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Video Survilance Suggestions?

  • Thread starter Alan Whitehouse
  • Start date
A

Alan Whitehouse

Hi,

Got broken into a bit ago. Live in a rural area so even with an alarm, bad
guys can come, steal and be gone before cops can get here by a long shot.
Cop that handled the break-in suggested that video survelance may help deter
and definately help catch anyone in the future who breaks in. I am thinking
of 2 or 3 cameras, 1 for the back door, one for the front door and one by
the driveway to catch cars and license plates, etc.

I am doing remodeling so while I have been doing that I have run runs of
RG-6 and CAT-5 to the outside locations near where a camera would go. There
is also 120 volt power near by. All areas are high enough such that someone
just can't sneak up and cover or move the camera. Some areas will have
motion activated lights near them, some won't.

So looking for suggestions as to hardware for camera for outdoor use
(exposed to weather -- hot, cold, rain, snow) that tie to a computer and not
VCR. Need computer software that will save locally and move copies of
photos to a directory at my ISP just in case the computer at the house is
stolen as well. System also needs to deal with low light situations as
well. Distance from camera to person could be from 15 to 25 feet to 50
feet depending on final placement location.

Anyone have some links or names that could point me in the right direction?
I live in Ontario Canada north of Toronto.

Thanks.

Alan
 
S

Si Ballenger

Hi,

Got broken into a bit ago. Live in a rural area so even with an alarm, bad
guys can come, steal and be gone before cops can get here by a long shot.
Cop that handled the break-in suggested that video survelance may help deter
and definately help catch anyone in the future who breaks in. I am thinking
of 2 or 3 cameras, 1 for the back door, one for the front door and one by
the driveway to catch cars and license plates, etc.

I am doing remodeling so while I have been doing that I have run runs of
RG-6 and CAT-5 to the outside locations near where a camera would go. There
is also 120 volt power near by. All areas are high enough such that someone
just can't sneak up and cover or move the camera. Some areas will have
motion activated lights near them, some won't.

So looking for suggestions as to hardware for camera for outdoor use
(exposed to weather -- hot, cold, rain, snow) that tie to a computer and not
VCR. Need computer software that will save locally and move copies of
photos to a directory at my ISP just in case the computer at the house is
stolen as well. System also needs to deal with low light situations as
well. Distance from camera to person could be from 15 to 25 feet to 50
feet depending on final placement location.

Anyone have some links or names that could point me in the right direction?
I live in Ontario Canada north of Toronto.

http://www.supercircuits.com/
http://www.matco.com/
 
D

Don

Well you might check out my site. I am in a similar condition. Out in the
country, 6 miles from town, at the end of a dead-end street.

I have 12 video cameras scattered all around the outside of the house that
have these features:

All COLOR cameras. They are just my preference. You can also use B&W
with infrared lights for dark areas or at night.

Incased in home made weather proof enclosures.

Connected to the home automation system.

3 of the cameras do a 180 degree sweep of the area around it.

Coverage is from about 6' to 500' depending on the camera location and area
around it.

24/7 VCR recording on a time lapse recorder that will hold a 30 DAY history
on one 8 hour tape.

Able to take a still snapshot with motion detection and email the image to a
offsite location.

Time stamped image with date and time including seconds.

Motion detection also takes a video (AVI) for the camera area detecting
motion. From 30 to 120 seconds depending upon the camera. Each one has
it's own settings.

Both the still and movie can be taken manually by visiting the website.

Any camera can be viewed in REAL TIME over the internet from the website.

The cameras that now do an automatic sweep will soon be updated so that you
will be able to control the view remotely over the website.

I use commercial CCTV cameras that have been removed from installations that
upgrade their installations. This lets me buy high quality resolution
cameras with lens for under $100 each.

If you would like to see them in operation, just visit www.k9soa.net and
use the word cha in lower case as the ID & PASSWORD. The ititial
page will tell you to use visitor but for those coming from this
newsgroup, I have set up a special ID & PW so I can make some features
available that are not normally possible using the standard for everyone
else.

