Sony Security Cameras: Understanding the Lack of 24/7 Recording
If you've recently set up a Sony home security camera, you may have been searching through the app for a setting to enable Continuous Video Recording (CVR), often known as 24/7 recording. It's a common question: "Why can't I set my camera to record everything all the time?"
The short answer is that the vast majority of consumer-grade, wireless security cameras from Sony (and many other leading brands) are specifically designed not to record 24/7. This isn't an oversight or a missing feature; it's a deliberate engineering choice made to prioritise other important features like long battery life and ease of use. This guide explains the reasoning behind this design.
Why Sony Cameras Focus on Event-Based Recording
Instead of recording continuously, your Sony camera operates on a system of event-based recording. It stays in a low-power standby mode and instantly wakes up to record a clip only when its sensors detect motion or sound. Here’s why this method is used:
1. Battery Life and Power Consumption
This is the single biggest factor. Recording video, processing the image, and transmitting it wirelessly are power-intensive tasks.
- A battery that can last for several months on event-based recording would be completely drained in less than a day if it were recording 24/7.
- The event-based model is what makes truly wire-free cameras possible, allowing you to place them anywhere without needing a nearby power outlet.
2. Data Storage and Cost
Continuous recording generates an enormous amount of data.
- A single camera recording 24/7 in high definition can produce over 100-200 gigabytes of data every month.
- Storing this much data in the cloud would be prohibitively expensive for most users, and it would quickly fill up any local storage like an SD card.
- Event-based recording, by contrast, only stores the few minutes of footage that matter, dramatically reducing data usage and storage costs.
3. Finding Important Moments
Imagine trying to find the 30-second clip of a parcel being delivered in the middle of 24 hours of footage. It would be incredibly time-consuming. Event-based systems automatically present you with a timeline of specific motion events, making it quick and easy to find exactly what you're looking for.
How to Get the Most Out of Event-Based Recording
While you can't enable 24/7 recording, you can fine-tune your camera's settings to ensure it captures everything you need it to.
- Adjust Motion Sensitivity: In your camera's settings, you can often increase the sensitivity. This will make the camera more likely to trigger a recording from smaller movements or movements further away.
- Define Activity Zones: Use the app to draw specific zones where you want the camera to detect motion. This is useful for focusing on a critical area, like a garden gate or a specific window, ensuring any activity there is captured.
When is 24/7 Recording Necessary?
For most home security situations, event-based recording is more than sufficient. However, if you have a specific need for uninterrupted surveillance (for example, in a commercial setting or for monitoring a sensitive area), you would typically need to look at a different class of product. Systems that offer 24/7 recording are almost always wired and mains-powered, and they often record to a dedicated local device like a Network Video Recorder (NVR).
For the convenience, flexibility, and efficiency required in a modern smart home, the event-based recording model used by Sony provides the best balance of security, battery life, and usability.