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Cameras typically take too much juice to be able to run on battery for long. So at the minimum, you'll want a power-outlet somewhere near the camera. (or run power from elsewhere) As for recording the video... * record on the SD card in the camera itself * Set up a DVR to record * The Samsung SmartCam even records to your Google Drive account * Several will record to cloud-based for a subscription fee Wiring: * Wires are more...eh...consistent as in they pretty much don't disconnect. But running wire in the house is the more time-consuming part. * WiFi is easy-peasy these days. But figure that every week or three you might reboot the camera to have it reconnect to your WiFi. Hidden vs non-hidden (catch vs prevent) Businesses I work with almost always go with cameras out in the open. They're not trying to catch people but rather prevent them from trying it. Different situations vary. And there's some good discussion and opinions both ways on it. Hidden camera means the thief doesn't know and may strike again. But it also means you'll lose something else before you can catch them. WiFi cameras They're getting popular these days. Some of them are marketed a ton on different media. Amazon has The $100 Fuji with good ratings. There's also D-Link and Samsung and many....many more! They run from VGA (0.3 megapixel) all the way up to 3 megapixel. Many are in the 1 to 1.3MP range. Plug and Play Very very easy to setup to view on your smartphone when you're away from the house. It saves making a "port" adjustment in your router.

There are many ways to do this, no doubt. I should be asleep...then again...maybe I am asleep Attachments: * Cost sheet (including TV's) * Basic diagram I went with the idea that each dance room had that dance room full screen on the monitor. But in the common area, there's all 4 dance rooms in a quad view on the same 46" TV. The Fire Stick solution for IP is pretty slick. A 3MP IP system wouldn't be too much more and would reallllllly look great! Recording wasn't a goal, but a DVR does the other job of displaying and monitoring well enough. For the analogs (regular and SDI), have the powered splitter right near the camera..run one cable back to the DVR, the over to the TV in the same dance room I suppose there's a powered splitter for TVI...I just haven't had to use one. But did one for SDI just the other day, worked fine. Everyone's right, a low-quality-analog-image on a big 32" tv will look kinda crappy. Assumptions: * The cabling won't be too far, otherwise increase the cabling cost * The Common Area TV is doable for HDMI distances from the DVR * Each camera (non-IP-POE cams) has power available near it...otherwise add $40 for a power supply to be near the DVR and use siamese cable * probably add $50 total for odds and ends such as BNC or CAT5 terminators as well as BNC-to-RCA plug adapters * Doesn't include cost for tools (BNC or CAT5 terminator tools) * Didn't get into costs for TV mounts either. * I didn't go dirt-cheap on the DVR's...though Amazon does have a 4-channel IP NVR with both HDMI and VGA output for $99. An analog DVR can be down to around $60. But SDI DVR cheap? Not so much.