CCTV is on my list of things to get done around the house, I'm also planning to take the PC graveyard from the loft down to the tip, just wondering if I should buy a card and some cameras and convert one of the pcs into a cctv system, or is it easier/better to just buy a complete system?

 

Any suggestions welcome.

I bought a system a few years ago from Maplin

www.maplin.co.uk/c/cctv-and-security

Still going strong after 4 years. Not saying they are the best, at the time the system was reasonable and they are nearby if I need to add or upgrade.

CCTV is on my list of things to get done around the house, I'm also planning to take the PC graveyard from the loft down to the tip, just wondering if I should buy a card and some cameras and convert one of the pcs into a cctv system, or is it easier/better to just buy a complete system?

 

Any suggestions welcome.

I would say that depends on whether you are a tinkerer or just want it to work.

 

The PC route might be cheaper but is probably more work to get running whereas the complete system should "just work" once connected.

Just installed two systems, cost £100 each,plus the price of an ( at least 500gig) hard drive I hard two spare 500gig Sata drive spare). System has 4 cameras, records and is accessable for remote viewing.

If you are technically competent, and your old pc has a large HD then i p cameras are all you need plus of course DVR software to record/monitor the cameras.

Just installed two systems, cost £100 each,plus the price of an ( at least 500gig) hard drive I hard two spare 500gig Sata drive spare). System has 4 cameras, records and is accessable for remote viewing.

If you are technically competent, and your old pc has a large HD then i p cameras are all you need plus of course DVR software to record/monitor the cameras.

Hi, thanks for that, I'm technically competent, but in another field, I work with CNC machines, so work with computers and software at a reasonable level, could you give a breakdown of the parts you used to make your systems, also what dvr software do you recommend?

Running costs of a proper CCTV DVR will be somewhat cheaper than using an old PC.

 

I have plenty of old PCs, but opted for a dedicated 8ch DVR unit.  Motion detection, email alerts, ftp, etc  It does it all "out of the box", no fannying around.  I got my cctv-direct.com (think they have gone to being trade only, but I've still got an account with them).