Is Cheap Video Surveillance Possible?

A poster at Slashdot asks:

After a series of burglaries and auto break-ins in my neighborhood, I'm thinking about adding some video security cameras to my home. To me, the object isn't just deterrence — if someone tries to break into my house or my car (parked on the street in front of my house), I'd like to provide a high-quality image of the perpetrator to the police. Inexpensive video surveillance systems, with their atrocious image quality, are nearly useless. The problem is being able to get good image quality at an affordable price.

Here's the ensuing discussion.

*This is true by the way. It's amazing how many security cameras record essentially useless images.