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    Security Camera recommendations

    I am thinking about installing an exterior security camera. I would like to mount the camera on a fence post about 25' from the house so that it sees the driveway, garage door, and the house back door. I do not need it to pan or tilt. I also do not need it to be a high quality image. I just want to know if a person or car is in the drive or if the garage door is open, etc. I would prefer to spend as little as possible to get it up and running because I do not know if it will be permanent. I want the camera to be controlled through Homeseer.

    After searching, there a lot of options available, but most are pretty expensive. I was thinking of something along the lines of a "desktop web cam". All suggestions would be appreciated.

    Steve Q
    HomeSeer Version: HS3 Pro Edition 3.0.0.368, Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 - Home, Number of Devices: 373, Number of Events: 666, Enabled Plug-Ins
    2.0.83.0: BLRF, 2.0.10.0: BLUSBUIRT, 3.0.0.75: HSTouch Server, 3.0.0.58: mcsXap, 3.0.0.11: NetCAM, 3.0.0.36: X10, 3.0.1.25: Z-Wave,Alexa,HomeKit

    #2
    Steve,
    If you are looking for an inexpensive camera that is used to see vehicles and not identify people then this camera works well. They last 3-4 years in the weather under an eve. http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=47546

    Here's a screen shot of mine in action.
    Attached Files
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    Comment


      #3
      Wow, Rupp, this looks great. Perfect for what I need. I'll look at it more closely and get back to you. I'm sure I will have some questions.

      Steve Q
      HomeSeer Version: HS3 Pro Edition 3.0.0.368, Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 - Home, Number of Devices: 373, Number of Events: 666, Enabled Plug-Ins
      2.0.83.0: BLRF, 2.0.10.0: BLUSBUIRT, 3.0.0.75: HSTouch Server, 3.0.0.58: mcsXap, 3.0.0.11: NetCAM, 3.0.0.36: X10, 3.0.1.25: Z-Wave,Alexa,HomeKit

      Comment


        #4
        This is a wired camera just so you know and they run them on sale from time to time for $19.
        💁‍♂️ Support & Customer Service 🙋‍♂️ Sales Questions 🛒 Shop HomeSeer Products

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          #5
          I don't have one myself, but I was always curious what THIS camera would be like for its $25 price tag (it specs 420 lines of resolution).
          --------------------------------------------------
          **** Do You "Cocoon"? ****

          Comment


            #6
            This camera (PC160WR) also looks good, but it appears that it is shipped without cables or power supply.

            My question is how to hook one of these cameras up to Homeseer. My Homeseer computer is curently maxed out. There are no available slots to accomodate a video card. I do have a USB port available. Can I use something like this: http://www.buy.com/prod/hauppauge-us.../10244254.html

            Do you think it will work with an available Homeseer plugin?

            Steve Q
            HomeSeer Version: HS3 Pro Edition 3.0.0.368, Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 - Home, Number of Devices: 373, Number of Events: 666, Enabled Plug-Ins
            2.0.83.0: BLRF, 2.0.10.0: BLUSBUIRT, 3.0.0.75: HSTouch Server, 3.0.0.58: mcsXap, 3.0.0.11: NetCAM, 3.0.0.36: X10, 3.0.1.25: Z-Wave,Alexa,HomeKit

            Comment


              #7
              That device should work just fine as long as you have USB 2.0 ports on the PC. The HomeSeer WebCam plugin needs work but any streaming software will work such as WebCam32, webcamXP, etc
              💁‍♂️ Support & Customer Service 🙋‍♂️ Sales Questions 🛒 Shop HomeSeer Products

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by Rupp View Post
                Steve,
                If you are looking for an inexpensive camera that is used to see vehicles and not identify people then this camera works well. They last 3-4 years in the weather under an eve. http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=47546

                Here's a screen shot of mine in action.
                Rupp,

                I'm curious, if it's 37 degress outside, why does it look like you have snow on the ground and on the bushes?
                -Todd

                ____________________________________________________________ ________________
                HS2Pro: 2.5.0.81 :: HS3Pro (beta) || Plugins:| SmartHome PowerLinc USB, Global Cache, BLBackup, DooCPU Monitor, DooMotion, BLOutlook, BLIcon, BLOutgoingCalls, OutgoingCalls, ROC-Rnd, HSTouch iPhone, UPS Monitor, DooMenuBar, BLSpeech, HSTouch Server, WAF AB8SS, mcsTemperature, VWS, BLChart, RFXCOM, ISY Insteon, iAutomate RFID, iTunes, NetCAM, DSC Security, Nest

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by tmcgowan View Post
                  Rupp,

                  I'm curious, if it's 37 degress outside, why does it look like you have snow on the ground and on the bushes?
                  It's a black and white camera.
                  💁‍♂️ Support & Customer Service 🙋‍♂️ Sales Questions 🛒 Shop HomeSeer Products

                  Comment


                    #10
                    I am coming to the conclusion that I should not add another layer of hardware/software to my Homeseer computer. I am already pushing the processor pretty hard. (70% CPU utilization). That said, I am wondering if I could connect the camera to my workshop computer and have Homeseer access it over the network? Does this sound feasible?

