Webcams and Homeseer

[simonog]

As a long time user of hs, I have now added a couple of webcams to my system.

As I am UK based, they are not X10 cameras. They are wireless and feed into a video card which can be read by webcam32.

My aim is to have easily accessible from my hs pages a record of movement around the front door. Despite believing that lots of hs users have done that, I can't find a pre-written script & instructions that will do this.

Does anyone have the scripts/asps and some simple setup instructions? I think this could be useful to a lot of other hs users too: this is something everyone will want at some point!

[Rupp]

Here is the most basic htm page that you can use to stream your WebCam32 to the web. All that is required is to edit the ip address and port numbers and you should be able to stream video.

Right click on the link and use "save target as" to save it to your disk.

-Rupp
...One Nation Under GOD, Indivisible, With Liberty And Justice For All.

[MGN]

I have a hard wired camera over my back door that feeds a Hauppauge WinTV GO card in my HomeSeer server. I am running a copy of HomeWatcher on the server that monitors the camera and adds a snapshot to a webpage when motion is detected. I have configured HomeWatcher to place the snapshots and webpage in a subdirectory of the HomeSeer/html directory so that the HomeSeer webserver can serve the page to both local PCs on my home network and to the internet via my ADSL broadband connection. You can see the results on my personal website.

I also use the Homeseer webserver to serve the blowups for my online photo album. The thumbnail page are hosted on the 20Mb of web space that BT gave me with my ADSL connection and these link to 1Gb of photos which are located in another subdirectory of the HomeSeer/html directory on my HomeSeer server.

[simonog]

Martin, Rupp: thank you for the suggestions.

Martin: I love your backdoor page. what script did you use to crete it?

Do you also find that 380 line cameras are enough to give you good quality pictures? or have you been tempted by something of higher resolution?

[DaveB]

Thanks for your guidance on camera/software combinations. I've decided to try to use Webcam32, with a USB camera. It's installed, and appears to be initially working now. Thanks again for your help.


Dave
(Config specs in profile)

[This message was edited by DaveB on Thursday, 21 November 2002 at 11:55 AM.]

[MGN]

No script is required ! HomeWatcher automatically updates a template web page with any new snapshots as they are created. The program comes with a few example templates and I have attached the template that I use (I have changed the .htm extension to .txt).

The resolution of the 380 line camera is fine for my purposes which are:

1. When we are away, we can check the webcam page to see who has visited us.

2. When I am working at home and the doorbell rings I can view the live video feed displayed by the homewatcher program to see who it is.

N.B. you will need to right click and "Save target as" to view the template. If you just click on it your browser will try to display it as a web page.

[This message was edited by Martin Neville on Friday, 22 November 2002 at 04:11 AM.]

[Rupp]

Is there an American version of that camera your using? The quality looks good.

-Rupp
...One Nation Under GOD, Indivisible, With Liberty And Justice For All.

[alevey]

Rupp,
What camera(s) do you use? I just read over WebCam32 and it looks great except that it seems it will only use 1 cam... Can it run multiple cameras?

Also, how do you connect regular cams (hard-wired) types?

[Rupp]

I use a Kodak USB camera with Webcam32. Really none of the streaming packages mentioned on this board will stream more than one camera at a time on the WinTel systems because they will only allow one connection at a time. The reason it appears to be able to show different cameras is the way the X10 wireless cameras work. You are simply sending a different camera signal to the receiver. The receiver still only see one signal at a time.

-Rupp
...One Nation Under GOD, Indivisible, With Liberty And Justice For All.

[Stuart]

Hi,
This might help those who want more than one camera. The price is reasonable.
Stuart

http://www.ramseyelectronics.com/cgi...tion&key=AVS10

[zoomkat]

If you are interested in making a sequential video switcher like the Ramsey AVS10, it is fairly easy if you can do some basic soldering. Below is a sequential switcher made from a 4017 decade counter chip (which is probably what the AVS10 uses). All Electronics has an "LED chaser" kit for $6.50 that would serve as the heart of the switcher. You probably could also easily modify the AVS10 to be switched via the web if desired.

http://www.geocities.com/zoomkat/RSswitcher.htm

[MGN]

A google search on "color bullet cameras" brings up quite a few suppliers on your side of the pond.
However, you guys use a different TV standard to us so I was not able to find a direct match to the camera I use. My supplier is Rfconcepts who are based in Belfast.

[simonog]

New question:

I am trialling webcam32. Mostly I like it: one issue I need help from someone who has made it work.

It is set to trigger on http save (ftp not enabled). I set the Device Format to 320* 240 (which is the highest it will let me do without resetting itself so I assume it's the highest the video card will support).

Its saved images are 152 * 112 and I can't find any way to change that. Is there something obvious? Does it work for you?

[alevey]

I'm looking at getting 5-8 cams setup for security. So I want to record all cams, and be able to view any of the recordings and view real-time via the web.

anyone seen this?

[alevey]

can you look at this thread and give me your advice...


http://ubb.homeseer.com/6/ubb.x?a=tp...486#2822947486

thanks!