Can I upgrade my cameras without rewiring the house?

Very often, yes. If the system was installed on structured network cable, the same cable will carry a modern PoE camera and the upgrade is largely new cameras and a new recorder. If it is older analogue coax, you can either fit modern HD-over-coax cameras to the existing cable or convert to network cable for full IP. We test the cable at the assessment and tell you which applies before quoting.

Is it worth converting from analogue to IP?

It depends on the property and how long you plan to keep the system. For a domestic install with a handful of cameras in awkward positions in a period property, reusing the coax with modern HD-over-coax cameras is often the sensible call and considerably cheaper. For a commercial site that will grow, or where camera positions need to change anyway, converting is usually worth it because you take the disruption once. There is no single right answer and anyone who gives you one without looking at the cable is guessing.

Will 4K cameras let me read number plates?

Not on their own. Plate capture is decided by lens choice and camera position far more than by resolution: a lens that reads a plate at four metres will not read one at twelve, whatever the pixel count. This is the most oversold part of an upgrade. If plate capture matters to you, the camera probably needs to move as well as be replaced, and we would rather say that at the assessment than have you find out afterwards.

What actually gets better when I upgrade?

Low-light performance most of all, which matters because most of what you want footage of happens after dark. Infrared reach improves with it. Recording is the other real gain: older recorders have small drives and short retention, which is why so many systems overwrite the thing you needed before you go looking for it. Daytime resolution improves too but it is the least valuable of the three.

How do I know if my existing cable is still good?

It is testable rather than a matter of opinion, and we test it. The commonest fault we find on older outdoor installations is water ingress at the connector, and where that has been happening for years the cable can be corroded back some distance from the camera. That gets checked at the assessment, along with cable type and whether the existing runs go where cameras should now be.

Do upgraded systems need a subscription?

Not the ones we fit. Footage records to a recorder on your own property, so there is no cloud plan and no monthly fee. This is worth checking closely when comparing quotes, because several modern systems are sold at an attractive hardware price with a subscription attached to the features that make them useful.

CCTV Upgrades in Derby

Upgrading an older CCTV system in Derby. The expensive part of any install is getting cable to the right places, and on an existing system somebody has already paid for that. Where the routes are sound we reuse them and spend your money on the picture instead.

By the Doberman install team · CCTV system designers & installers, Leicester · Last reviewed August 2026

By the Doberman install team

CCTV system designers & installers, Leicester

Last reviewed August 2026

What you get

System assessment
We test what is already there: cable type and condition, camera positions, recorder capability, and what is actually worth keeping.
Upgrade proposal
A written plan separating what gets reused, what gets replaced and what should move, with the reasoning for each and a fixed price.
Installation
New cameras and recorder fitted to the existing infrastructure where it is sound, with new runs only where the old route genuinely will not serve.
Night commissioning
Every camera checked and adjusted after dark. Old systems are usually worst at night, and that is where an upgrade should show.

How it works

Assessment

We drive over from Leicester, about forty minutes up the A6, and test the existing installation rather than glancing at it.

Proposal

A written plan with what is reused, what is replaced, camera positions, recorder specification and a fixed price.

Upgrade

Fitting, configuration and night commissioning. Most domestic upgrades are a single day; commercial depends on camera count.

The cable is usually the part worth keeping

On almost every upgrade we look at, the thing that has aged badly is the camera and the recorder, and the thing that has aged perfectly well is the cable in the wall. That is worth knowing before anyone quotes you for a complete strip-out, because in Derby the routing is disproportionately expensive. On the solid-wall Victorian stock through Normanton, Pear Tree and Litchurch there is no cavity to drop a cable into, so a new run has to come through the loft and down through the fabric of the house. Reusing an existing route that already solves that problem can be the difference between an upgrade and a rebuild.

What can be reused depends on what was fitted. A system installed in the last fifteen years on structured network cable is generally straightforward: the same cable carries a modern PoE camera and the upgrade is largely a matter of new cameras and a new recorder. An older analogue system on coax is a more interesting question, because there are two honest paths and installers tend to push whichever one suits them. You can keep the coax and put modern HD-over-coax cameras on it, which is cheaper and avoids re-routing entirely, or you can convert to network cable and go to full IP, which costs more and gives you a system that will still be sensible in ten years.

We will tell you which we think fits, and the answer genuinely varies. For a domestic system with four cameras in awkward positions in a period property, reusing the coax is often the sensible call. For a commercial site that will grow, or where you want camera positions to change anyway, converting is usually worth the cost because you are paying for the disruption once. What we will not do is condemn perfectly good cable because replacing it is more profitable.

What actually improves, and what does not

The gains from an upgrade are not evenly spread, and it helps to know which ones are real. Low-light performance is the biggest single improvement and the one people notice immediately: a fifteen-year-old camera at night gives you a grainy monochrome smear where a current sensor gives you a usable image, and since most of what you want footage of happens after dark, that is where the value sits. Infrared reach improves in the same way, which matters on the unlit rear boundaries common on the city’s outer edges.

Resolution improves too, but it is the gain most oversold. Going from an old system to 4K does not, by itself, let you read a number plate at twelve metres or identify a face across a yard. Those are geometry problems: they are decided by lens choice and camera position far more than by pixel count. An upgrade that keeps every camera exactly where it was and simply makes each one sharper often disappoints for that reason. Part of an honest upgrade proposal is telling you which cameras should move, and our specs cheat sheet sets out what those numbers deliver at a given distance.

