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I had bought a DVR/camera cctv system at Costco a few years ago, but never installed it. Here it is: http://reviews.costco.com/2070/11533547/q-see-q-see-7-0-lcd-observation-system-w-built-in-4-channel-h-264-dvr-reviews/reviews.htm?page=2 I can't remember what I paid back then, maybe $399? I don't know if this one is different than any other QR4074 I see on other web sites...many times Costco gets a unique model of any brand/type of electronics, made only for them. Since it had been a few years, I saw recently a system they had on sale that said "600 LTV" cameras. My camera box says QSDS636D4 (image sensor=color CCD). Are 600 LTV better than CCD? I know there's CMOS too. If it matters, we have extremely bright sun most of the year with temps in the 100's, if that matters, for cameras. This system is for my house. I'd rather it have at least 6 cameras versus 4, not sure if it's expandable... Or maybe 8, to connect 1 or 2 inside the house. My house/yards are tiny. House is single story.....the street is only maybe 30 ft from the doorway. I have crappy neighbors who like to treat my yard/driveway like a trash dump, so want to be able to have proof of them trashing it if I ever had to show the police. And of course, identify any would be thieves. Day or Night. Since I never opened the box, I'm wondering if current systems are better than this, so I can return it to Costco for a refund and get a newer one. I prefer to buy local versus online. Both Costco and Fry's Electronics often advertise DVR/camera systems. (QSee and I forget the other brand) However, I don't like Fry's customer service much, so I trust them less. I'm thinking where/how to mount the DVR. If you keep it in your living room, you have to get up in the middle of the night & walk to the living room & turn on the screen to see who's outside. If in your bedroom, in the daytime you'd have to walk from the living room to the bedroom to view it. Also, wherever it is in the house I know I'll need to have 4 camera cables snaking down to it from the ceiling I'd have to hide. Another thing is, this has a hard drive. If a thief takes the DVR (with hard disk), all proof is gone. If you mount it in some metal box bolted to furniture or the wall studs, you wouldn't be able to access controls/see the screen, as the entire front would have to be accessible. Or maybe you could take the hard drive out, extend it with cables (may have to cut a hole in DVR box for that though?) , and mount just THAT in some metal box. Sounds like a lot of hassle to me, but like I said with the DVR gone, all chance of ID'ing a thief is gone.

my cameras are 420TVL. Can this make a difference in ID'ing perpetrators? Due to my budget, I can't afford to keep this one and buy a 2nd dvr, I have to decide. Enclosing it in a metal box with video out (if I have one) is an option but then the cost of the integrated LCD was then wasted. Good idea on splitting it though to a TV and keeping integrated LCD in another room.