Video surveillance systems have come a long way over the last few decades. Ever since ol' Hitler set up the world's first closed-circuit surveillance cameras to observe close-up footage of V2 rockets blasting off towards London, we've seen massive improvements in image quality, image resolution, framerate, storage capacity, networking, number of features and cost-reduction.
But perhaps the most significant development that is often overlooked is user-friendliness, both in terms of installation and operation. Coupled with the fact that today's setups are far more technologically advanced than ever before, this is in fact quite a feat.
This is all great for the modern-day consumer, but one thing can leave you pulling your hair out - there are thousands of different models out there! All with different feature sets, specifications and of course, prices.
One fairly consistent characteristic is that you do seem to get what you pay for. Pay for a toy and that's what you're going to get. To give you a specific example, many of the cheaper "baby monitors" tend to be low-quality, unreliable and full of interference. Not what you want when it's about the safety of your baby.
In short you want something that works and works well, so make sure you read real reviews by real users based on real experiences (e.g. reviews on Amazon.com by "verified purchasers").