Be sure to sign the guestbook to let me know what you think of the system.
If you would like a direct reply, just enter your email address. IT IS
OPTIONAL and used only once to reply to you and then deleted. No one else
will ever see it. If you don't leave an address, I will reply inline of
the guestbook entries so you can check back later for any replies.

Will be glad to help anyone that is interested in setting up a similar
system.


--

Don

www.k9soa.net

Home of JEANNIE
The House That Listens
As appeared on HGTV
and in Home Automation, Kentucky Living magazines

Have some fun and come visit and turn my lights on and off.

Over 10,000 visitors since January 2005
Over 25,000 since May 2003
 
D

Don

I forgot to mention that the STILL and VIDEO captures are made to the HARD
DRIVE and sent offline once a week for backups.
 
D

Don

Most color cameras do not do well with low light conditions. Alot of them
have a builtin filter that cuts off the infrared so it doesn't affect the
colors. Since in most conditions, the correct color is important, you
can't normally use them for low light or with infrared floodlights. There
are some exceptions but I have never tried any. I turn the cameras off at
sunset and back on again at sunrise. That way I don't get alot of black
screens and wasted HD space when visitors try to take captures after dark.
Mostly those are not located in the US. I keep a backup of 50 stills &
videos for each camera so that saves a huge amount of disk space. The
AVI's take about 5k of space for every second of movie time. That adds up
fast with 12 cameras.

I originally started with the B&W cameras but quickly changed after seeing
the difference. Recognition is much better with color, in my opinion.

I do have a couple of B&W cameras that I will be installing inside the
garage for use in no visible light conditons. Since it will be a fixed view
and nothing normally changes, it really won't make a big difference. I am
doing this since the garage is about 100' from the house. Cameras will be
tripped when either of the two vehicle doors or the entrance door is opened.


--

Don

www.k9soa.net

Home of JEANNIE
The House That Listens
As appeared on HGTV
and in Home Automation, Kentucky Living magazines

Have some fun and come visit and turn my lights on and off.

Over 10,000 visitors since January 2005
Over 25,000 since May 2003
 
D

Don

One other suggestion is to use WIRED cameras. I have never been satisfied
with the quality of the image and poor range for the wireless ones such as
from X10. Especially if you want to make them scanable views. It turns
the antenna on the camera so it is no longer towards your reciever. Also I
have had a problem that the cameras fail whenever I turn on the microwave or
walk anywhere between the camera and reciever. Just not worth the money in
my opinion. I have a few just gathering dust in the basement.

The movement platforms are the NINJI units from X10. While they are made to
handle the small lightweight X10 wireless cameras, I have been able to
modify the mounting so they work with the larger commercial cameras without
problems.

You can see the quality in the video's on my site. Even then, there are a
couple that I have to reset the focus but even then the views are pretty
good.


--

Don

www.k9soa.net

Home of JEANNIE
The House That Listens
As appeared on HGTV
and in Home Automation, Kentucky Living magazines

Have some fun and come visit and turn my lights on and off.

Over 10,000 visitors since January 2005
Over 25,000 since May 2003
 
In comp.home.automation Don said:
Well you might check out my site. I am in a similar condition. Out in the
country, 6 miles from town, at the end of a dead-end street.
I have 12 video cameras scattered all around the outside of the house that
have these features:
All COLOR cameras. They are just my preference. You can also use B&W
with infrared lights for dark areas or at night.
Incased in home made weather proof enclosures.
Connected to the home automation system.
3 of the cameras do a 180 degree sweep of the area around it.
Coverage is from about 6' to 500' depending on the camera location and area
around it.
24/7 VCR recording on a time lapse recorder that will hold a 30 DAY history
on one 8 hour tape.
Able to take a still snapshot with motion detection and email the image to a
offsite location.
Time stamped image with date and time including seconds.
Motion detection also takes a video (AVI) for the camera area detecting
motion. From 30 to 120 seconds depending upon the camera. Each one has
it's own settings.
Both the still and movie can be taken manually by visiting the website.
Any camera can be viewed in REAL TIME over the internet from the website.
The cameras that now do an automatic sweep will soon be updated so that you
will be able to control the view remotely over the website.
I use commercial CCTV cameras that have been removed from installations that
upgrade their installations. This lets me buy high quality resolution
cameras with lens for under $100 each.
If you would like to see them in operation, just visit www.k9soa.net and
use the word cha in lower case as the ID & PASSWORD. The ititial
page will tell you to use visitor but for those coming from this
newsgroup, I have set up a special ID & PW so I can make some features
available that are not normally possible using the standard for everyone
else.
Be sure to sign the guestbook to let me know what you think of the system.
If you would like a direct reply, just enter your email address. IT IS
OPTIONAL and used only once to reply to you and then deleted. No one else
will ever see it. If you don't leave an address, I will reply inline of
the guestbook entries so you can check back later for any replies.
Will be glad to help anyone that is interested in setting up a similar
system.


