Hi
If I use IP cameras is it possible to record motion to a hard drive, do you get all the options of setting sensitivity etc.

thanks for any advice

yup, you surely do have the options of configuring the motion detection parameters, as well as configuring how and where to send the motion-detected image to. Most brands of network cameras have these features built into it.

do these cameras work purely over an Internet connection. What if my connection was to go down? Does that mean nothing will be recorded.

If your recording on your LAN it will still record. If you are recording off site using the WAN then if the internet goes down then you will not be recording. But how often does the internet go down?

with my luck the internet will go down when i need it to be recording

So do IP cameras connect to a network connection (RJ45) and to the router?

Does this also provide power for the camera?

Thanks for any advice, bit new to all this

Yes, the iP camera has an RJ45 connection.
This can either be connected to your network switch or directly to your router which has additional network ports.

if you want to configure the camera to be able to transmit video over the INTERNET (which includes recording outside of your LAN), then these are the things you will need to do:

1. assign a local IP address to your IP camera (probably in the 192.168.x.x or whatever the IP addressing schema is being used by your router).

2. then configure your router's NAT to port forward the public ports to the private IP address of your IP Camera.

There's a post somewhere ( pardon me, i Can't recall) which details how to configure such a connection.

If you have a PoE enabled switch (eg. NetGear's 8port), and the camera is PoE ready, then the power will be provided by the switch to the camera.
If your switch is not PoE enabled, then you can opt to purchase a power injector.