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Security Cameras on a Mac......?

Stuart Ablett

Stuart Ablett

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Location
Tokyo Japan
Just tonight we had an incident, not in the L shop, but in the entrance way of the L shop building, one of our tenants, an 80 year old man, who is disabled was mugged. He was getting the mail from his mail box and the thief approached him from behind and took his wallet, thankfully the old guy was just pushed against the mail boxes and not really roughed up, but he certainly was shaken.

He hobbled into the L shop and told me, I called my wife and then the cops.

It really worries me that things are going downhill here, we have had a lot more thefts in the L shop and I know the other business owners are saying the same thing. We have 4 cameras inside the L shop, but none outside the L shop, or the entrance way of the building. We are now going to add some.

In the L shop we have an older system, analog CCTV cameras and a HDD recording set up, it works but it is cumbersome, and I do not wish to replicate it.

I found this software online......

http://www.securityspy.com/

basically you can use just about any camera with it, and it has a free 30 day trial, so I'm thinking of getting a couple of them wireless webcams and giving it a go.

Does anyone have any experience with this kind of thing?

I do still have an older windows machine that I could use for this, but honestly, I'd rather not, that machine is not going to last forever and it will be upgraded to a mac at that point.

The Monster-in-law has given me the go ahead to spend the money on this, that does not mean I have unlimited funds, far from it, but a reasonable expenditure will be fine.

Cheers!
 
Too bad to hear that things are going that way over there Stu. I always thought Japan had different set of standards than the rest of the world in the way of respect to their seniors. I bet he was pretty shaken up. It is sad to hear things like this happening, hopefully they have a better system of justice than we do here and actually do things to theives that will actually deture them from doing it again. You know like breaking fingers and arms or just a good beating and a long prision term with a big fellow that is in desperate need of companinonship (if you get my drift). Sorry wish that i had some experience in the security cam systems but anything that you use will be better than nothing at all.
 
Jonathan, that is a good system, looks fairly plug and play as well :thumb:

One thing I have a problem with is running wires, everything here is 12" concrete walls, so punching holes in them is not easy, I have to figure out ways to do so. I'm thinking wireless network cams, but then again, them thick concrete walls..... :doh:

A power source is not a problem, lots of places I can tap into that :)

I might just download that software and get some wireless cams and give it a try?

Cheers!
 
Not exactly the same, but I do have a couple of wireless IP cams I use for general fooling around.

My main use is for my weather site (http://www.palominovalleyweather.com) I use a Linux machine to grab the images off the cameras.

My cameras are pretty much el cheapo deals I got at Fry's electronics. They work pretty well. I've got my weathercam now in a little wooden enclosure with a plexi front on it. I use a POE injector to supply power right over the cat5 so I only have to run one wire to the camera.

This is the camera I'm using.

http://www.amazon.com/Airlink-SKYIPCam250-Network-Security-Camera/dp/B001F7GGF0.

The quality of the less expensive ones leaves a bit to be desired, but they work...

Here is the image it grabs.
weathercam_current.png


IT's a little grainy in the dark. I'd suggest you get one with the built in infrared illuminators and a 'night mode'.
 
Brent, what do you hook it to to record? My best system would have night vision as well as motion activation/recording, multi cameras, picture quality so people can be identified. Thanks for starting this Stu, will be closely :lurk:.
 
My weather cam is all homebrewed PERL scripts.

The wireless camera I have though actually has motion detection built right into the camera. You login to the camera through a browser connection and it has a bunch of configuration parameters. You can set it up to automatically send alerts with the image when it detects motion. It can also tri

This is the wireless one I've got.

http://www.amazon.com/Airlink101-AICN747W-SkyIPCam747W-Wireless-Network/dp/B001JJJFZC

Right now it's hooked up out in the shop as a 'shopcam', but I don't have it uploading or anything.
 
Stu sorry to hear this kind of news. I am in drews camp having come from my crazy place to Canada.

Ok back to CCTV. Here is the issues that i have with whats on offer and what you want to do.

Whats the objective of the camera. This determines the kind and quality.

If you just want to see that something is there ...well the lower cost units will suffice.

However if you want to view something in low light and be able to after discern the image so as to identify the bad guy, then you need to get away from the idea of wireless.

The issue is all in the cameras. Just like your video camera or cell phone etc camera the issue comes down to lighting and the ability of the camera to self adjust the amount of light and apeture. The cheap cameras dont have this auto iris ability and then when you expect them to work outside in the cold and i dont mean Canadas cold but the kind you get in Tokyo then you need to consider a housing.

If you are going to spend money and expect it to have results you need to think in terms of your saw stop and do it right.

The right solution will need RG co ax cable feed to the camera due the bandwidth required for CCTV signal.

Its all about the quality of the image, the conditions you want it to work in and the expectations you have of what the image should do after you have one.

The recording is a whole nother story. I would opt for a dedicated panasonic recorder and think in terms of how you keep the records.

I recomend that this is one thing you get the pros in to resolve if you want images that can be used to identify the bad guy.

You might also think in terms of pan and tilt control for outside they call this PTZ so as to be able to zoom in on a suspect hanging about on the side walk.

Be warned there is a ton of junk out there in this field. I have had experience of it in the retail world in the USA.

If i were you i would find a local security crowd where you can see first hand the image quality and the camera set up on display. Then look to do the installation yourself if you wish. But i would be hesitant to buy off the web unless i knew exactly which unit i was looking for and what the deliverables were going to be.

Best of luck.


Go HABS GO ........ I might live in TO but realized long ago the Leafs were never going to bring home any silver, at least not in my lifetime.:D But i did not know guys from BC support the Canadiens.
 
Thanks for the info guys!

Rob, I think you are right, running the wires will be a pain, but I should only have to do it once :rolleyes:

About the Habs, the Canucks lost to the Hawks, so I'm supporting the only other Canadian team left, been a while since a North of the border team won the cup :thumb:
 
Stuart Ablett said:
Jonathan, that is a good system, looks fairly plug and play as well :thumb:

One thing I have a problem with is running wires, everything here is 12" concrete walls, so punching holes in them is not easy, I have to figure out ways to do so. I'm thinking wireless network cams, but then again, them thick concrete walls..... :doh:

A power source is not a problem, lots of places I can tap into that :)

I might just download that software and get some wireless cams and give it a try?

Cheers!
Click to expand...


Look up the 10X site. They have lots of good wireless stuff at very low prices. Biggest problem with their offerings is they have so much it is hard to decipher what will work best for you.
BTW, they have excellent customer service. I got a bad item and called them. No hesitation they sent a different, and improved product to replace and never questioned me or asked for the bad one returned.
 
Brent Dowell said:
Nah. I used to have some X10 stuff at our previous house, but just never got around to hooking anything up here at the 'ranch'...
Click to expand...

I did the X10 thing in the late '90s and had quite a bit of fun with it. It was never rock-solid reliable, though. I don't think I'd want to base a real security system on it.
 
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