Using a webcam as a CCTV.

[Midget]

Due to alot of people coming and going into my office/serverroom I would like to get a camera recording people coming and going, however I'd prefer not to fork out a huge amount for a proper IP camera.

So was wondering if it'd be possible to set up a webcam to a PC and have it save video whenever it detects movement and save it to the PC and a backup PC stored elsewhere.

 

Has anyone set up this sort of system?

Any ideas of a good webcam?

 

Should I just get a proper IP-CCTV Camera instead?

[paul]

Logitech Software which comes with there cams used to have this functionality built in, so I would presume it still does. I had one set up about 5 years ago recording whenever it detected motion - I got rid of it as I got fed up with it mainly recording me sneaking back in the house as some unearthly hour!

[thom]

I set this up about a year ago, with a piece of software called LogiSphere. It was very basic but did what I wanted (which was to capture a frame/sec to a hard disk. Since then it has come out of beta and looks promising.

It worked well for what we needed it for. The only thing was the webcam was to poorer quality to make out faces at the distance we were using it at.

The beta was free but you can still download a free trial. Not sure how much the license costs but definitely worth looking in to.

LogiSphere: http://www.logisphere.org/en/index_html

 

You might also want to try LuxRiot: http://luxriot.com/

We use this for our new IP CCTV system and you can download a shareware version and I think it works with webcams too.

[localzuk]

Take a look at Dorgem.

[Geoff]

A Linux approach you might want to consider is Zoneminder.

 

http://www.zoneminder.com/

[t_guest]

why not try Logitech QuickCam Connect http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/details/GB/EN,CRID=2204,CONTENTID=11525 and download

http://dorgem.sourceforge.net/

http://www.logitech.com/lang/images/0/12716.jpg

then your ready to go......

[tscnmuk]

An advantage to a proper IP camera would be the ability to easily view it's image from another PC within the school or even externally. This is obviously possible with a USB one but using a proper IP device makes this much easier.

[Bitu]

There is PC based webcam security software with recording, video surveillance and motion detection features, it’s called WATCHMAN. Moreover it offers other exclusive features to record pictures specifically of motion in your PC’s hard disk. It is web cam surveillance software for real time motion sensing alerts. For more information visit our website : www.nocctv.in