The other real improvement is on the recording side. Older recorders often have small drives and short retention, which is why so many people discover their system overwrote the thing they needed. Modern recording lets you set retention deliberately against how you would actually use the footage, and it makes exporting a clip something a normal person can do rather than a support call.

When an upgrade is not the answer

Sometimes the honest advice is not to upgrade. If the existing cameras are in the wrong positions, the cable runs went to those wrong positions, and the whole system was fitted to cover a layout the property no longer has, then reusing the infrastructure just gets you a better picture of the wrong things. In that case a redesign costs more and is the right call, and we will say so.

The other case is a system that was fitted cheaply outdoors and has been sitting in the weather. Water ingress at the connector is the commonest failure we find, and where it has been getting into a joint for years the cable itself may be corroded back some distance from the camera. That is testable rather than a matter of opinion, and we test it rather than guessing.

Where an upgrade is worth doing, the reverse also applies: we would rather reuse four sound cable runs and charge you for four cameras than sell you a full installation you do not need. The assessment exists to answer that question honestly, and it is the reason we do it before quoting rather than after.

Hardwired, local recording, no subscription

Whatever gets reused, the upgraded system records to a recorder on your own property. There is no cloud plan, no monthly fee and no third party holding your video. This is worth checking carefully when comparing upgrade quotes, because a number of modern systems are sold at an attractive hardware price with a subscription attached to the features that make them useful, and the recurring cost outruns the saving quickly.

The other thing worth checking is whether the cameras you are being offered will still work if the company selling them changes its plans. A system recording locally to hardware you own keeps working regardless. Our PoE guide covers why we hardwire rather than moving an upgrade onto Wi-Fi, which on a property that already has cable in the walls would be a strange thing to do.

Pricing

Upgrades are priced after the assessment because the answer depends on what is reusable. Where existing cable runs are sound, you are paying for cameras, a recorder and the fitting rather than a full installation. Converting an older analogue system to network cable costs more and is sometimes still the right call. Fixed price once we have tested what is there.

Why Doberman

We test the cable before condemning it
Existing runs are the expensive part of any install, especially in Derby’s solid-wall period stock. Where they are sound, they get reused.
Both upgrade paths put to you honestly
Modern cameras on your existing coax, or a conversion to network cable and full IP. We explain which fits your property rather than the one that bills more.
A better angle beats a sharper picture
Resolution does not fix a bad angle. An upgrade that leaves every camera where it was often disappoints, so we say which should move.
No subscription, ever
Local recording on hardware you own. No cloud plan, no monthly fee, and nothing that stops working if a company changes its pricing.

About Doberman

Doberman is a Leicester-based CCTV installation company fitting hardwired PoE systems for homes and businesses. We cover Derby as part of a service area built around drive time rather than county boundaries, about thirty miles and forty minutes up the A6.

We have no Derby office and will not imply one, and we do not hold NSI or SSAIB accreditation. If an insurer or a tender requires an accredited installer, use one. What we do bring is our own team on every job, equipment you own outright, no ongoing contract, and a fixed price agreed after the assessment rather than adjusted once work has started.

For the city overview see our Derby CCTV installation page. If your system has stopped working rather than simply aged, CCTV repair in Derby is the better starting point, and areas we cover sets out the rest of our patch.

Areas we cover

We upgrade CCTV systems across Derby, including Allestree, Mickleover, Littleover, Chellaston, Oakwood, Spondon, Alvaston, Chaddesden, Darley Abbey, Sinfin and Normanton. If you are somewhere in the city we have not named, ask.

Frequently asked questions

Can I upgrade my cameras without rewiring the house?: Very often, yes. If the system was installed on structured network cable, the same cable will carry a modern PoE camera and the upgrade is largely new cameras and a new recorder. If it is older analogue coax, you can either fit modern HD-over-coax cameras to the existing cable or convert to network cable for full IP. We test the cable at the assessment and tell you which applies before quoting.
Is it worth converting from analogue to IP?: It depends on the property and how long you plan to keep the system. For a domestic install with a handful of cameras in awkward positions in a period property, reusing the coax with modern HD-over-coax cameras is often the sensible call and considerably cheaper. For a commercial site that will grow, or where camera positions need to change anyway, converting is usually worth it because you take the disruption once. There is no single right answer and anyone who gives you one without looking at the cable is guessing.
Will 4K cameras let me read number plates?: Not on their own. Plate capture is decided by lens choice and camera position far more than by resolution: a lens that reads a plate at four metres will not read one at twelve, whatever the pixel count. This is the most oversold part of an upgrade. If plate capture matters to you, the camera probably needs to move as well as be replaced, and we would rather say that at the assessment than have you find out afterwards.
What actually gets better when I upgrade?: Low-light performance most of all, which matters because most of what you want footage of happens after dark. Infrared reach improves with it. Recording is the other real gain: older recorders have small drives and short retention, which is why so many systems overwrite the thing you needed before you go looking for it. Daytime resolution improves too but it is the least valuable of the three.
How do I know if my existing cable is still good?: It is testable rather than a matter of opinion, and we test it. The commonest fault we find on older outdoor installations is water ingress at the connector, and where that has been happening for years the cable can be corroded back some distance from the camera. That gets checked at the assessment, along with cable type and whether the existing runs go where cameras should now be.
Do upgraded systems need a subscription?: Not the ones we fit. Footage records to a recorder on your own property, so there is no cloud plan and no monthly fee. This is worth checking closely when comparing quotes, because several modern systems are sold at an attractive hardware price with a subscription attached to the features that make them useful.

Ready to get started?

We visit, map the blind spots, and quote one fixed price on the spot.