Anyone got such a system installed?

I was mooching round Maplins the other day and for £200 I could get a complete system, couple of cameras, 500gb hard drive etc. , seems easy to install.

Any good or a waste of cash?

You’ve still got to rely on the police actually doing something though. I’d say the money would be better spent on stopping it being nicked in the first place…

IIRC There was a case not long back where some-one had experienced a theft, increased there security, including cameras & the thieve’s came again, in through the back of the garage avoiding the camera’s..

The camera need to be a decent quality to actually give a decent shot (how many blurred photo have you seen in the news?), if there obvious the thieves may well just use hoodies/scarves and ignore it otherwise. What use is a camera in the dark…

If they want it, they’ll get it… not saying it’s not useful in try to increase the odds of a conviction/recovery and maybe putting them off in the first place, but maybe making your garage/shed more secure/alarmed might be a better option.

Don’t think CCTV is some magic solution. In terms of solving a crime all it does is give you a picture of the suspect. You still have to identify them. If you don’t recognise them and they don’t happen to be a “known” criminal all you have is a picture! That’s if your system is good quality and was operating correctly at the critical time and the thief wasn’t aware of it!

It will have some deterrent effect and you might get lucky and identify a thief. However it also advertises the fact you have something worth protecting. In my view your money is better spent on better locks, making sure your kit is out of sight and security lights.

I hope this is of some use.

Its a good deterent if you also install cctv warning signs. Make sure the cameras have infra red to pick up images in the dark. Get the highest res cameras without going into the realms of HD. Make sure the DVR(digital video rec) is secure in the house and has plenty of memory with extra capacity to add xtra cams. A good facility is to hook the dvr up to the router so you log on remotely to view the cams from abroad for instance. Colour cams are much better than BW. It is important to be able to play back the action that has happened during the recent days quite easily and quickly, for example if an intruder walks onto your property at 11.15 this needs to highlighted and accessed easily. Personally i would be looking at spending at least £70 on each camera. Do some more research. Good luck. D