qbit

Hi all, I’m a total newbie when it comes to home video surveillance and I’m hoping I might be able to get some suggestions & advice. From my other hobbies, I assume that most (if not all) of the pre-packaged box systems are going to be pretty much lousy, right? So, I’m looking to piece together a decent system – which I will have professionally installed. The reason for needing a surveillance set-up is because of some piece of garbage neighbors across the street and their scumbag kids. I’ve had a few problems with them over the past several years, the whole neighborhood hates them and the Sheriff‘s office out here know them quite well from all of the complaints. Well, Saturday night a friend stayed over and when she went to leave, two rocks had been thrown through her windshield and right passenger window. When the deputy arrived to write the report, he looked at the rocks, looked across the street and they were from the troublemakers yard. Since nobody saw anything, nothing could be done. Well, I’m fed up with these animals and would like to catch them the next time they do something idiotic. What I’m looking to get: A DVR for recording – maybe up to six camera inputs for future expansion. Four inputs would suffice for right now. Probably some sort of burner to copy video to if/when I need to provide evidence. And maybe an output for a computer monitor. Motion activated cameras. Some good day/night color cameras. The scumbag kids cause most of their trouble at night. I’m not looking to watch the entire neighborhood, just what’s going on in front of my house and maybe if the camera happened to be angled in the direction of the scumbag house. I’d like to place a camera in the window at the front of the house and maybe another camera on the right side of my house where the roof hangs over a bit. (Oh, I live in Arizona so I guess I’d need a camera that could take the heat.) I just need the two cameras for now (and the DVR), but would like to eventually put one outside my front door and a camera for the back yard. Then later on, maybe one or two in the house – though inside the house isn’t a high priority. I’ve seen a couple of cameras that look really great, but the IQeye cameras are way too expensive and the other camera I saw doesn’t have a price on the web page, so that’s not a good sign. The camera is at avssc. com/starlight_cams.htm I am on a budget right now, but I could probably swing $600 something to get things going. I don’t want the cheapest junk out there, but some nice equipment in my price range. And I’m sure I can shop around on the 'net and find some decent prices once I know what I should look for. I would like to get this setup ASAP because I’m afraid to have anyone park their car outside my house overnight now and if the scumbag kids do anything to my house, I want them caught on video. I’m open to any & all suggestions and will greatly appreciate all of the advice. Thank you very much, qbit