On Thu, 28 Aug 2008 19:28:43 +0100, Grimly Curmudgeon
wrote:

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember "Sarah" saying
something like:

So knowing nothing about cctv, I thought you guys would know ?

Do I need something that connects to my pc or tv ? also would need to store
the footage maybe on a hard disc or a blank dvd ?

I got a cheapy 4-channel PCI input card and a couple of cheapy Chinese
cams from ebay a couple of years ago. The vid quality was ok, not HD by
any means, but ok for seeing people coming and going from my front yard.
I bought a NOS store cam which might have better definition, but the
main thing is it can take power zooms and all that if I want to add them
- black and white, but you don't particularly need colour if it's ID-ing
you want and it's zoomed in close enough.
The store cam was pretty cheap - around 20pounds, iirc. All I need now
is an external housing and they're cheap enough.

All this is feeding into a spare PC - but it's not a great load on a
modern box and I run a motion-sensing programme so the disk isn't loaded
with empty crap video.

It sounds like the neighbours will be close enough for such kit to be
able to identify them - at least clearly enough to give a copper an
excuse to go round and have a word.
Much more than that and a rather more expensive system would probably
be needed - at which point it might be cheaper to hire a couple of
'likely lads' to go round and 'express your concerns in a robust and
concerted fashion'.

Regards,



--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations
http://www.shwoodwind.co.uk
Emails to: showard{who is at}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk