area. A flat or mid-terrace needs the front door and the back; a semi adds the side passage and the drive; a detached house adds the garden and the garage. This guide covers where each camera goes, what to choose for night-time and cabling, and what the ICO expects when a camera sees beyond your own property. We supply the equipment; you or your installer fits it.
2-camera systems: Flat or mid-terrace: front door and rear
Two cameras cover a flat or a mid-terrace: the front door framed for faces and the rear door or yard. A third is worth adding for a rear alley or a bike store.
Drives from 0.5 TB to 8 TB in this band.
Hikvision 4-channel CCTV kit2cameras5MP
- 2× 5MP Bullet
4-channel DVR · 3TB
Keeps about 69 days of footage
Suits a house — space to add 2 more cameras
Works with the coax cable from an old system
Buying the parts one by one £432.11You save £21.60 (5% off)
Hikvision 4-channel CCTV kit2cameras4K
- 2× 4K Turret
4-channel DVR · 8TB
Keeps about 92 days of footage
Suits a house — space to add 2 more cameras
Works with the coax cable from an old system
Buying the parts one by one £714.50You save £35.72 (5% off)
Hikvision 4-channel CCTV kit2cameras5MP
- 2× 5MP Turret
4-channel DVR · 1TB
Keeps about 23 days of footage
Suits a house — space to add 2 more cameras
Works with the coax cable from an old system
Buying the parts one by one £320.76You save £16.03 (5% off)
Hikvision 4-channel CCTV kit2cameras4K
- 2× 4K Turret
4-channel DVR · 2TB
Keeps about 23 days of footage
Suits a house — space to add 2 more cameras
Works with the coax cable from an old system
Buying the parts one by one £428.52You save £21.42 (5% off)
4-camera systems: Semi-detached: front, drive, side passage, rear
Four is the usual semi-detached count: the front door, the drive and car, the side passage or gate, and the back door and garden.
Drives from 1 TB to 12 TB in this band.
Hikvision 4-channel CCTV kit4cameras4K
- 4× 4K Turret
4-channel DVR · 10TB
Keeps about 57 days of footage
Suits a house
Works with the coax cable from an old system
Buying the parts one by one £870.70You save £43.54 (5% off)
Hikvision 4-channel CCTV kit4cameras4K
- 4× 4K Turret
4-channel DVR · 10TB
Keeps about 57 days of footage
Suits a house
Works with the coax cable from an old system
Buying the parts one by one £936.94You save £46.85 (5% off)
Hikvision 4-channel CCTV kit4cameras4K
- 4× 4K Bullet
4-channel NVR · 10TB
Keeps about 57 days of footage
Suits a house
One cable per camera does power and picture
Buying the parts one by one £1725.02You save £86.25 (5% off)
Hikvision 4-channel CCTV kit4cameras4K + 5MP
- 2× 5MP Turret
- 2× 4K Turret
4-channel DVR · 8TB
Suits a house
Works with the coax cable from an old system
Buying the parts one by one £843.07You save £42.15 (5% off)
6-camera systems: Detached: garage, garden and every entrance
A detached house has more ways in. Six covers the front and back doors, both sides, the drive and the garage, and leaves the recorder room for the camera you add later.
Drives from 2 TB to 16 TB in this band.
Hikvision 8-channel CCTV kit6cameras5MP
- 6× 5MP Bullet
8-channel DVR · 8TB
Keeps about 61 days of footage
Suits a shop or small business — space to add 2 more cameras
Works with the coax cable from an old system
Buying the parts one by one £900.26You save £45.01 (5% off)
Hikvision 8-channel CCTV kit6cameras5MP
- 6× 5MP Turret
8-channel DVR · 8TB
Keeps about 61 days of footage
Suits a shop or small business — space to add 2 more cameras
Works with the coax cable from an old system
Buying the parts one by one £988.57You save £49.43 (5% off)
Hikvision 8-channel CCTV kit6cameras5MP
- 6× 5MP Turret
8-channel DVR · 8TB
Keeps about 61 days of footage
Suits a shop or small business — space to add 2 more cameras
Works with the coax cable from an old system
Buying the parts one by one £991.42You save £49.58 (5% off)
Hikvision 8-channel CCTV kit6cameras5MP
- 6× 5MP Turret
8-channel DVR · 8TB
Keeps about 61 days of footage
Suits a shop or small business — space to add 2 more cameras
Works with the coax cable from an old system
Buying the parts one by one £1023.29You save £51.17 (5% off)
8-camera systems: Large or rural home: outbuildings, long drive, gates
Eight and more is for the house with a long drive, gates, outbuildings or stables — where the approach matters as much as the doors.
