How much property are you talking about covering? I got into learning about camera systems around 10 years ago and I had more of the mindset of building a system I could maintain with time and tweak to my liking. I didn't want to get a complete off the shelf system that would likely be discontinued or be easy to hack. The field has changed a lot, but here are some of the conclusions that I arrived at, which hopefully will be helpful.
1.) You get what you pay for. A good long-term system will usually cost more and be more trouble to maintain than most people want to bother with.
2.) Think about what you want to system for. Successfully identifying thieves and vandals means that the cameras have to be very well placed and high quality. An early warning system for intruders can be simpler, but it's also hard to beat a pen of Guinea Hens. Watching wildlife is probably my favorite use.
3.) Network cameras are where it's at. They perform the video encoding, rather than overwhelm the central server.
4.) Wired cameras are best and less troublesome. You have to power them anyways.
5.) Power Over Ethernet(POE) gets you your power and data on one cable, greatly simplifying the system.
6.) ZoneMinder is good software that helps you manage and store the camera streams.
7.) Spiders and insects wreck havoc on motion detection at night.
8.) Cameras running 24/7 outdoors don't last as long as you think.
You could do all of this on solar, and with a good WiFi router, you could access it by phone on your local network without being connected to the internet.
