Re: Record to PC from outdoor camera

[Matt Ion <soundy106@xxxxxxxxx>]

Scott216 wrote:
> I want to setup an outdoor security camera that's connected to my PC
> via my LAN (could be wired or wifi).
> The PC would only record to the hard drive when there is motion so
> save disk space. I know they have cameras with motion sensors in them
> so the camera only records when there is motion, which would be okay
> too, if there isn't too much of a delay.  On the PC I'd set the number
> of MB or hours it will store on the hard drive, then the system will
> just delete the older video to make room for the new video being
> recorded.  Can anyone recommend a system that does this, or point me
> in the right direction to build my own.  I prefer Windows XP for the
> OS, but I could do it in Linux also.

Motion-detect recording is usually a factor of the recording software
rather than the camera itself, and most of it can pre-buffer video so
you actually catch some time BEFORE the motion occurs.

I could recommend lots of systems that will do what you want, but the
real question is, how much do you want to pay?  You could get into a
basic wired IP camera for a couple hundred dollars, all the way up to
multi-megapixel cameras on a dedicated DVR for several thousand.

One thing you want to consider, you probably want to use a dedicated
machine for this purpose.  Video recording can be somewhat
processor-intensive and there'd likely be a noticeable slowdown to
everything else you do if you set it up on your regular desktop
workstation.  As well, anything else you do that takes a lot of
processor could cause dropped frames in the video.