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hey guys, I have a problem (sorry if its in the wrong forum) I'm one of those paranoid types who feels their house is always going to be robbed, burglarized, or broken into, when I'm away. I suppose its a legit fear most people have, but anyways, Id like to have some type of surveillance camera hooked up, but I'm stuck between buying an IP camera, or webcam for my PC (my computer is normally on all the time anyway, and most of my valuables are located in my room with my pc). So here's some tidbits and factors in the purchase. -Live surveillance via my phone, HD preferred, if possible. -If any movement is detected from the camera, Id like to be notified via text -I'd also like to have any movement recorded for a set duration, and sent to me (or uploaded somewhere, for me to download) Now, I dont know too much about IP cams or webcams, being set up as surveillance cameras, and if remote HD viewing is possible without tons of hiccups. SD quality would be fine too as long as recording is done and saved in HD. I know there are apps (paid, prolly) but of course, I have no idea which ones work best. Though, I'd like tot hink that just purching the hardware should be enough to get a set up going. So yeah, anyways, any of you guys have some type of surveillance cam setup? Any recommendations or suggestions. Thanks in advance.
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May 17, 2014 06:34
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 08:40 |
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First of all, I should ask: What exactly are you hoping to gain from the recordings? Do you: - Suspect a roommate or friend of stealing - Live in a high-crime neighbourhood - Secretly want to be a caped crusader, tracking down the thief yourself - Want a good enough image of the thief that you can pass onto the police - Operate a cannabis grow, and you'd like advance warning for if you should skip the country Without that information, here's my opinion: IP Cameras are exactly what you're looking for. A client of the company I work for uses an Axis Communications IP Camera. He's got it set to record on activity (i.e. someone opens the door, the camera wakes up and starts recording). He gets an email whenever this occurs. I'm not sure of whether it's possible to get a text sent out with the software that came bundled with the camera. He's also able to access the camera's feed from outside the office, by going to (insert IP Address here)  port number) - He frequently does this from his phone and it works well enough.I doubt you'd be able to get "HD" (What're we talking here, 720p and above?) quality at a good frame rate on a phone - But by your spec (Watching a single room full of valuables) I'm not sure it's necessary. Surely you'd just need a good face shot of the perp which would be possible on lower quality cameras. Hope this helps.
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May 17, 2014 12:13
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It also helps on what parts you want to fully cover. You can do one of the outdoor IP cams and set it up to record if anyone walks onto your property, and alternatively most Logitech webcams come with software that is designed to record on activity and act as a secret surveillance camera if you'd like it to as well. If you want the maximum protection, do both, budget allowing. e: Unless there's some sort of proprietary software solution out there that I'm unaware of, I highly doubt you're going to find something that will 1) Record on activity for a set amount of time, 2) Allow live streaming on command, and 3) Uploads snippets of video at a time for you to view or download unless you actually sit down and do the configuring yourself. It's most likely one of those "pick two" scenarios. barnold fucked around with this message at 19:09 on May 17, 2014 |
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May 17, 2014 19:06
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If you want to do this with a Webcam, take a look at Yawcam. It's free and does most of what you're after, including live streaming and motion detection. You could always do something like set the snapshot folder as a Dropbox folder for auto-uploading.
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May 18, 2014 12:31
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ISPY can add that functionality to any ip cam.
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May 18, 2014 18:22
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If you want to try it on a webcam (generally cheaper), check out a program called Yawcam. It's free and will let you set up motion-activated recording and still shots. Pretty sure it has the ability to stream externally if you open up the right ports.
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May 19, 2014 06:21
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Zoneminder is a similar program, but with more features (and more complexity). I have 2 wireless IP cameras in my house and I use Zoneminder to get them both into the same 'dashboard' view (there's also a few ZoneMinder apps for Android). Pretty much any IP camera you buy will have all the features you cite. Both of mine come with software that do all those. I just use ZoneMinder to combine them together into a single site/app.
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May 20, 2014 20:06
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DrAlexanderTobacco posted:First of all, I should ask: What exactly are you hoping to gain from the recordings? Do you: Well, I do live in a shady part of town, but what I hope to gain is if any robber/intruder is in my house when I'm away, the HD video can identify the suspect, and the notify me immediately so I could contact police while theyre still at my place. Because email notifications can be slow, I was hoping for text message software, but I suppose I can work with email. Thanks for all your help guys, most likely Im leaning towards a good IP cam at the moment, but if anyone else has more input, that would be awesome.
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May 24, 2014 03:19
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Dr Blah PhD posted:Well, I do live in a shady part of town, but what I hope to gain is if any robber/intruder is in my house when I'm away, the HD video can identify the suspect, and the notify me immediately so I could contact police while theyre still at my place. Because email notifications can be slow, I was hoping for text message software, but I suppose I can work with email. Does your cell phone provider provide an email address that forwards as a text? That may be a solution.
