[Eug-lug] Webcams in the office...

[Darren Hayes]

----- Original Message ----- 
<stircrazyben at gmail.com>  wrote:

> Harbor Freight also has FAKE cameras, a very cheap
> deterrent with minimal maintenance needs :)

That reminds about the time when a friend of mine managed a local grocery.
He was all too often finding half full six-packs, not three bottles of each
six-pack missing, but rather half empties.

So he found several old used, non working security cameras, drilled a hole
in the camera housings, and stuck a can't be missed flashing LED in each,
and mounted inside the cooler so the LED's would be noticed. That did the
trick. Not sure how the LED's were powered. I would suspect the LED could
run down batteries more often than desirable. Might be best to connect up to
a motion sensor.

Awhile back I set up a friend with two early model D-Link DSC wireless cams.
The CMOS vid capture quality was pretty good during the day but not at night
(lens LUX too high). Using VLC (running on W2K) and bundled Java based
software (which was flaky), set-up low bit-rate high compression streaming
and remote control over the net (including pan, tilt, zoom). But wasn't
satisfied with the wireless range, even after adding the add-on antenna.
This was almost two years ago so would expect the technology has improved
since. Maybe pre-N cams are available now? But betting no cams yet support
power over wireless ;-)

There's a new retail security equipment company out W.11th whose focus is
retailing and installing video surveillance systems and hardware. Can't
recall company name at the moment.




On 9/21/06, Quentin Hartman <qhartman at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Down at SLSD they got some cheap-o network attached cameras to
> dissuade vandalism and theft in one of the engineering tech rooms.
> They worked really well, did recording out of the box, and the whole
> kit with a couple cameras was only a few hundred dollars. I think they
> got them from Tiger Direct. I'll contact the teacher who was directly
> involvded in it and if he can recall more details I'll send them along
> to you.
>
> On 9/20/06, Matthew Jarvis <mattj at bikefriday.com> wrote:
> > Just got a 'request' that I put in cameras in 4 areas of our office, the
> > first priority is so that our receptionist can find people to receive
> > phone calls, the 2nd priority for security.
> >
> > I'm thinking that I can get away with those cheapo webcams, run the 4 of
> > them into a usb hub and into a computer for viewing. (?)
> >
> > It would probably be good to just have a monitor dedicated to showing
> > the output of the 4 cameras.
> >
> > Recording all this video can come later...
> >
> > Can I do this on the cheap like this or am I gonna have to pony up some
> > real $$$ to make it happen?
> >
> > --
> > Matthew S. Jarvis
> > IT Manager
> > Bike Friday - "Performance that Packs."
> > www.bikefriday.com
> > 541/687-0487 x140
> > mattj at bikefriday.com
> > _______________________________________________
> > EUGLUG mailing list
> > euglug at euglug.org
> > http://www.euglug.org/mailman/listinfo/euglug
> >
>
>
> --
> -Regards-
>
> -Quentin Hartman-
> _______________________________________________
> EUGLUG mailing list
> euglug at euglug.org
> http://www.euglug.org/mailman/listinfo/euglug
>



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