Jump to content

Security System


Brennan

Recommended Posts

I remember on one of hak5's early episodes they had a homemade security system that you could watch on your phone well I want to do that, but seeing as how the episode is soo old I want to know if anyone has come up with a better way to do this. I don't remember the specs on the spare box but I do remember it could run xp easily and it had no problem handling the way they did it in the episode.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I remember on one of hak5's early episodes they had a homemade security system that you could watch on your phone well I want to do that, but seeing as how the episode is soo old I want to know if anyone has come up with a better way to do this. I don't remember the specs on the spare box but I do remember it could run xp easily and it had no problem handling the way they did it in the episode.

There are certainly ways for making your own home security system with cheap stuff, like a USB webcam and some software that will allow you to monitor it online through a web interface.

However in my case, I would buy something like this one

http://www.linksysbycisco.com/ANZ/en/products/Cameras

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the information

No problems, let us know how you go.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You could also use low cost analog inside/outside cameras imported into the PC via USB (Bandwidth issues may arise dependent of how many cameras are used) or imported via PC card with multiple video ports. Caution with the OS as 64bit WIN boxes have issues with drivers.

Depending on items you could set up a 2 camera system via USB on a WIN7 32bit OS for as little as $30+/-, then you would have to find suitable server software so as to view at a remote location.

Also note, I found under testing on a dual core system that the USB method tended to be a high CPU utilization way of doing this averaging around 70-80% usage and running nothing else but the OS with no network connectivity.

Edited by DaBeach
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You could also use low cost analog inside/outside cameras imported into the PC via USB (Bandwidth issues may arise dependent of how many cameras are used) or imported via PC card with multiple video ports. Caution with the OS as 64bit WIN boxes have issues with drivers.

What kind of driver issues? Does it consume a lot of ram, does the system become unstable or what exactly?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What kind of driver issues? Does it consume a lot of ram, does the system become unstable or what exactly?

On my WIN7 Ultimate 64bit laptop the OS does not have and cannot find drivers for webcams, video sources and the USB component audio/video device I use. The OS will see audio (though I don't use it on that system so I can't be sure the audio functions as it should) but no video. I installed same on WIN 7 Ultimate 32bit without issues.

With the 2-USB capture cards pulling video only and running nothing else the CPU ranges 70-80%, memory remains at 578MB with 2GB on the system. The laptop is a Intel Pentium Dual 1.5Ghz machine. No instability or crashes. I have used many video players to show the video and they all seem to eat the same resources.

I will be testing a few IP camera's soon and hope to see a difference as the cameras will be accessed via web browser. I don't think the system would handle a 3rd camera on the USB due to USB bandwidth issues. My aim is at least 8 cameras on the system and perhaps the audio as well.

Additionally the system becomes worked with video stagger when recording or motion detection is on.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I will be testing a few IP camera's soon and hope to see a difference as the cameras will be accessed via web browser. I don't think the system would handle a 3rd camera on the USB due to USB bandwidth issues. My aim is at least 8 cameras on the system and perhaps the audio as well.

I think there should be a lot of differences, firstly ip cameras has it's own CPU and memory including its builtin web server, so even if you accessed the ip camera via its web interface it should not affect you computer performance. But I will glad if you could post your results in here.

Edited by Infiltrator
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think there should be a lot of differences, firstly ip cameras has it's own CPU and memory including its builtin web server, so even if you accessed the ip camera via its web interface it should not affect you computer performance. But I will glad if you could post your results in here.

I will post information. I expect that the system will be able to monitor multiple cameras via IP. And the added ability to pan & tilt each camera will be fun. I would imagine that I may need a server if I wanted to record every channel at the same time individually with snapshot pics on motion detection sent via email. How much server I would need to perform the video record on 8 channels and recording of audio on 8 channels with the ability to alert on a set sound level.

Then the OS.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I will post information. I expect that the system will be able to monitor multiple cameras via IP. And the added ability to pan & tilt each camera will be fun. I would imagine that I may need a server if I wanted to record every channel at the same time individually with snapshot pics on motion detection sent via email. How much server I would need to perform the video record on 8 channels and recording of audio on 8 channels with the ability to alert on a set sound level.

Then the OS.

The moment you start recording and taking screen shots. You can rest assured that you will be eating into Gigs if not Terabytes of data.

You might want to also look into what type of video or picture compression the camera supports.

Edited by Infiltrator
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The moment you start recording and taking screen shots. You can rest assured that you will be eating into Gigs if not Terabytes of data.

You might want to also look into what type of video or picture compression the camera supports.

I wonder how the atom processor would handle this type of work, perhaps even running separate systems for each function. One to record one or all channels (perhaps you would have to have a system take 4 channels) and another for the easy stuff like audio recording and perhaps snapshots as well. Despite whether it is an atom or not maybe breaking the system up would make the entire array more functional.

Mind you, I am playing with this idea and have a few other features I would build myself (not yet designed), I think in the end I could build a system that would have a retail # around $10K for far less. But then the surveillance market does have a high markup anyway.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not sure whether the Atom processor would be able to handle all these tasks. You will might have to build another system that is capable of handling them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have one of the linksys cams suggested by Infiltrator and I must say it works well. Live streaming and viewing via my iphone and all. I would recommend you get all network camera's instead of USB and assign each camera it's own unique port.

I been thinking about trying USB though. Grabbing a few HD web cams and they now make USB over Cat5/6 extender's so I can route them through the home nicely.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have one of the linksys cams suggested by Infiltrator and I must say it works well. Live streaming and viewing via my iphone and all. I would recommend you get all network camera's instead of USB and assign each camera it's own unique port.

I been thinking about trying USB though. Grabbing a few HD web cams and they now make USB over Cat5/6 extender's so I can route them through the home nicely.

I have a few USB extenders and while mine work to extend a USB port for keyboard and mouse or other low bandwidth items I found it did not work for USB capture cards, not sure why but I could not receive the video.

Which linksys cam do you have?

Edited by DaBeach
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have the WVC54GCA. It works great I just wish it was at least 1MP resolution. For some reason though I could never get it to record anything using the web interface. The other utility app kept crashing on win7 64-bit and I just really haven't messed with it since I mainly just use it to view live stream.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Umm, I have to have all wired IP camera's without any ability to transmit wireless due to security concerns.

Yeah, I agree not a very good idea though, anyone with the right equipment could potentially watch you from your own security cam.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, I agree not a very good idea though, anyone with the right equipment could potentially watch you from your own security cam.

And worse broadcasting audio! OMG!

I open the camera's and remove the microphones, I prefer the audio and video be separate systems which also allows me to use my choice of powered mic's.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

does anyone remember what episode that was on?

I think it was one of the very first episodes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

yeah i know it had to be one of the episodes in the first season but there is nothing in the description about it and i dont want to have to dl all the episodes to try and find it

I have found the video and the URL

http://www.hak5.org/episodes/season1-episode1

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...