surveillance web cam setup

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Comixbooks

Fully [H]
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Jun 7, 2008
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I have my web cam outside my window currently was wondering if there is someone with a better setup maybe multiple web cams.

I know most sercurity setups have a DVR but I want something I can see without the extras hassle and cost.

Would even like Night Vision enven though it's poor at a long distance I heard.

With my Logitech webcam I can record at any given moment which is nice!
 
You could pickup a capture card for your PC, or use IP Cameras and an associated recording software.
 
I never had good luck with it myself (only tried one cam though) but give Zone Minder a try.
 
Didn't know about capture cards thanks!! Might pick up some cheap cameras...

Web cam works great the HP HD ones but only have one fixated angle you can use it though the window even with a screen if you adjust focus.
 
IP Cameras with IR and WDR would be ideal. You can even supplement the camera IR with IR illuminators to get pretty decent night shots without being apparently to passersby.
 
I use IP cameras with ZoneMinder. There is probably more user friendly software out there, but ZM does work well enough.
 
-Sn1PeR- said:
I use IP cameras with ZoneMinder. There is probably more user friendly software out there, but ZM does work well enough.
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This.

ZM is the best choice out there if you're looking for free, minimal setup, and comfortable enough with Linux to follow install guides.
 
I went with IP cameras, in particular Foscam FI8910Ws. I like them since it has a built in web interface, apps for android/iOS, and they tilt and swivel so if you put them up by a window for example you can view both inside and outside and they have microphones and speakers so you can listen and/or speak.

Great for keeping a house sitter checking in on my cats while I'm on vacation honest, heh. Lets them know not only are they recorded, but you can say hi to them and be alerted they are there with the motion sensing email notices the cameras have.
Ultima99 said:
IP Cameras with IR and WDR would be ideal. You can even supplement the camera IR with IR illuminators to get pretty decent night shots without being apparently to passersby.
Click to expand...
Whats a good AC powered IR illuminator for outdoors? I've been meaning to add some to my setup, since the cameras are indoor so the built in IR can't go through the glass when pointed outside.
 
For those of you that use ZM, do you find the interface very flaky, what did you do to make it work better?

When I tried it I found it really flacky, like trying to view footage half the time it would not play. It would also detect every single little movement such as camera noise (all cameras will have that to some extent especially if it's dark) so it kept making tons and tons of 1 sec clips.
 
Red Squirrel said:
For those of you that use ZM, do you find the interface very flaky, what did you do to make it work better?

When I tried it I found it really flacky, like trying to view footage half the time it would not play. It would also detect every single little movement such as camera noise (all cameras will have that to some extent especially if it's dark) so it kept making tons and tons of 1 sec clips.
Click to expand...

It all comes down to how you compiled your install (i.e. which flags you used in configuring it) and the surrounding software (particularly FFMPEG).

Personally, I am running mine on Debian 7 VM under XenServer, with 6 gigs of RAM and 4 cores. I am also running ffmpeg 1.0.8.

These are my configuration flags:

Code: 
/configure --prefix=/usr/local --mandir=/usr/share/man --infodir=/usr/share/info --datadir=/usr/share --sysconfdir=/etc --localstatedir=/var/lib --with-libarch=/usr/local/lib --with-mysql=/usr/bin --with-ffmpeg=/usr/bin --with-webdir=/var/www/zm --with-cgidir=/usr/lib/cgi-bin ZM_DB_HOST=localhost ZM_DB_NAME=zm ZM_DB_USER=xxxxx ZM_DB_PASS=yyyyyy --with-webuser=www-data --with-webgroup=www-data --enable-debug=yes --enable-crashtrace=yes CPPFLAGS="-D__STDC_CONSTANT_MACROS ${CPPFLAGS}"



It has been running flawlessly on my end.
 
VanFanel89 said:
It all comes down to how you compiled your install (i.e. which flags you used in configuring it) and the surrounding software (particularly FFMPEG).

Personally, I am running mine on Debian 7 VM under XenServer, with 6 gigs of RAM and 4 cores. I am also running ffmpeg 1.0.8.

These are my configuration flags:

Code: 
/configure --prefix=/usr/local --mandir=/usr/share/man --infodir=/usr/share/info --datadir=/usr/share --sysconfdir=/etc --localstatedir=/var/lib --with-libarch=/usr/local/lib --with-mysql=/usr/bin --with-ffmpeg=/usr/bin --with-webdir=/var/www/zm --with-cgidir=/usr/lib/cgi-bin ZM_DB_HOST=localhost ZM_DB_NAME=zm ZM_DB_USER=xxxxx ZM_DB_PASS=yyyyyy --with-webuser=www-data --with-webgroup=www-data --enable-debug=yes --enable-crashtrace=yes CPPFLAGS="-D__STDC_CONSTANT_MACROS ${CPPFLAGS}"



It has been running flawlessly on my end.
Click to expand...

Oh wow that's crazy I forgot how complicated those manual install strings can get, did not realize it had to be done manually for that app. I just used whatever package was in the apt repo. Probably was super old.
 
Red Squirrel said:
Oh wow that's crazy I forgot how complicated those manual install strings can get, did not realize it had to be done manually for that app. I just used whatever package was in the apt repo. Probably was super old.
Click to expand...



Yeah the repo's are hugely outdated; it'd be best to compile from source or from github.
 
VanFanel89 said:
Yeah the repo's are hugely outdated; it'd be best to compile from source or from github.
Click to expand...

Good to know, I'll have to try it again some day. Idealy if I go all with IP cams I could probably even virtualize it.

Though how in the world do you know to put all those flags and stuff? That's the thing I hate about installing manually, there are so many flags and usually very poor documentation to tell you what you have to put so it works properly.
 
Red Squirrel said:
Good to know, I'll have to try it again some day. Idealy if I go all with IP cams I could probably even virtualize it.

Though how in the world do you know to put all those flags and stuff? That's the thing I hate about installing manually, there are so many flags and usually very poor documentation to tell you what you have to put so it works properly.
Click to expand...

Experimentation and understanding what the flags mean. I do not run an extensive surveillance station; it just home surveillance - nothing fancy... thus my install is not very complex.

And I am running mine virtualized - always have; works great.
 
I have several Foscam, HooToo and Loftek IP Cams. They work well. I mainly access them from my iPhone. Image quality isn't the best but it's good enough. I also have a HD cam outside and it blows the others right out of the water. When it comes to IP Cams, you get what you pay for.
 
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