zgrocerguy

In case you can get the footage to play (and you can stop the recording ), I had a similar problem once where I couldnt save the footage on my pc or burn a cd and it was going to over record so I bought some rca cables and replayed the footage to a vcr and recorded it on vhs tape which I was able to give the police (i believe they caught the idiot) but initialy they had to take photographs of the tv screen because I couldnt burn a cd

I got a store with too much equipment costs already so I am trying to invest on a more affordable security system. I wanted to get someting for under 500 bucks(3-4 cameras, multiplexer, monitor and recorder) any suggestions? should I cough up and buy a system with a dvr or can I buy an affordable system piece by piece? if yes where???

I would think getting an inhouse pamphlet would be best for your business, because it will feature each product and would give a background at the same time helping you sell your products. You have to remember as a consumer, your customer will take the knowledge and shop around.. you will end up being a competitor with the other guy who did no work to get your customers, not to mention the internet.. I dont know your business but for my store I shopped around for freezers and meat displayers, for the most part I went with a local dealer with great prices but for a freezer i took a risk and bought out of the internet, I got the same warrantee as the local guy and saved 400 bucks.. plus it shipped faster. there is a downside to it ofcourse, for the most part you dont see who you are buying from.., if any problems, you have to deal with customer service over the phone... any way for me , this forum worked for me and if there was a manual I would jump on it (if its not too technical) no time for that like most people.. maybe forums like this will be standard areas for information and new business.. i thought you might like a non industry guy's opininion, z

thanks again, I feel like i am saving my self a lot of headache and money here. Now that I have an I dea where to get my stuff the only thing left is installation but I feel like it will be a valuable experience to install it my self. z

that was fantastic, I did talk to a friend yesterday who told me her cousin is an expert/dealer that will help me and go eazy on the pricing but I think this will even be better for me. thanks so much z

thanks again, I know that is so true' you get what you pay for'. I will probably look for something affordable but upgradable for later improvements. Ihave a small grocery (700sft retail area) for now four cameras are plenty. ok so how about 1200 what can that get me?( I know ill probably not get wireless) and ill probably get dvr so illneed digital cameras?to reply to the guy from australia , I drive a toyota corrola, not a 4runner, just enough to get from a and b and i want the same with my surveillance, enough to scare people off and if and when they do steal, ill have a good chance to prosecute (but that will be someone stealing rice or a tea pot) but your business seams attractive (dvr cctv), I see a growing market for it and it should get cheaper soon. thanks guys z

Thanks guys, I learned a lot from your exchanges. One of the reasons I posted this is because there are other businesses using pretty cheap surveillance. ( i know guys that spend up to 4000 on theirs but I dont want to pay more than i have to). the guy next door got his cctv from sams club for 199,also buddy of mine recommended the x10 cameras http://www.x10.com/ he said they were great for his store. I called them, they told me I needed a multiplexor to see all four cameras which i found for roughly 200 b/w, 300 color on the net. the x10 camera website offer 4 cameras, tv and recorder for under 200 bucks. ok that is cheap but better than zero cameras and even the dummy cameras that some people have in their stores? could you all tell me what is wrong with the picture as far as practicallity and (my thing is i get somthing now cheap, then if the business grows, i get more , i can afford more) z