Drives from 2 TB to 20 TB in this band.
Hikvision 8-channel CCTV kit8cameras5MP
- 8× 5MP Turret
8-channel DVR · 10TB
Keeps about 57 days of footage
Suits a shop or small business
Works with the coax cable from an old system
Buying the parts one by one £1169.16You save £58.45 (5% off)
Hikvision 8-channel CCTV kit8cameras5MP
- 8× 5MP Bullet
8-channel DVR · 10TB
Keeps about 57 days of footage
Suits a shop or small business
Works with the coax cable from an old system
Buying the parts one by one £1176.60You save £58.82 (5% off)
Hikvision 8-channel CCTV kit8cameras5MP
- 8× 5MP Turret
8-channel DVR · 10TB
Keeps about 57 days of footage
Suits a shop or small business
Works with the coax cable from an old system
Buying the parts one by one £1187.74You save £59.39 (5% off)
Hikvision 8-channel CCTV kit8cameras5MP
- 8× 5MP Turret
8-channel DVR · 10TB
Keeps about 57 days of footage
Suits a shop or small business
Works with the coax cable from an old system
Buying the parts one by one £1210.68You save £60.53 (5% off)
Not sure how many cameras you need?
Answer three questions and the finder narrows the range to systems that fit your site.
Where are the cameras going?
This only picks a starting number of cameras. You can change it later.
How to plan CCTV for a house
Start with the doors, because that is where a face appears. The front door camera is the one that matters most: mount it at about 2.2 to 2.5 m, to one side, looking across the approach rather than straight down, so a face crosses the frame at head height. A camera under the eaves looking at the doorstep records the top of a head and a parcel.
Then the approaches: the drive and the car, the side passage or gate, and the back door. On a semi or a detached house the side passage is the view people forget and the route most people use to reach the back. A wide lens suits a garden or a drive; a narrower one suits a gate or a passage where you want a face at a few metres.
Choose the system by the cable you can run. IP (PoE) kits run one network cable to each camera for both power and picture, and suit a new install or a house you are rewiring. Turbo HD kits run over coax and suit a house that already has an older analogue system wired in, because the cables can often be reused. The four-camera kits in stock right now are a mix of IP and Turbo HD.
Night is when most home footage is needed. Standard cameras switch to black-and-white infrared in the dark; ColorVu and Smart Hybrid Light cameras add a small light and keep the picture in colour, which is what tells you the colour of a coat or a car. A light that switches on can also put someone off.
Keep a month of footage if you can: a break-in is often noticed days later. Two and four-camera kits here keep medians of 61 and 57 days of continuous recording as supplied. Six and eight-camera kits keep medians of 61 and 57 days. Record on motion only and the same drive lasts longer; the storage calculator works out any other mix.
Last, the neighbours. If a camera sees only your own property, the ICO says data protection law does not apply to your recordings. If it sees beyond your boundary — a neighbour's garden, a shared path or the street — the ICO says it does: you need a clear reason, you should capture as little as you can, and you must be able to respond if someone asks for footage of themselves. Angle the cameras, use the recorder's privacy masking, and put up a sign.
Home CCTV systems by house type — common questions
How many CCTV cameras does a house need?
Two or three for a flat or mid-terrace (front door and rear), four for a semi-detached house (front, drive, side passage, rear), four to six for a detached house, and eight or more for a large or rural home with outbuildings, gates or a long drive. Size by the doors and the approaches, not the floor area.