RiggsFamily needs cctv solution...

[TeleFragger]

ok all... i need some help... there is IP CCTV and siamese cable cctv...

so help me out... blurp taken from another camera topic...

I use this 8 channel capture card (and you'll find my search for WDM-drivers on that page too, provided by a fellow HS user) with WebcamXP:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.16579

I have a couple of outdoor cameras which are surprisingly good for the price:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.2764

And some indoors cameras which are good if you change the lense:
http://dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.19817
http://dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.15237

WebcamXP also works with alot of network cameras, I have these two:
http://dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.14272
http://dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.26358

The total price is below $400 which is very good (at least here in Norway) for a camera setup.

well we just had someone put our birdbath on our front porch for april fools.. i thought it was one of our neighbors... another neighbor (we dont hang out) also had the same happen... so now i know my buds wouldnt do that to him....

so that has no harm right... so no big deal...

now.... my light between my front garage doors has been getting unscrewed MANY TIMES recently... ill say 5-8 times... so i was thinking it was my buds or something.. if we hang out front... cut the light... but we havent hung out... so now im trying to figure out what is going on..

another neighbor said his shed was broken into and it was locked.... and his neighbors was broken into.. his neighbor has a motion flood light pointing at the shed... someone unscrewed the bulbs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I NEED TO GET SOMETHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

so i like your setup as it is not extremely expensive... now i have a question.. when i built my new whs for homeseer to run on.. i made sure to have a 1x pci express slot... so would this work better than that card?
so those cameras would work with this????

http://www.ixbay.com/english/digital...-pci-e-d1.html

so that
plus 2 of these
http://www.ixbay.com/english/outdoor...day-night.html

plus cables and im good.... then work on getting it into hs view or use their software for now....

now what about IP cameras???
ok so run a cat5 wire.... but what else? i know nothing about ip cameras and ip wireless cameras....

so this.....
http://www.ixbay.com/english/securit...-ir-range.html

alot of cat5 wire and im done?????

so what do you think...

[Gogs]

To be honest I played with various CCTV methods and finally went for GeoVision with hardwired cameras.

It runs on a separate computer, can run on the HS computer and interfaces brilliantly with HS.

It is professional stuff, will date/time stamp recorded video and can be remotely accessed such as through HS

For example you can have it turn on lights when the cameras detect movement, or execute anything in HS. HS can also instruct GeoVision to do things like start recording, but I have not got that side working.

Worth looking at if you wish good surveillance.

[TeleFragger]

yeah i have a digiop system in my garage i could install.... but i need cameras too.... so figured a card into my hs box and go....

[Pete]

I would recommend a separate CCTV DVR device/computer versus plugging a CCTV video card into your HS computer.

I am currently using simese cables, cat5 baluns and IP cams. The quality of the video using the baluns is the same or better than the simese cables today.

The Digiop system sound good. You can also build your own DVR. (it really is plug n play). My CCTV DVR talks Xap to HS and HS talks Xap to my DVR.

I also like the cameras looking at cameras overlapping methodology. (but thats me though)

[Seereus]

Hello all, I am a bit new to homeseer functionality. Is there a specific plugin or way to have homeseer interact with CCTV Capture cards? Does it only work with some and not others. I am trying to find out as much as possible before I end up deep into something that doesn't work. I have been searching the forums, doesn't seem like homeseer really supports cctv capture cards or I just missed it entirely. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Pete]

There are two plugins. One called Webcam and the other called Netcam.

I use Netcam, HSTouch, Maestro and a few custom pics scripts with a separate Linux box running an application called Zoneminder.

I talk to Zoneminder with Homeseer via a Homeseer Plugin utilizing Xap. I can use Xap to provide status on Homeseer from Zoneminder. I use Xap on Homeseer to create events on Zoneminder.

On this thread there are folks running separate MS Windows CCTV applications concurrently with Homeseer and they run fine together.

Personally would prefer keeping a DVR on a separate box.

