shatteredreamer

I am working for a guy who has quite a few fast food restaurants and we need a security system. We have looked at the companies that want to sell their dvr and cameras and software for a monthly management fee because of the ability to integrate with POS system. It will allow you to look at voids and sync them with the camera to determine when a specific employee may be taking advantage of the register and are customizable to search for hundreds of different events like "alert me of any sales over $100 or under $.05, etc. Thats great and all, but in order to avoid the monthly fee, we have started looking at these cctv systems that you can buy at costco or sams club or wherever. They have the dvr interface that allows us to look at video remotely from any location, connect multiple dvr's to one software system, and look at video from any time we select. What this means is that we will be forced to compare our pos events like too many voids to security video times manually since none of these store bought systems integrate with the POS. For now, we are okay with that. So the question is, which system do we go with and which is a waste of our time? We want a software system that is easy to use, good camera's (we need to be able to see the money tendered at the register), and good storage. So far we have narrowed down to Q-see and Night owl for bang for our buck, but this is completely absent any actual knowledge of these systems outside of what the advertisements tell us they offer. Please give any advice you have about these systems or any other systems that are affordable and worth our consideration. I am a pretty smart guy (or at least I like to think so), but would like to get something as simple as possible that actually works good. That is why these bundled systems are appealing. Thanks a million in advance.

Thanks for all the info. Sounds like you guys all advocate for a Bette camera than what these low price systems can offer. What about the nvr/dvr? Any pointers on getting a user friendly software that allows you to look at all your cameras from any of your mobile devices as well as connect multiple dvr's to one software so that the owner doesn't need 40 different logins and can easily search between stores and add on different users? To answer the question above, I was referring to pos as in point of sale systems.

I have given up on POS integration. I understand that will cost. I'm looking for something like 8 cameras. I guess what I'm asking is do you recommend the following system or am I wasting money? Will it allow me to catch an employee stealing out of a register and be able to identify the bills that were taken (quality of camera)? Also, how is the dvr software? Worthy? Easy to use, etc. http://m.samsclub.com/ip/q-see-16-channel-security-system-with-500gb-hard-drive-12-420tvl-ccd-cameras-and-40-night-vision/prod11380518

Ideally we are trying to keep it under $500 per system. I would be installing them myself if I can.