[plug] Security video and Linux

[Scott Middleton]

For those who are interested.

I now have two webcams up both running the same program on Debian Woody.
This one is a $50 USB Camera 
http://srgw.linuxit.com.au/~webcam/images/webcam.jpeg
Not refreshed automatically anymore. You might want to wait until later
in the afternoon when the sun isn't directly on it.

This one is my capture card and a old video camera (the motor for the
tape has broken).
http://www.linuxit.com.au/~webcam/images/webcam.jpeg

Below is 2 sample videos(divx) one during the day and 1 at night using
the capture card. I could probably increase the resolution for even
better quality if i thought it was needed.
http://www.linuxit.com.au/~webcam/videos/

The difference in quality is large. Most people use VHS to record their
security cameras and the tape quality is simply atrocious. Medium is
also quite expensive. In another business i was in, i paid quite a lot
of money for a video splitter (3Way) and 24hour tape. The quality was
not very good at best and i doubted the police would get much out of it.

This is definitely a viable option for Linux. It wouldn't be too hard to
make it a bit more robust and the only really difficult thing is cabling
which is not difficult. 

If anyone is interested in working on this commercially give me a yell
off-list. Otherwise please feel free to copy or use any of the
information i have give here.

Mencoder options:
DATE=`date +%y_%m_%d_%H`
mencoder "mf:///path/to/pics/*.jpg" -mf type=jpg:fps=4 -o\
/home/webcam/video/$DATE-location.avi -ovc lavc

Program is webcam running in a screen.
.webcamrc
[ftp]
       host = sid
	user = webcam
	pass = <deleted>
	dir  = public_html/images
	file = webcam.jpeg
	tmp  = uploading.jpeg
	passive = 1
	debug = 0
	auto = 0
	local = 0
	ssh = 0
[grab]
       device = /dev/video0
       text = "Linux IT  %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"
#       infofile = /home/webcam/
       width = 320
       height = 240
       delay = 3   
       input = composite1
       norm = pal
       rotate = 0
 	 top = 0   
 	left = 0  
 	bottom = -1
 	right = -1 
 	quality = 75
 	trigger = 200
 	 archive = bo_%Y%m%d_%H-%M-%S.jpg
	once = 0

Regards

-- 
Scott Middleton <scott at linuxit.com.au>
Linux Information Technology

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