[Seereus]

I neglected to be more specific in that I am using Hard wired Cams, composite video connections to two four channel capture cards running Pelco Sprectra speed domes and zoom cameras. No ip or web cams involved. The capture card is a Huperlabs running 4000 series software. I run these because their software offers more features than anyone elses. I have a computer that is more than capable of handling multiple programs as it currently is running the surveillance program as well as media center driving three TV's. I would also like to have homeseer interlaced with the capture cards, this is what I am trying to accomplish. Thanks very much for the input.

[TeleFragger]

..........

I would recommend a separate CCTV DVR device/computer versus plugging a CCTV video card into your HS computer.
Why would you want it seperate? only curious as my machine is a quad core xeon with 3gb ram running whs and 1tb and 2-500tb drives. I will be adding more drives if i add the camera....

I am currently using simese cables, cat5 baluns and IP cams. The quality of the video using the baluns is the same or better than the simese cables today.

The Digiop system sound good. You can also build your own DVR. (it really is plug n play). My CCTV DVR talks Xap to HS and HS talks Xap to my DVR.
digiop system has issues... i replaced the hd and power supply.. i have the original cd to restore it but for some reason it only stays up for a bit then reboots.. not sure why.... also the software does not allow recording to avi or .jpg... only proprietary video format....


I also like the cameras looking at cameras overlapping methodology. (but thats me though)

appreaciate your response.. i just gave some thought on what you said.. remember im not bashing anything you say....



i was hijacking up the other topic.. so back to here..

someone gave me a link to a $34.99 + $20 shipping buy it now 8 camera card... well i sent a message and they say it doesnt support .jpg.. only video.... so that is out.. I dont want video.. i want it to take pics upon motion...

There are two plugins. One called Webcam and the other called Netcam.

so if i did put a card in my hs server.... which plugin would you use and how does it tie in? most likely ill have pics dump to a folder....

[djanse]

Here is my 2 pennies worth.

Having had both IP cameras as well as hardwired I can tell you they both have pros and cons.

It really depends on what your end result needs to be and of coarse how much you want to spend.

I just recently switched from 2 IP cameras using webcamXP to view both camera's together to a 8 channel DVR. I have to say that I really like DVR. My dvr allows for motion notification along with Picture as well as iphone and BB interfaces. It also has two video outputs so that I can stream to a TV or Flat panel in another room. I can either have it record all the time on all channels or set it to record on motion only. I get about a 8 days on full record with all channels going. I also like the fact hat I can secure the DVR in a lockbox and lock it in a secure closet.

Unfortunately there is not away to get the IP camera stream into one of the channels on the DVR without some major cost. I have also tried "Wireless" digital cameras and the picture quality just was not there.

I just wish there was away to put both streams into one DVR and very them all.

[Seereus]

The idea or perception I had is that I could at least see the video stream through hs. Some control over the ptz's as well would be nice. It appears that neither is really possible. After reading through another forum, it is the problem that the end user could easily trash the OS after installing such a type of program or plugin that could do what I am talking about. I can only assume that is why hs has not developed it yet as it is far to difficult and is a liability. That's a shame becuase I am quite sure anyone like myself who uses surveillance would love to be able to tie it into a home automation server. It seems to me they go hand in hand anyway.

[sacarino]

Check out ZoneMinder - does everything you guys are asking for and a whole lot more. I've been running it here for a couple of years now and it's excellent - completely hands off once you get it set up. 10 cameras (wired BNC & wireless IP) that are piped through to HS/HSTouch when the circumstances warrant (ie doorbell triggers exterior cameras, etc), which is very good for WAF.

[Pete]

I would recommend a separate CCTV DVR device/computer versus plugging a CCTV video card into your HS computer.

Why would you want it seperate? only curious as my machine is a quad core xeon with 3gb ram running whs and 1tb and 2-500tb drives. I will be adding more drives if i add the camera....

