web cams

[Tom Metro]

Derek Atkins wrote:
> How about a combination of USB Webcam + a SheevaPlug?  That should keep
> you under $300 and give you all the reliability you want/need.

Yes, I originally considered that before purchasing my first IP camera.
The guys that gave a talk to BLU on the SheevaPlug mentioned using one
in this fashion.

There are a few downsides. A USB Webcam isn't really suitable for most
surveillance applications. Not a good form-factor. Not as rugged. Not
easy to mount. And not as good for low-light. And you're pretty much out
of luck if you want pan/tilt. (I think there are some USB P/T cameras,
but I believe they're as expensive as the P/T IP cameras.)

And the SheevaPlugs at that time didn't have built-in WiFi. (I'm pretty
sure the current models do.)

A better option is using a USB video capture device, like say one of these:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001M547EM

which surprisingly only costs $8 and handles 4 video inputs. But it has
a lot of negative reviews (mostly about the software, which would be
irrelevant, if it works with Linux). (People who report trying it with
other software say it appears as a single video capture device.
Apparently instead of emulating 4 standard USB video capture devices,
they use a proprietary multiplexing scheme, which doesn't bode well for
Linux support.)

Or a single channel version that also captures audio:
http://www.amazon.com/Easycap-USB-Video-Capture-Adapter/dp/B001BWU8US/

where at least one reviewer says the video portion works well in Linux:
http://www.amazon.com/review/R1ACI2XQDLZQO0/ref=cm_srch_res_rtr_alt_1

I'm not sure about the quality, or what framerate you could achieve with
the SheevaPlug.

Then you can couple it with one or more traditional, analog, wired
security cameras. You can find quite good fixed, analog cameras in a
wide variety of physical formats for under $100.

But either way you've got to expend some effort on integrating the two,
which is not bad in the long term, but I needed something I could deploy
quickly, originally.

And what you're left with is a more cobbled together solution, compared
to having a wireless IP camera server integrated directly into the
camera housing. Thus my wish that the hardware vendors would focus on
delivering as high a reliability hardware they can for the price, and
let third parties develop the software. It might even lower their
support costs.

If you're going to run cables from several cameras back to a centrally
located SheevaPlug, then why not use something a bit less cramped, like
an Acer Aspire Revo, which I see you can get in dual-core now, and it
has a bunch of USB ports, so it could potentially run ZoneMinder
directly and capture from a half dozen cameras.

Supposedly WiFi doesn't hold up well once you scale up beyond a few IP
cameras anyway, unless you partition your network with multiple access
points. I haven't seen any wireless IP cameras that use 802.11N yet.
With most, you're lucky to get WPA support on 802.11G. (My 2-year old
cameras only support WEP.)

 -Tom

-- 
Tom Metro
Venture Logic, Newton, MA, USA
"Enterprise solutions through open source."
Professional Profile: http://tmetro.venturelogic.com/