Webcam Surveillance

[acappellasaurus]

I woke up this morning to leave for work and found that, since last night, all 4 tires on my truck and all 4 tires on my SUV were knifed and flat. The knifing was done into the sidewall of the tires, so all 8 tires were beyond repair. This happened in my driveway in a quiet subdivision near the downtown area of my city.

Of course, this leaves us with a very low sense of security after all is said and done. I would like to rig my webcam to act as a motion capture video cam during the sleeping hours. I have the logisitics of the physical placement all set, but I need a good software that will do motion capute video. I don't want to film all night, just want it to kick on when it senses motion. Can anyone recommend a good camera for such a purpose. If it matters, I would be filming my front driveway, mostly at night.

 

[tharpdevenport]

You don't get your tires knifed unless you earned that displeassure in some way. Maybe that was not the best of routes to handle it, but you crossed someone in a bad way obviously.

 

[ShamelessMcBundy]

Not necessarily. There just might be someone that was out looking for a cheap thrill. You do have a good point though.

 

[acappellasaurus]

I tend to agree, however I could not tell you who it would be. I have no enemies I know of, have had no altercations anytime recently, hardly anyone knows where I live...I just can't figure it out. Believe me, that's a lot of what's driving this home security stuff. It would be easier if I could determine it to be random, but I seriously have no idea where this came from. Really out of left field.

 

[Snaploud]

Not necessarily. There just might be someone that was out looking for a cheap thrill.

One tire is a cheap thrill. 8 tires is personal.

 

[ShamelessMcBundy]

Mistaken identity perhaps?

 

[Snaploud]

Mistaken identity perhaps?

I was just thinking that would be the best case scenario (tied with "he/she let go of some anger and that will be the end of it").

 

[acappellasaurus]

Hoping so...that this is the last of it. It's keeping me up tonight. I'm constantly looking outside at every single noise.

 

[Omnius]

I can recommend an Axis IP camera.
You can hook it up through your network (depending on the model it's either ethernet or wireless). Also you can configure it to start recording when there's something moving onscreen. etc.

Good luck!

 

[acappellasaurus]

So it's Friday night, almost technically Saturday morning. Last night was incident free, although I was up till the wee hours looking out the window at every little sound I heard, and overall slept very little and not very well. That said, the plan is:

Motion sensing yard light. Still debating on a 300 watt or a 750 watt (price is about the same oddly enough), but whichever will have a very wide field of coverage.

Wireless motion sensing audible sensor. I actually got one of these yesterday at Radio Shack for about $80, but it so far has been hit or miss on actual detection. I plan to return it and upgrade to a higher rated unit of that same nature.

Christmas lights. I hung dangling icicle lights across the entirety of the eaves last night for starters, but that's just the beginning. I'm gonna light this place up like a motherfu**er. Every bush and shrub in the yard, all over the porch...Santa will have no trouble seeing our house....from space.

Webcamera. I have an external webcam that I plan to set up to face the outdoors. I know there are programs designed to trigger recording when motion is sensed, but the few I have dabbled with so far have been pretty crappy. Still hoping some here might have a recommendation?

Beyond all that, I don't know what else can be done. A cop friend of mine said that the police's stance is that light is the best deterrent for outdoor mischief. We live in a small place with baby monitors in almost every room due to our children, so I'm not overly worried about hearing the goings on indoors. We also have guns, so we feel mostly confident in our ability to protect the inside if necessary.

Even with all of that planned, and having filed a police report and insurance claims, I still am having a hard time getting past this. If everything I intend to set up functions as expected, someone could still come up and mess with my vehicles and scurry off into the darkness before I could get to em. Slashing of tires makes almost no noise or crazy movement. They also siliconed my car door locks and windows -I found that out today. I was able to get the silicone out, but still, WTF!

Anyhow, are there any thoughts on all of this? Reminder - still interested in recommendations for software that triggers cam recording at the detection of motion.

 

[Captain X]

One of those motion-activated digital game cameras probably would be better, but they cost like $200 a piece, I think.

 

[Bloodwhiner]

I was going to say a game camera too. Here is a selection ranging from $35 to $2000

you can also hook a loud noisemaker up to the motion sensing light but your neighbors may object when a cat wanders into the area.

 

[tharpdevenport]

How about filling your tires with a sleeping gas, that way if puntured again the perp will be asleep when found.

Or sleeping in your car a few times.

 

[CaptJimboJones]

How about filling your tires with a sleeping gas, that way if puntured again the perp will be asleep when found.