                    Steve Q
                    HomeSeer Version: HS3 Pro Edition 3.0.0.368, Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 - Home, Number of Devices: 373, Number of Events: 666, Enabled Plug-Ins
                    2.0.83.0: BLRF, 2.0.10.0: BLUSBUIRT, 3.0.0.75: HSTouch Server, 3.0.0.58: mcsXap, 3.0.0.11: NetCAM, 3.0.0.36: X10, 3.0.1.25: Z-Wave,Alexa,HomeKit

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Originally posted by Steve Q View Post
                      I am coming to the conclusion that I should not add another layer of hardware/software to my HomeSeer computer. I am already pushing the processor pretty hard. (70% CPU utilization). That said, I am wondering if I could connect the camera to my workshop computer and have HomeSeer access it over the network? Does this sound feasible?

                      Steve Q
                      Absolutely. You can allow the workshop PC be the camera server and simply embed the out put into HomeSeer served web pages.
                      💁‍♂️ Support & Customer Service 🙋‍♂️ Sales Questions 🛒 Shop HomeSeer Products

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Rupp,

                        Thanks for the input. I discovered that my old digital camera has video out. I also realized that I have a video card that I got for my video camera. I am going to hook them up to my primary computer and see if I can stream the video to Homeseer. This should give me a good idea about what is involved and how to integrate the video into a page server by Homeseer.

                        Steve Q
                        HomeSeer Version: HS3 Pro Edition 3.0.0.368, Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 - Home, Number of Devices: 373, Number of Events: 666, Enabled Plug-Ins
                        2.0.83.0: BLRF, 2.0.10.0: BLUSBUIRT, 3.0.0.75: HSTouch Server, 3.0.0.58: mcsXap, 3.0.0.11: NetCAM, 3.0.0.36: X10, 3.0.1.25: Z-Wave,Alexa,HomeKit

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Ok, just let us know if you need any help.
                          💁‍♂️ Support & Customer Service 🙋‍♂️ Sales Questions 🛒 Shop HomeSeer Products

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Rupp, your suggestions led me to the attached photo.

                            Here is what I did to get a security camera image on my iTouch:
                            1. I downloaded the trial version of webcamxp - http://www.download3000.com/download...reg-33526.html
                            2. I used the video output from my digital camera and connected it to my Pinnacle digital video capture card on my primary XP Media Center Computer.
                            3. I installed webcamxp on my XP Media Center computer and set it up to stream the video from the camera to Homeseer on my CAT5 network. (It took me quite a while to properly configure the firewalls and router, etc.)
                            4. I used Jon00s "Quick View page builder" and modified a page which I had previously built and included the link to the video being streamed from webcamxp. It took some trial and error but the format for the "Quick View code page is: Column1Section3-1Right=Imagehttp://192.168.1.100:81/cam_2.jpg,225,165

                              Use the appropriate IP address/cam_#.jgp,imagesizeA,imagesizeB
                            This worked much better and easier than I expected.

                            Thanks for the help.

                            Steve Q
                            Attached Files
                            HomeSeer Version: HS3 Pro Edition 3.0.0.368, Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 - Home, Number of Devices: 373, Number of Events: 666, Enabled Plug-Ins
                            2.0.83.0: BLRF, 2.0.10.0: BLUSBUIRT, 3.0.0.75: HSTouch Server, 3.0.0.58: mcsXap, 3.0.0.11: NetCAM, 3.0.0.36: X10, 3.0.1.25: Z-Wave,Alexa,HomeKit

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Hi Steve;

                              What streaming format are you using with WebCamXP? I tried several and couldn't make any of those work with my Windows Mobile Six phone (AT&T Tilt). Course I could have been doing something basically wrong.

                              I tried Flash (after downloading and testing the player) and Java/Java Script options.

                              I would love to see your code also for your web page that you used with your stream format.

                              Thanks,

                              BSR
                              --------------------------------------------------
                              **** Do You "Cocoon"? ****

                              Comment

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