I have had a little trouble recently with non-serious but annoying vandalism. I would like to set up 2 cameras to start but have the option of adding more (4 total) as needed. The first camera will be mounted on our porch about 10 feet from the door so I don't need an exceptional image. Any others will later be placed in the driveway or by the other doors. There will always be a porch light of some sort so no-light cameras are not needed but low-light probably would be.

I only need to save footage for 2 days max and would like to stick with a computer based system as I can put one together with spare parts and presumably save money. I would install XP and would need to record at least 2 simultaneous feeds but would like the option of recording at least 4 feeds at a later time. Frame rate would be fine at 5 fps. Internet streaming would be cool but not at all necessary.

I know most posts for what to buy say their budgets are $400-500 but due to only needing only 2 cameras upfront and hopefully using a current or parted together PC, can I start a system for < $200 (2 cameras and DVR card)? I am a fan of eBay but reading this forums' denial (understandably) of pirate/clone cards I don't want to buy something cheep and not be able to get help for it.

It looks like I can get DVR cards for $20-$100 on ebay, but what brands are worthwhile or what generic cards are acceptable, and with what software? It looks like most of the cards on ebay are no-name and allot do not have software but only drivers. Cameras on eBay are as low as $40 but usually do not have a brandname. What kind of cameras (or camera) should I look at?

I considered just using a wifi camera but at $100 for a single camera it just doesn't make sense in the long run.

Where do I start?

Thanks!

Do a google search for eyemax 9030. they run under $150. It's a budget board, but they are decent.

It's a 4 channel 30 frame board (15 frames for 2 cameras at CIF resolution, 7 frames for 4 cameras at CIF resolution)

It has web access.

Number of days is dependent on your hard drive size. With 2 cameras you can get about 2 weeks on an 80 gig hard drive at 30fps motion only. 7 days on continuous record.

Make sure your motherboard has an intel chipset.

You can do a google search for 420 dome camera (or 420 bullet camera.) You can get them around $50 each for a 1/4" CCD. 1/3" CCD run about 50% more. Low lux (low light) and IR cams will cost a bit more.

Maybe someone else can chime in on the best camera selection.

This board sounds like it has everything I need right now but I am not finding too much about it. What I have come across is some being referred to as Eyemax DVB or DVS 9030. Some images of the DVB show two cards (1 full card) while others show only a single card. I have never purchased this kind of equipment before- is there a reputable seller who still sells this? Looking on ebay I only came across one currently listed and none (that I found) previously listed.

It looks like it is pretty standard that the software comes with the hardware as they are specific to eachother- is this correct?

I also had a hard time finding the minimum system requirements for the PC. I know Intel is the chipset but how fast must it be? Could a recycled Celeron with 512MB Ram handle this? Harddrives are not an issue but I am concerned about spending too much on an overkill system but it does have to be functional for the video capturing.

Finally, I appreciate your suggestion on cameras. Doing some more searching I see that the 1/3 CCD is not that much more expesive (as you mentioned) than 1/4 so I assume I will go with that. I do not need IR so it looks like it will be a very basic camera. Are there brand names to go by when choosing cameras? I found tons on eBay with "Sony" and "Sharp" lenses but they are just the lenses which are branded, is that fine?

Thank you for any suggestions!

-Stephen

Well it looks like "DVS" is specifically for a full system (pc, monitor, etc) while DVB is the board only.
I did come across the DVB-9060 which can have up to 16 channels and isn't too much more than the 9030. Does anyone what a PC has to have to run something like this? I'm sure it's a lot more and it's certainly overkill at this point but later in the future it may be worth it.
I'm still looking for a reputable store but I am also still finding it difficult to even locate these cards outside of cheap yahoo personal store websites.

I've seen them built them on P4 2.4 with 256 MB RAM. since you only have 2 cameras, anything around those specs should be fine.

By the way, the processor is different from the chipset. Make sure your motherboard has an intel chipset.