Or rigging the car to explode if the tires are punctured. That'll show those damn teenagers!

 

[Hitman]

Or sleeping in your car a few times.

That could be dangerous as his chest could end up being stabbed 8 times, not the tires.

 

[Captain Ice]

How about just putting the trucks in the garage?

 

[Jadzia]

I would like to rig my webcam to act as a motion capture video cam during the sleeping hours. I have the logisitics of the physical placement all set, but I need a good software that will do motion capute video. I don't want to film all night, just want it to kick on when it senses motion. Can anyone recommend a good camera for such a purpose. If it matters, I would be filming my front driveway, mostly at night.

You'd have to consider that your PC will be running all night, introducing a non-trivial electricity cost to this setup, that should be weighed against the gains of prosecuting these criminals. (Covert surveillance doesn't prevent crime.) A computer can sap 1kWh if left running idle for one night.

So might I suggest an using an Eee PC, with recorder software, with a webcam, as the running cost then is trivial. Considering you can buy these for £150 / $250 it's actually going to pay for itself in a couple of years in terms of electricity use, plus it's something fun to play with during the day

You shouldn't need to pay for recorder software. This is simple video capture/compression. There will be freeware.

As far as triggering the recorder, the computer will be having to monitor and analyze the webcam's output constantly anyway, so you might as well let it record constantly. Record xvid direct to flash memory, say 10fps at 640x480. Considering the relatively static picture, you'd easy get 6 hours plus from a 1GB usb drive.

Also be sure that your webcam can see in the dark. Don't get a mini one - get one with a big eye and good low light level response.

Finally, make sure your camera is located such that it cannot see through the neighbours windows or into any enclosed garden areas.

Hope that helps

 

[farmkid]

You'd have to consider that your PC will be running all night, introducing a non-trivial electricity cost to this setup, that should be weighed against the gains of prosecuting these criminals. (Covert surveillance doesn't prevent crime.) A computer can sap 1kWh if left running idle for one night.

So might I suggest an using an Eee PC, with recorder software, with a webcam, as the running cost then is trivial. Considering you can buy these for £150 / $250 it's actually going to pay for itself in a couple of years in terms of electricity use, plus it's something fun to play with during the day

That depends a lot on where he lives. I live in CA, which has one of the higher electricity rates in the country. Last month, I paid $0.1155 per kWhr. At that rate, it would take about 6 years to pay for a $250 Eee PC. In other states, the rates are as low as half what I pay.

The electricity cost is something to consider, but it won't be prohibitively expensive.

You shouldn't need to pay for recorder software. This is simple video capture/compression. There will be freeware.

As far as triggering the recorder, the computer will be having to monitor and analyze the webcam's output constantly anyway, so you might as well let it record constantly. Record xvid direct to flash memory, say 10fps at 640x480. Considering the relatively static picture, you'd easy get 6 hours plus from a 1GB usb drive.

Also be sure that your webcam can see in the dark. Don't get a mini one - get one with a big eye and good low light level response.

Finally, make sure your camera is located such that it cannot see through the neighbours windows or into any enclosed garden areas.

Hope that helps

I agree that motion activated software probably isn't that important. Even with only basic compression, 640X480 at 10fps should only use a couple of GB per night, which will easily fit on the hard drive. If nothing happens during the night, it can be deleted without further analysis. He will only need to look at it if something happens.

 

[acappellasaurus]

I found a program that seems to be doing exactly what I need it to as far as the webcam goes. It's called SmartSentry. I set the cam to the field of view I want to capture (basically what's right out the window), then click the start button and walk away. It sounds a non-jarring but definately audible alert sound if motion triggers the camera's recording. I was worried that I would be getting constant alerts every time a car drove by or a dog passed through the yard, but that's not the case. Upon testing this morning, I found that if it's just a quick trigger, like a car or a dog, that enters and leaves the field of vision in a quick time frame, then I only get a few audible dings. If it's something that stays in the capture field, it continues to alarm over and over. So if I hear it go off in the wee hours whilst in bed, and I only hear a ding or two, I can assume it's probably a vehicle. If it goes off continually, I should probably get my ass up and see what's going down.

This coupled with a motion activated floodlight and enough Christmas lights to simulate daylight 24/7 is definately a good start.

 

[trekkiedane]

Not necessarily. There just might be someone that was out looking for a cheap thrill. You do have a good point though.

To some the mere fact that there was a truck and a SUV is reason enough though