Webcam In A Small Shop

[amateurandy]

Hello folks,

As some of you may have gathered I do computer support for a living.

I've been asked (by phone initially, face-to-face meeting to follow) to look at the possibility of installing a webcam in a small local shop for out-of-hours monitoring.

It's a pet shop so I think the owner is more concerned about checking on the animals than anything else.

Technically I could do it quite easily, but monitoring these forums I get the impression that:

a. It would be a waste of money as the quality would be useless in practice

b. A simple pro CCTV system (not from me) would be able to monitor, record and be viewable remotely for not too much - but how much (ball park)?

Any thoughts anyone?

[PJF]

Have a look around for a DVR with network connections, the prices vary to much as it all depends on the quality your after(HDD size).

[Rich]

You need to find out exactly what he wants to achieve with the cameras first of all.

How many cameras does he want/need

Does he want to record the cameras

Forget using a webcam, but you could look at an IP camera connected to a router if he just wants to look in, but your best bet is a budget networked DVR and some budget cameras if hes only thinking about web cam prices.

Does he have a broadband at the shop?

For a budget 4 camera system hes going to be looking at around 1500 installed.

[ian.cant]

I would guess your looking at up over of

[bri]

We just had a catalogue from an outfit in Telford, only scanned it quickly yesterday(much too busy to read from cover to cover )They have a dvr that plugs into your laptop and sends you emails and images( to 3g phones only), selling it for

[amateurandy]

Thanks everyone for your comments so far, keep them coming if there's more to say.

I'll say more when I've had a look at the place with the owner..............

[baywatch]

There are little 4 camera web servers with audio available for under