From the dawn of time, or at least from when the first security camera was sold, the man in the street has known what CCTV is. They may not know what the acronym stands for (Closed-Circuit Television), but if you talk about CCTV cameras everyone knows what you’re referring to. This may be about to change.
In the latest international standard for the installation of CCTV systems, IEC 62676-4, we are told:
The purpose of this part of IEC 62676 is to provide guidance on how to ensure that video surveillance systems (VSS), thus far referred to as closed circuit television (CCTV), meet their functional and performance requirements.
From then on, there is no reference to CCTV, only VSS. Other organisations within the industry have also begun to refer to, what has henceforth been known as CCTV, as VSS.
As a result of this we suspect that over time there will be a change from referring to CCTV to talking about VSS. As such, both terms may be used on this website, depending upon the preference of the author of each article. While some may point to subtle differences, in most cases these terms are interchangeable and can be taken as referring to the same thing.
