Home Made Security Camera???

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simon14

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#21164 17-Apr-2008 17:17

Hey guys,

My girlfriend and I have just moved out of home, we moved out to Beach Haven on the North Shore. We aren't in the best area one would hope for but we chose to live in the area so we could save more money towards a deposit on a house.

The people we live around are mostly pigs, to put it bluntly. They litter, steal and most of them don't even seem to hold a job.

We have had quite a few things in our backyard go missing including a chair, table, clothes and more. We have a dog but she?s by no standard a guard dog.

I have a video camera and a laptop and want to start recording video footage throughout the entire day and would like to know if anyone can recommend some good software that could do the job? Is there any software that will only start recording while there is movement? I'm not too worried about the space the video footage will take up as we have 500gb free and I'll only keep the footage for a day or two.

Any suggestions?

Cheers,

3nvy

104 posts

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#124632 18-Apr-2008 09:19

You could use FRAPS along with the software which no doubt came with/is available for your model webcam.

The issue with this is that the freeware/trial version of FRAPS saves the video in a totally uncompressed video format. So.. your 500gb is going to go mighty quick.

I managed to rock out 2gb in around 4 minutes of recording Street Fighter videos.

In terms of recording only when movement is present, you'd need to set up a motion detection device which would power on/off your webcam (in terms of starting/stopping recording and the fact most webcams are USB powered) you may find that this is a BIG job to do.

Webcams, unfortunately, do not have the ability to detect when motion is or is not present and act accordingly.

If you don't mind spending a little bit of cash, you can go into DSE and purchase a camera that'd plug into a TV for around $100. From there, record with a VCR. You can get 5 hour tapes fairly cheaply but I'm not sure if theres any longer length available.

If theres anything I can help with, as I have a litttttttle bit of experience here, just ask!

simon14

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#124720 18-Apr-2008 12:48

Sounds good,

I wont actually be using a webcam, ive got me a Sony DV Cam and its connected to the laptop via FireWire cable.

I'll have a look into this software.

Thanks.

3nvy

104 posts

Master Geek

#124751 18-Apr-2008 14:14

Sony DV camera will (generally) give you better quality than your webcam. Most DV cameras tend to record at 0.8MP, which means if you're recording your entire backyard (which it sounds like you may be) you'll get better detail, alot better choice!

Do you have software that allows you to playback the video coming through the camera on your machine?

FRAPS will only record what is displaying on your screen. Could lead to a fair bit of overhead on the CPU doing this (as the image would have to be processed/recorded to HDD via firewire and then FRAPS would have to take screen dumps from the video buffer and stitch that together and dump them back to the HDD in a video format) so I hope you have a grunty machine!

I'd really like to know how this comes out.

FRAPS freeware can be attained through a quick google search, and in terms of CPU usage would probably be the most effective (Think having to encode on the fly whilst streaming/recording!) but you may find that 500gb isn't enough.

Hope this helps,

EDIT:

Thinking about this because its a DV camera it probably has software available to record directly to HDD..

Bung

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#124767 18-Apr-2008 14:49

3nvy:
Webcams, unfortunately, do not have the ability to detect when motion is or is not present and act accordingly.

Wouldn't that be a function of the software app that was receiving the video? There seem to be plenty of motion detect surveillance apps for webcams.

billgates

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#124903 19-Apr-2008 10:44

yeah there is a great software tool called Zone Minder...its for Linux Platform....one of my mates is using 2 Microsoft VX-1000 Web Cameras with Zone Minder....he can do remote viewing from work, the software tells him every 5 seconds whether there has been a motion change at all. AND HE HAS SUCCESSFULLY chased away burgulars by calling the cops on them from work...

Do whatever you want to do man.

3nvy

104 posts

Master Geek

#125205 21-Apr-2008 09:10

Bung:
3nvy:
Webcams, unfortunately, do not have the ability to detect when motion is or is not present and act accordingly.

Wouldn't that be a function of the software app that was receiving the video? There seem to be plenty of motion detect surveillance apps for webcams.

Depends how you wanted it done. You could do a software app that does a motion detect check, but that would mean the webcam would be continually running. I thought one of the big benefits of motion detect was to have the device only on whilst motion was detected (rather than only recording whilst motion was detected).

xpd

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#125212 21-Apr-2008 09:33

I have used WebCamXP with varying success.

www.webcamxp.com

The motion detection was a bit hit and miss but I didnt sit down with it to see if it could be tweaked as I was only playing with it.

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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wmoore

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#125219 21-Apr-2008 09:54

For legal reasons.....

Just make sure the camera is focused only on your backyard and make sure it doesn't show the neigbours property or any other
public area.

"In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." -
-- Abraham lincoln

xpd

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#125224 21-Apr-2008 10:12

Heh... thats where Id probably hit some problems if I was to setup a 24/7 camera... If I wanted to monitor who was coming onto our property, I'd also have to cover part of the neighbours property due to the layout of the driveway.

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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Bung

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#125241 21-Apr-2008 10:56

wmoore: For legal reasons.....

Just make sure the camera is focused only on your backyard and make sure it doesn't show the neigbours property or any other
public area.

Care to elaborate?

Neighbours property maybe depending on extent, but most security cameras include some public area approaching the property. This does not appear to breach the Privacy Act.

3nvy

104 posts

Master Geek

#125249 21-Apr-2008 11:10

I think there may be a few people who would get a bit angsty if you recorded what went on in their backyard. Not sure if theres any actual legal standing to this.

wmoore

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#125468 22-Apr-2008 05:15

Bung:
wmoore: For legal reasons.....

Just make sure the camera is focused only on your backyard and make sure it doesn't show the neigbours property or any other
public area.

Care to elaborate?

Neighbours property maybe depending on extent, but most security cameras include some public area approaching the property. This does not appear to breach the Privacy Act.

Just down the road from us there is a development of four houses with Block walls and a main gate. They placed a camera on the wall
facing down to the main gate, so they were filming the gate and the footpath. The council told them to move it back further inside the
property.

"In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." -
-- Abraham lincoln

brigsy1

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#126682 28-Apr-2008 07:27

Hi My first post here.
Interesting topic. Have a look here.

http://www.simplehelp.net/2006/09/27/how-to-use-your-pc-and-webcam-as-a-motion-detecting-and-recording-security-camera/

and here.

http://www.doubleburgerbar.com/watchdog/

And here.

http://www.pysoft.com/ActiveWebCamMainpage.htm

I have tried them all and they work well. Hope this helps.