Motion Triggered Camera Security software

[DaveLembke]

I got some IP Security/webcams as well as USB webcams and was thinking about setting them up around my home, but instead of recording hours and hours of nonsense, I want to only record when motion is detected.

I am trying to avoid buying an all in one system because they are pricey and looking on google search there are all sorts of free software options out there, however some of them I am unsure if I want to use them or not because I dont want broadcasting out over the web. I really want the network traffic to only reside on my local LAN and not bounce off some server somewhere that hosts a service. So these IP cameras would be running on their own dedicated network isolated from the internet is my preference! And I already have all the hardware to make that happen.

I dont need to look remotely to check on things, so offline local isolated network is what i am interested in.

So I figured I'd check here to see if anyone has any suggestions on FREE or Low Cost software that will work with either USB or IP based web cams to take one of my older laptops for example and tuck it away hidden somewhere and have it always on the look out for motion at multiple cameras. But to not record anything until motion is detected and then stop recording. Also if it has a date/time stamp in lower corner of window that would help too.

One that I checked up on is https://www.ispyconnect.com/   ... BUT ... I dont want to have to authenticate over the internet to a provider to make this work. I dont want to have to worry about my security system being used inversely by people wanting to spy on my home etc, so thats why I want to have it isolated from the internet.

Burglaries are on the rise in my area and I dont want to be a victim that has no clue who they were and when they hit. I cant stop from a break in, but maybe I can get pictures or video footage of them which can be used to bust them and get my stuff back. I have had stuff stolen from my barn and one of the cameras will be going out there. Someone stole a pricey light weight mountain bike and a set of tools disappeared taking a loss of about $400.  Meth and Heroin addicts are on the rise in my area and its getting worse and not any better. Out in the main town there are pan handlers that are taking shifts begging for money. My wife felt bad for one guy and bought him Mc Donalds, he told her "I dont need Mc Donalds... I need Money!!! And he tossed the bag of food on the ground" And that upset her pretty badly because all he had to do is say thank you and toss it into the trash after she drove off if he only needed money for drugs or whatever and not make her heart sink that she was being nice and was nice to a bad person.  Across the river there is a place called Shady Lawn Motel and its constantly busted for drugs and prostitution and other crimes. The people cross the river from VT to NH and beg for money and its their career to beg for drug money. They moved into the area a few years ago and its getting worse. I made a statement to the guy the one day that there are all sorts of jobs available other than standing on a corner preying on people who feel bad for you. I said your capable of standing for 8 hours in the heat on a corner, then go get a real job!.  There was a law passed to put a stop to it and the local cops haven't enforced it. But they have been tracking these people back to the motel in VT and busting the people on drug charges etc. 

[Geek-9pm]

I got some IP Security/webcams as well as USB webcams and was thinking about setting them up around my home, but instead of recording hours and hours of nonsense, I want to only record when motion is detected.

Is this the resewn for your project?
What is your problem with "ecording hours and hours of nonsense" as compared to a hard to solve puzzle.
You can process the video files later to compress the files to reduce redundant  frames in the video stream. You can get reduction in file size by a ration over100.
Also, you may wish to destroy all video after 20 days.

[DaveLembke]

Is this the resewn for your project?
What is your problem with "ecording hours and hours of nonsense" as compared to a hard to solve puzzle.
You can process the video files later to compress the files to reduce redundant  frames in the video stream. You can get reduction in file size by a ration over100.
Also, you may wish to destroy all video after 20 days.

Well ... the reason why i dont want to record a room or outdoor setting that nothing happens in it for hours and hours, is because it seems kind of lazy and why make more work for myself when something does happen I now then have to endure fast forwarding and staring at the screen waiting for the moment that something happens to stop it and play it at normal speed to then observe. Lazy as in there are ways to have software detect when movement happens when pixels change a certain way to trigger to record then and only then. Additionally, by only recording when motion is detected by the cameras sending the info back to a computer, I could make use of laptops that arent up to par for gaming anymore that are in storage that are otherwise good healthy laptops and that 160GB or 320GB hard drive with the majority of the drive empty other than the OS, wont overflow with video data when only recording when there is activity. So I wont have to buy a 3TB hard drive for example because I wont be wastefully recording nonsense, but only recording when something actually happens. 

Years ago a friend of mine in IT had some software that came with his webcam that was USB and he had it set up on his desk to only record when motion was detected to then record until the pixels went back to solid background with nothing happening in view. He was able to figure out who was stealing his chocolates from his desk. It was a cleaning company contracted worker that cleaned nights. They were snooping in desks and taking stuff such as pocket change, stationary post it note pads, and candy. He didnt have to endure hours and hours of watching nothing happening to then stop the video to play at normal speed when the action did happen. The days of recording non stop to me just seems like past practice habit. Back before motion detection was affordable when it was set the camera to record non stop among a bunch of magnetic tape VHS etc, that either required a person to swap VHS tapes at timed intervals or was an automatic switch over with a unit that handled multiple tapes and those tapes would then overwrite or be saved for a period of time with new tapes loaded by someone. They might have even had some that were a constant loop in which the length of the tape large enough to record say 12 to 24 hours and not end in a spool type that is the same as the path that 8-track tapes had inside where the take up is the same as the feed reel in an endless loop until the tape is eaten. 

Lastly... I can check the security footage quickly if only motion events are recorded and not have to fast forward each time I want to take a look at what happened outside the home while we were away, such as,.... did any strange vehicles visit and are they scoping out the home to come back at a later point and rob us. People have been reporting strange vehicle activity as these druggy burglars are sort of smart in that they dont just blindly target a residence but they are driving around and making observations and likely writing down in a notebook easy targets that are spotted. One home that was cleaned out with a U-haul, the neighbors thought the people were moving. Their home was on the market with a sign. And a crew of crooks came in knowing that the owners were away because they did their homework, and cleaned the home out and drove off and the neighbors didnt call police and thought the home sold and they were moving out. Another home a neighbor spotted a car with out of state plates parked unusually with some people inside a few nights but didnt think anything of it, then 2 days later a few homes of people who worked nights were robbed a few towns over. This winter a jeep was going around with a plow and pulled into peoples driveways and looked like it was a hired plow truck at night, another occupant would get out and sneak up to the house and with the noise of the plow scraping on the driveway the breaking of the window of a door to gain entry was hidden among the noise.  The jeep would leave and come back after 15 minutes and the other guy would get back in and they would drive off with stuff the guy grabbed while the other guy was driving around for 15 minutes. Which was a very unusual team of burglars. They got busted and it was found out that they both were drug addicts and needed to steal to pay for it, and they came up with this plan to go out nights that an inch or so of snow fell and plow and let passenger out and then come back later to pick up the passenger and only tire marks and the small pile of snow from the plow left behind. They also did their homework and knew which residents to hit that didnt have dogs and weren't there nights because they all worked graveyard shift. The way they got busted is that they hit too many houses doing the same thing, and so neighbors sharing with cops that the night of the burglary and unusual jeep plowed the driveway, lead to the police being able to narrow it down pretty quickly because few jeeps have plows to plow, if it was a truck with a plow on it it would have been just about anyone, so many people in New England have plows on their trucks... but very very few have them on jeeps, but the police knew to look for a jeep with a plow on it and so they stopped a jeep with a plow and searched the vehicle and found a boat load of drugs and a few stolen items in glove compartment which pieced these idiots back to the crimes.