JoelP
|
| posted on 4/8/11 at 07:24 AM |
|
|
connecting security cameras to a pc
hi all.
Im wanting to get some cameras at home. I have my old desktop pc sat gathering dust, is it viable to use this as a recorder for 4 cameras? If so, is
it as simple as getting a tv tuner card and some software?
The light fingered brigade have been at my van again 
Cheers! Off on hols on sat so hoping to get suitable cameras mounted tomorrow and just connect them when i get back.
|
|
|
|
|
britishtrident
|
| posted on 4/8/11 at 07:35 AM |
|
|
IP cams are the way to go you can even view them with a smartphone app.
[I] “ What use our work, Bennet, if we cannot care for those we love? .”
― From BBC TV/Amazon's Ripper Street.
[/I]
|
|
|
v8kid
|
| posted on 4/8/11 at 08:02 AM |
|
|
I've been trying to find a programme to do this for ages with no sucess. All the ones I have tried have some shortfall.
Key points are movement or sound activating and adjustable duration along with recognisable quality and a time stamp.
Interested to see if others have been more successful than I.
Cheers!
You'd be surprised how quickly the sales people at B&Q try and assist you after ignoring you for the past 15 minutes when you try and start a
chainsaw
|
|
|
Agriv8
|
| posted on 4/8/11 at 08:07 AM |
|
|
Just istalling my second Foscam IP camera so can recomend these dont need your old PC for this but it could be the FTP server to receive images from
the camera when it detects somthing. everything is done by the camera apart from saving the images
Though I would say its motion detaction is sensative ( its not a "zoned type " but its ftping images to my 500 Gb NAS drive so not too
bothered .
Regards
Agriv8
[Edited on 4/8/11 by Agriv8]
Taller than your average Guy !
Management is like a tree of monkeys. - Those at the top look down and see a tree full of smiling faces. BUT Those at the bottom look up and see a
tree full of a*seholes .............
|
|
|
loggyboy
|
| posted on 4/8/11 at 08:09 AM |
|
|
I thought of doing this, i bought a 4 channel input things with software etc, but it meant the PC always needed to be on and the software wasnt
great.
I bought this instead - http://www.maplin.co.uk/500gb-4-ch-h.264-network-dvr-with-2-x-ccd-cameras--advanced-mobile-access-517239
its an awaome bit of kit for the money. Very cusomisable (motion sensing, timed, external trigger etc), probly the coolest function is the remote
access, simply plug it in to your network/internet and you can access it on any PC via wireless. Set up a Dyndns account and you can also access from
any PC connected to the internet anywhere, and on top of that, you can access it via a Smart phone.
Very geek-sheek.
|
|
|
britishtrident
|
| posted on 4/8/11 at 09:00 AM |
|
|
ISTR When looking at this aabout 3 years back the CoffeeCup web cam software did all this and was a breeze to setup.
There was also a Linux distro specially tailored for this but ISTR it was a bit picky about the computer hardware it ran on.
|
|
|
britishtrident
|
| posted on 4/8/11 at 09:02 AM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by Agriv8
Just istalling my second Foscam IP camera so can recomend these dont need your old PC for this but it could be the FTP server to receive images from
the camera when it detects somthing. everything is done by the camera apart from saving the images
Though I would say its motion detaction is sensative ( its not a "zoned type " but its ftping images to my 500 Gb NAS drive so not too
bothered .
Regards
Agriv8
[Edited on 4/8/11 by Agriv8]
With FTP tansfer it would be a dawdle to use a NAS box or PC running FreeNas or a Windows PC FileZilla Server as the FTP server.
[I] “ What use our work, Bennet, if we cannot care for those we love? .”
― From BBC TV/Amazon's Ripper Street.
[/I]
|
|
|
ChrisW
|
| posted on 4/8/11 at 10:17 AM |
|
|
Zoneminder is the way forward, guys. Written by one of my clients and fully open source. If you're not handy with Linux there is a live CD you
can use that does it all for you. It will also let you watch live and recorded video via your smart phone. I've used it a lot with my
iPhone.
IP cams are great if you just want to view, but as soon as you start trying to do motion detection they suck up CPU time on the host PC and if
you're planning on running on old hardware that's not the best idea.
