Ok, here's the Cliff's Notes version of what's up: My mom is really old (like 80ish). She says people are ringing her doorbell at night, calling her at night, etc. There's a good possibility she's just hallucinating due to her Parkinson's meds, or is suffering from some form of dementia (she's 80ish, remember).

So I suggested she get some sort of surveillance cameras. The police have also suggested it to her.

Does anyone know of a cheap surveillance solution?

[NOTE: Before you suggest that I just spend the night over there a few nights and if the doorbell rings, run out the door and beat the crap out of the offender, that's what I plan to do over the holiday break.]

A caller ID would tell alot about the said phone calls. As for the doorbell situation, you could hang around a bit to see of you notice anything, or install a camera or two for surveillance. Short of that though, there's not alot else.

They do make those fake security cameras with the wires and such to make it look real. Sometimes just seeing one of those serves as enough to deter anyone from doing anything. Sometimes.

You may have checked this already but on this page are some cheap solutions that might work well for you:

http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=521&name=Surveillance-Cameras

Other then that I don't really know squat about this subject. I'll keep looking out for outdoor cameras though.

Here's another one for you bro:

http://www.geeks.com/products.asp?cat=VID

I like the idea of those networked cameras. Probably have easy remote access.

Remember to put a gun under the camera and somehow rig up a way to fire it.
E: Also a laser.

5th Element style security ftw.

All I want is some cameras with frickin' LASERS on their heads.

My grandmother is delusional, but she has been this way since she was about 50, because she suffers from schizophrenia. She's morbidly afraid of Russians, and seems always on the lookout for people sent by the Russian officials to abduct her or something. She doesn't like to get in front of windows, because she thinks people outside are spying on her.

Anyway, one of my half brothers is this way too, except he doesn't care about Russians. He just thinks the world, including family members, is out to get him. This includes countless times that he's claimed someone's been sabotaging his car and installing some sort of tracking device and whatnot in it, sometime's he's alleged his parents and sometimes random people. So anyway, this actually brings me on topic here. I've told him before that he should just install some surveillance equipment to expose these people and take the evidence to the police. He says it wouldn't make any difference, though, so whatever.

If your mother is being delusional (I guess it's still possible that some kids might be harassing her), I'm not sure the cameras will help, or they'll help temporarily and then she'll find something else to be delusional about. Of course it's worth a shot, though.

http://lifehacker.com/5233052/motion-detection-is-an-effective-dead-simple-security-camera-app

I've played with this before, and its pretty cool. you just need a webcam, maybe a motion sensing light outside, and something running the cam.

I bought this one http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=MINI-WIRELESS-CAM&cat=VID

A while back... Not great video quality, somewhat hard to tune, and limited range. But for what you're doing with it, it sounds perfect. Just hook it up to a VCR and record.

Not sure if they are the same manufacture but my friend has some 2.4ghz wireless cams and they sucked, interference is a *****.