Personally I would prefer to keep file storage, media streaming, DVR , etc on a separate box running HS in on its own. (I'm doing this today - but its my preference). I am in the process of updating HSPro to another piece of hardware. This now may be a quad core box versus a dual core box but it'll still be on its own. Today the video processing is mostly done on the cards themselves which is beneficial. On enterprise / commercial project to do evals of security DVR's I never came accross any MS security DVR's that I was impressed with. They worked fine but mostly very resource intensive (resource hogs). Mind you these were 24/7 recording products. Doing stills captures is a different topic. Most of the stand alone digital DVR's today are Linux based and most are propietary. There are folks that have dropped ZM on these same said boxes. (I do have PTZ control of my Panasonic IP cameras with the ZM application - works fine).

Originally Posted by Pete
There are two plugins. One called Webcam and the other called Netcam.

so if i did put a card in my hs server.... which plugin would you use and how does it tie in? most likely ill have pics dump to a folder....

I use Netcam today to "dump" pictures from ZM server. It works and there are still some features with the application that haven't been fully documented (only partially). Mostly I have HS just grabbing pictures (more real time) and dumping them. As far as I know many folks utilized Wecam but there were issues and personally I don't know how well it would work with a multiple video style card. BTW any multiple video chip / streaming security card will do both video and stills. It just depends on how you are talking to the card. I don't see an 8 chip video CCTV card though for $34. I see many CCTV cards which "split" the video signal 8 ways which ends up giving poor video / poor stills resolution and lesser fps captures. Today when someone rings the doorbell at my home I have HS provide a set of stills and ZM capture the events in video which I can forward over to HS if I want.

Attached is a snapshot of one of three video (cameras) events taken during a UPS delivery yesterday. While the videos where processed by ZM, HS also did snapshots of said "event". Note that this snapshot is a 1/4 screen edited snapshot of a 640X480 picture. Thinking of getting higher resolution cameras which would provide a bit more resolution and more detail. BTW utilize both B/W and color cameras. Note color utilizes more resources. (both CPU and storage of video)

[Moskus]

You've quoted my system in the first post. The beauty of it is that it's very basic, but covers all you want to do and the quality is actually fairly good.

Then IF you feel the need to move it to a separate machine, you are still free to do so.


Like I've said before, I'd move directly to WebcamXP (if I should have a separate machine I would use ZoneMinder too) instead of those dreadful HS plugins. They're not nearly as stable, effective and responsive as WebcamXP, I'm afraid (and I was a little disappointed about that).



Here's a sample from two of my cams, one in front of my door, and the other from my living room. These are cameras below $25.

[thymer]

I would recommend a separate CCTV DVR device/computer versus plugging a CCTV video card into your HS computer.

I am currently using simese cables, cat5 baluns and IP cams. The quality of the video using the baluns is the same or better than the simese cables today.

The Digiop system sound good. You can also build your own DVR. (it really is plug n play). My CCTV DVR talks Xap to HS and HS talks Xap to my DVR.

I also like the cameras looking at cameras overlapping methodology. (but thats me though)

x1000. You'll be much happier with the performance of a stand-alone box and do go hardwired. I use a avermedia unit and it is rock solid stable.

[Pete]

Jeff,

Go a little bit at a time.

Moskus has offered very good "in production" methodologies / product links that have been proven to work well with his Homeseer setup. (BTW - mostly due to WAF - mostly outdoor security cams - wanted to put one in the kitchen by my parrot but WAF prevented it).

One of the endeavors is just cabling and installation of your cams. Once cabling is done you can change cams at anytime.

Reason I mentioned CAT5 is that sometime in the future you can utilize the CAT5 for a networked IP cam but currently utilize it with baluns for a analogue connected camera. If you go with siamese cable you wouldn't be able to install an IP camera unless it had both a network and analogue interface. I ran both CAT5 and siamese to my cams. These camera cable runs were most difficult to run. Wires are buried about 1 foot underground using sprinkler PVC 1.5 inch tubing.
The rest is easy (application, video card, etc).

Another picture. This cam is about 125 feet from house in back yard showing an in between house view cropped a bit. Most difficult was this and a few more outside cable runs.