Intenet Capable Video Surveillance

[eric_darling]

I'm looking to invest in a video security system that I can patch into my LAN for remote monitoring of the office. Lots of choices abound, but I'd love to do it myself so I can get it cheaper and just the way I want it...

Anyone care to share insights/links for this sort of stuff? I need maybe four cameras (control of such not necessary), a local digital video recorder, a way to port the thing to share video files and a way to connect remotely from the Internet. Tall order? Has anyone done something like this?

[Corey]

My understanding of this is that you pretty much have to decide whether to go with a low, mid, or high end system. For a high end system you are best off consulting an experienced professional for insights. For low end systems there are tons of internet ready webcams out there for very little money with some very clever features geared toward home surveillance, i.e.:
http://www.creative.com/products/webcams/

For mid priced, there are some decent new cams out there such as this one:
http://secure.eagletron.com/TCamWeb/clearptz.htm

From what I've seen solution from all 3 tiers come with software included, but there are also some "motion detection" software titles available for webcams which don't have that feature, I especially like the addition of noise level activation:
http://www.deskshare.com/wcm.aspx

If you want your footage to be "evidence" quality I think you pretty much have to go mid tier or higher, but a lot of the better quality low tier stuff is pretty darn good nowadays. I think for something to be admissable in court you also have to have "you are under video surveillance" signs around, depends on the laws where you live.

Bottom line, if you want to, you can put together a pretty inexpensive system that should work well. Depends what your needs are, i.e. trying to catch someone specific doing something specific, or just keeping an eyes on things. :yes The main challenges to efficacy are obvious, i.e. you need to cache footage remotely in case someone steals your computers, for most cameras lack of light causes footage to often be too grainy to use, etc... :yes

[Corey]

This video looks pretty clear:
http://www.webcamsoft.com/en/watchdog.html

And their smoke detector camera for just over $100 looks like it might be ideal for certain scenarios:
http://www.webcamsoft.com/active/details.asp?pid=61

They appear to have some fairly decent solutions for a cheap price, i.e.:
http://www.webcamsoft.com/active/cctvProdImg.asp?ca=5
http://www.webcamsoft.com/active/cctvProdImg.asp?ca=13

[rhosk]

I haven't messed with it much, but Windows Media Encoder may be all you need and the video streams right in Windows Media Player. 2 cents.

[bnkrazy]

I've often looked into DIY home security and have been on the verge of clicking those X-10 popups more than once...

Thankfully I was patient and a little searching this evening revealed these new Motorola systems...

http://broadband.motorola.com/consumers/home_monitoring.asp

Looks like they have a nice lineup already and are going to be expanding the lineup soon. I know what I'm getting for Christmas :D

Looks like they have / will have a total monitoring suite of products from video to windows/door sensors to temperature / moisture sensors...all wireless...sweet! :yes

[Edit]
Still playing with their site...
Go here: Configuration wizard (http://broadband.motorola.com/consumers/hm/flash_experience.asp?section=configure)
I selected Ranch House...the it walks you through a wizard on how to set up their system...pretty neat. However, the interesting part is as you add components, they have an MSRP for total cost that is updated based on the iitems you configure your house with...THAT is cool...and surprisingly cheap. :yes

[Corey]

Interesting...

[eric_darling]

Food for thought. Thanks guys. I'm going to consider this for awhile. I'll post back once something is installed.

[Bruce]

Hey Eric, I monitor my stores system with Timbuktu, cheap at $160.00

[eric_darling]

Hey Bruce, can you explain the setup? I'd love to know how you control it through your existing computer - do you have multiple cameras? How are they recorded? What software besides Timbuktu? Sounds intriguing, too.

[JimS]

I caught, and was able to convict my neighbor for robbing my house (4 times the day I installed the camera) with a cheap (hidden) web camera, and a program called Gotcha! I love the fact that it can be set to only record if there is movement. Surely, it misses some, but for me it worked. Of course, you may have other reasons for your setup then I have.


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[eric_darling]

Geez, your neighbor! 4 times! Wow. That's just ridiculous. What kind of idiot steals repeatedly from his tech savvy neighbor these days? I hope he saw some jail time for that, and that you got your stuff back.

[JimS]

Eric, it was much worse than that. It was four times that day. This was a single mother with a probable addiction problem, that I always tried to treat as a good neighbor. I lent her tools when she needed them, and even fixed her computer a couple of times for free. I did accept a couple of home cooked dinners that she had her daughter deliver. Never a trace of hanky-panky.

First, her then boyfriend, robbed me of about $5000 worth of money and items. I couldn’t prove it was him at the time, but it was later confirmed when he hocked the stuff. It was sold before I could recover it.

The gal was a bit smarter. She acquired a key somehow (doing work for the landlord most likely). And stole small things, a bit at a time.

I live alone, and have several possessions that I don’t often take time to actually look at. I’m not sure how long she was stealing from me before I finally realized it, but she got many of my pneumatic tools, and some antiques, and other things. Mostly she stole small things, food, cigarettes, empty pop cans, change out of my change jar, etc. It was a set of keys that finally convinced me I had a thief, and wasn’t just going senile.

I started with hiding my video camera and using the 6 hour setting. That was too much to have to watch back each night. That’s when I decided on the web cam and the Gotcha! program. Crazy as it sounds, the first day I had it hooked up, she came in and robbed me four different times, and I caught enough of it to convict.

She did a little jail time, but I never got anything back, checking out her house would be an invasion of her privacy, even if I have video of her packing my stuff out. Go figure. I’m not sure if the guy did any time or not. This genius stole my $2000 camera outfit, but left $1000 worth of filters, setting in a stack next to it.

The stories we hear about addiction in rural America seem to be true. :huh


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[eric_darling]

Stealing to support addiction seems to go hand-in-hand with stupidity, doesn't it? That's a bummer, Jim. I've been very lucky with my neighbors through the years. I'm not so worried about them - it's the vermin who are "just passing through" that I'm convinced will one day attempt to rob me.

[Worm]

I've used my web cam and a program named Digi-Watcher (http://www.digi-watcher.com). It allows you to do motion detection recording, and another nice feature is its remote viewer. You can actually watch & listen to the camera real-time from a remote location. Obviously we're not talking high quality video, but it has met my needs for a little over a year now.

There was also another software package that was used at my previous employers that would allow you to turn most of the new networked based cameras into a digital video recorder. NetWatcher Pro is the software, and here's the site http://www.securityideas.com

[bnkrazy]

If you are interested in a simple webcam type setup, check out webcamxp...I have an older version that has all the newer versions rolled into one.

It has built in motion detection, when activated you can set it to record video for a minute or two to really se what is going on...etc. Also, I think it supports 4 cameras, maybe more. It also has a built in web server so that you can view/administer the setup remotely...