Use a capture card that doesn't have compression (aka H.264) on board if you want motion detection. The reason being that the card compresses
the video and the PC just has to decompress it again to analyse it which is a waste of cpu time. Cards based on the BT8xx chipset will be easy, but
make sure you get one with the same number of processing channels as it has inputs. A lot of the cheap multi channel cards only have one processing
chip and achieve multiple channels by putting a frame from each input through in order. The result is low framerate - eg 4 channels in use = quarter
framerate. The easiet way to check is to plhyscially inspect the capture card and make sure that it has the same number of bty8xx chips on the card
as input channels!
I've had good results with Osprey capture cards in the past, but they're not exactly a 'locost' solution.
Also these cameras are good for the price as long as your subjects are reasonably close. eBay Item .
Hope that helps!
Chris
|
|
|
JoelP
|
| posted on 4/8/11 at 10:38 AM |
|
|
cheers everyone! Im liking the price in loggyboys link, was thinking it would cost twice that.
I could easily spend a whole day failing to use a pc for it, so i think it makes more sense for me to buy a ready system.
Thanks again! Just need the garage defender and the flood lights now!
|
|
|
James
|
| posted on 4/8/11 at 11:06 AM |
|
|
No experience of these things myself but I seem to remember from experience of others on here, you need a pretty high quality and you need a sign
saying you've got CCTV aswell for it to be admissable in court.
Just so that no one wastes their money! 
cheers,
James
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses, behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights."
- Muhammad Ali
|
|
|
serieslandy
|
| posted on 4/8/11 at 11:56 AM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by loggyboy
I thought of doing this, i bought a 4 channel input things with software etc, but it meant the PC always needed to be on and the software wasnt
great.
I bought this instead - http://www.maplin.co.uk/500gb-4-ch-h.264-network-dvr-with-2-x-ccd-cameras--advanced-mobile-access-517239
its an awaome bit of kit for the money. Very cusomisable (motion sensing, timed, external trigger etc), probly the coolest function is the remote
access, simply plug it in to your network/internet and you can access it on any PC via wireless. Set up a Dyndns account and you can also access from
any PC connected to the internet anywhere, and on top of that, you can access it via a Smart phone.
Very geek-sheek.
I've just installed that kit into my mother in laws coffee shop.
Nice bit of kit, cameras are OK but the field of view is quite wide so might not be great for what you want.
The dvr however is very good easy to use and set up, also better than my dedicated micros one.
The company we use at work advised me on apollo dvrs as a similar alternative
link
And these cameras
link
y. They were a bit cheaper the last time I looked at them.
Then you would need cable and a psu + the instalation time.
|
|
|
hughpinder
|
| posted on 4/8/11 at 12:07 PM |
|
|
Some years ago I looked into this, and was advised (by a lawyer) that you should not use motion detection if you want to use the video in court - even
if you get an absolutely clear vedeo of someone exiting you house with your TV under their arm, their lawyer will just say He put it back guv, someone
else must have come along later and stolen it - prove they didn't' (assuming they weren't caught with the goods of course), then the
onus is on you to show there is continuous video so that no one else could have taken it. Conclusion - use 'time lapse' not motion
detection to reduce the file size.
Regards
Hugh
|
|
|
Agriv8
|
| posted on 4/8/11 at 12:09 PM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by James
No experience of these things myself but I seem to remember from experience of others on here, you need a pretty high quality and you need a sign
saying you've got CCTV aswell for it to be admissable in court.
Just so that no one wastes their money!
cheers,
James
I belive Only if comercial premasis if they are on your own home and this is not a registered office or work plasce you should not need a sighn.
regards
Agriv8
Taller than your average Guy !
Management is like a tree of monkeys. - Those at the top look down and see a tree full of smiling faces. BUT Those at the bottom look up and see a
tree full of a*seholes .............
|
|
|
Agriv8
|
| posted on 4/8/11 at 12:14 PM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by ChrisW
...
IP cams are great if you just want to view, but as soon as you start trying to do motion detection they suck up CPU time on the host PC and if
you're planning on running on old hardware that's not the best idea.
.....
Chris
thats the beauty if the Foscam ones they do all the procesing and just fire images back ( ftp / email ) when they are triggered
PC not even on just leave my nas on to receive images but thats on 24/7 for streaming music backup ect
Just captured this from mine at home
 
garden
regards
Agriv8
[Edited on 4/8/11 by Agriv8]
Taller than your average Guy !
Management is like a tree of monkeys. - Those at the top look down and see a tree full of smiling faces. BUT Those at the bottom look up and see a
tree full of a*seholes .............
|
|
|
