After a bit of theft around my shop, I installed a Zmodo setup off Amazon. I think it was ~$150 with a 500MB hard drive.
This appears to be the one...
I have three of the four cameras set up, with one recording all the time, and two recording outside business hours. It has a setting that allows it to record in "low res" which is actually just low frame rate until it sees motion. With these settings, it will hold about three weeks of video before over-writing.
The cameras work decently in the dark out to about 20' unless there's extra lighting. The resolution is not really great, but it'll do for my needs.
It took a bit of time to learn to use it, but nothing special. Oh, I can remote view from my phone too, and it can be set to send emails (texts?) if motion is detected on specific cameras during set times. It probably does more, but that's as much as I've messed with it.
If you're worried about security where you live, I also recommend a motion sensing alarm setup, with the sensors placed where people shouldn't be... I bought
this one plus an extra sensor and it works well, and has great range on the sensors, and good battery life on them too. You can add door and window sensors as well, and perhaps some other stuff. I just use two motion sensors with it, programmed so one sets off a single repeating beep, and the other sets off four repeating beeps. (Leaves two more distinct alerts that I could add, and I think you can double them up too.) I have mine set so one beep is someone entering the drive, and four is someone coming down into the lower lot, where we live.