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May 24, 2014 05:20
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If This Then That does email to push notifications with its mobile apps.
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May 24, 2014 11:06
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So what happens when they steal your computer running the software? You might want to see about using a small or older piece of hardware as the server portion of it so if they do take your desktop you can still get the photos and video to the police.
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May 24, 2014 16:27
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Here are some considerations if you want to be able to provide usable evidence to the police: http://www.aronsonsecurity.com/blog/bid/45150/Video-Surveillance-Camera-Resolution-How-Much-is-Too-Much http://www.axis.com/academy/identification/resolution.htm For your stated purpose - detection of folks fiddling with your house - just about anything will do. You can see a person is at the door when the camera triggers and decide if this looks shady or not. Low resolution cameras won't be good for evidence, just for detecting the event and hopefully stopping a break-in in progress.
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May 24, 2014 23:09
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I thought this was GBS and my disbelief was growing and growing as I scrolled down
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May 25, 2014 01:26
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I have a similar question, but for a different purpose: I just rescued a dog off the street and she seems to be having some bad seperation anxiety issues plus she's not really housebroken yet. I'm crate-training her and the pee part is going geat, but the pooping not so much. I was wanting to set up my spare machine with a webcam and have it trained on her crate during the day so I could see about what time she starts getting anxious, and about when she is pooping and whether it's tied in to the anxiety or not. Is Skype the best option there, or are there any applications available that will let me connect directly to the machine via forwarded ports/DMZ/etc so I can hear/speak to her? TL;DR - I want to creep on my dog at home to correct behavioral issues and possibly talk to her to calm her down. Is Skype best for this, or is there a better option I haven't heard of? Kilersquirrel fucked around with this message at 16:40 on May 30, 2014 |
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May 30, 2014 16:38
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I work at walmart and we have a small surveillance camera section. I recently saw DropCam on the shelf and looked it up. It seems like our might do what you want. It uses the cloud for storage, wifi for internet connectivity, but uses usb for power. It is apparently one of the better cameras if you get the HD version for 200. The cloud storage is, if I remember correctly, $10 for 7 days or $20/$30 for a full month. It has motion detection that can be turned on and off through scheduling. The image quality is also apparently very good and has good NV if you get the HD because it has a newer/better sensor.
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May 31, 2014 04:28
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Dr Blah PhD posted:Well, I do live in a shady part of town, but what I hope to gain is if any robber/intruder is in my house when I'm away, the HD video can identify the suspect, and the notify me immediately so I could contact police while theyre still at my place. Because email notifications can be slow, I was hoping for text message software, but I suppose I can work with email. Yeah this never works out. Most home burglaries never get solved even with video footage. Hell, I've seen murders around where I live not get solved with video footage. Good luck spending time and money on this but I'm afraid it won't do much. You're better off getting insurance on your poo poo.
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May 31, 2014 05:53
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SlayVus posted:I work at walmart and we have a small surveillance camera section. I recently saw DropCam on the shelf and looked it up. It seems like our might do what you want. It uses the cloud for storage, wifi for internet connectivity, but uses usb for power. It is apparently one of the better cameras if you get the HD version for 200. If you want a simple no-fuss setup, the Dropcam is fantastic. No static IP crap needed.
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Jun 1, 2014 13:22
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Sorry to hijack/resurrect this thread, but I have a very specific question that is ip camera related. Is there a way to have some other video device mimic an ip camera, so that it's detected by security cam software as if it were an ip camera? Something where a live stream being broadcast on the same network, using whatever specific encoding and bit rate an ip camera does, would be detected as a hardware ip cam. Basically, I want to use the video tiling features which seem to only be found in security cam software, but I want to be watching a bunch of different desktops of computers on the network, not ip cams. Any ideas?
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Jul 9, 2014 14:14
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You might want to read my thread on security cameras. http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3547030 Gozinbulx posted:Sorry to hijack/resurrect this thread, but I have a very specific question that is ip camera related. Milestone has a plugin called "Screen Recorder" that does just that.
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Jul 23, 2014 21:27
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Stupid easy IP camera with built-in back end: http://www.dropcam.com If I just wanted something to be able to look in on the house remotely then this is really the way to go.
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Jul 24, 2014 00:10
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 08:40 |
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While I do not have any direct info about your question, OP, I've seen a lot of people bringing up getting a text instead of an email, and that they're not certain if it can be done. With every carrier I've ever worked with, it is completely possible, and is ridiculously simple. Just go to your phone, and in the sendto field of your text message, just put in your email address and send yourself a text. Now go to your email, and there will be your text from your phone! Complete with an address that you can reply to your phone through (usually <your-#>@<carrier>.<com?>).
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Aug 11, 2014 08:41
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