* How do you interface to the dishwasher and Washer ..?

Most modern household machines of this kind utilise some kind of embedded
cpu. However external interface is nonexistent (from what I have seen).
Opening the machine and wireing it up is feasable. But that is likely to
become a liability should any malfunction occour.

* What kind of bus do you use ..?
Hooking up a few hundred devices needs special solutions.. ;)
 
D

Don

In my system, I use current detection coils connected to Powerflash units.
Not sure what you mean about what bus do I use. All are connected to the
powerline and use X10 protocol.
I have one house code set up just for the current sensors.


--

Don

www.k9soa.net

Home of JEANNIE
The House That Listens
As appeared on HGTV
and in Home Automation, Kentucky Living magazines

Have some fun and come visit and turn my lights on and off.

Over 10,000 visitors since January 2005
Over 25,000 since May 2003
 
In comp.home.automation Don said:
In my system, I use current detection coils connected to Powerflash units.
Not sure what you mean about what bus do I use. All are connected to the
powerline and use X10 protocol.
I have one house code set up just for the current sensors.


What is a powerflash unit?
Any details on how you built those current sensors?
(need to splice up the cable? - UL issues.. :)

Btw, I thought on useing a vibration sensor, like those used for detecting
broken windows. In addition to current sensing. Might increase precision.
 
D

Don

The Powerflash is an X10 PF284 which will send an X10 command to my Homeseer
automation system when an appliance has been turned on. A 300-500 wind
coil has the 120v AC power cord passing through the coil and generates a
5vac signal to the PF284 connections. The sensor coil provides more than
enough precision to set the indicator to on or off.
 
Don said:
I do have a couple of B&W cameras that I will be installing inside the
garage for use in no visible light conditons. Since it will be a fixed view
and nothing normally changes, it really won't make a big difference. I am
doing this since the garage is about 100' from the house. Cameras will be
tripped when either of the two vehicle doors or the entrance door is opened.

I'd like to do something like this at the store. Hook up a camera to
the door chime or some kind of motion sensor, so it takes a picture of
everyone that comes in the front door.

My DVR has built-in motion detection that looks cool if it worked, but
I still have a bunch of black images at night.

Randy R
 
D

Don

You need Infrared Floodlighting. They are usually a bunch of LED's on a
little board and work pretty good for up to around 30'. I bought a bunch of
them for about $15 each. They were kits that all you did was solder about
40 leds on a board and connect 12volts DC. Don't remember where I got them.
Has been a couple of years.


--

Don

www.k9soa.net

Home of JEANNIE
The House That Listens
As appeared on HGTV
and in Home Automation, Kentucky Living magazines

Have some fun and come visit and turn my lights on and off.

Over 10,000 visitors since January 2005
Over 25,000 since May 2003
 
P

(PeteCresswell)

Per Don:
I originally started with the B&W cameras but quickly changed after seeing
the difference. Recognition is much better with color, in my opinion.

Looking at the your web site shots on my PC screen it seems like I'd be hard
pressed to make positive identification of somebody from one of those stills.

Could this be an artifact of processing for presentation on the web site?

Or am I being too picky?
 
P

(PeteCresswell)

Per G. Morgan:
Are you replying to a message from March?

Oops!..... Just started reading the NG...

The whole thread was born and died before the third week in march.
 
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