Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) is a system in which the circuit is closed and all the elements are directly connected. This is unlike broadcast television where any receiver that is correctly tuned can pick up the signal from the airwaves.

Applications for CCTV

Probably the most widely known use of CCTV is in security systems and such applications as retail shops, banks, government establishments, etc. The true scope for applications is almost unlimited. Some examples are listed below.

• Monitoring traffic on a bridge.
• Monitoring financial transactions in an office or shop
• A temporary system to carry out a traffic survey in a town Centre
• Time lapse recording for the animation of plasticized puppets.
• Used by the stage manager of a show to see obscured parts of a set.
• The well-publicized use at football stadiums.
• Hidden in buses to control vandalism.
• Recording the birth of a gorilla at a zoo.
• Making a wildlife program using a large model helicopter.
• Reproducing the infrared vision of a goldfish!
• Aerial photography from a hot air balloon.
• Production control in a factory.

The list is almost endless and only limited by the imagination.