Hi guys,
My girlfriend's parents own a house up here (Connecticut) and down in Florida. They'll be moving down there some day, but for now, the house in Florida is sometimes unoccupied for months on end. Though there are neighbors decently close, their house was broken into once already, and we'd at least like to catch whoever it is in the act if they do it again.
Rather than paying for expensive home security systems, we decided to see how practical and costly it would be to make our own basic security system. I figured a low-cost computer hidden away somewhere (and bolted down to make it more difficult if it is found) with some webcams strategically placed would do the trick. However, I'm not sure what software I should be looking into. Ideally, we'd need the following:
[*]Works with Windows Xp; Vista and Linux would be a plus as well
[*]Decently easy to set up, and possibly the ability maintain with remote access
[*]Ability to detect motion (anywhere in the webcam's field of view would be ideal) and automatically start recording - this is a must
[*]Ability to send an email or another notification when motion is detected (not required, but it would be helpful)
[*]Support for multiple webcams attached to a single computer (if this is possible); we'd be using the same brand / model for all of them
[*]Ability to set how many frames are captured / saved per minute (lower to save storage space, or higher to get a clearer video)
I read that TinCam does some of these things, though I'm not sure if it supports multiple cameras or has a Linux compatible version.
Any suggestions or ideas?
Thanks.
My girlfriend's parents own a house up here (Connecticut) and down in Florida. They'll be moving down there some day, but for now, the house in Florida is sometimes unoccupied for months on end. Though there are neighbors decently close, their house was broken into once already, and we'd at least like to catch whoever it is in the act if they do it again.
Rather than paying for expensive home security systems, we decided to see how practical and costly it would be to make our own basic security system. I figured a low-cost computer hidden away somewhere (and bolted down to make it more difficult if it is found) with some webcams strategically placed would do the trick. However, I'm not sure what software I should be looking into. Ideally, we'd need the following:
[*]Works with Windows Xp; Vista and Linux would be a plus as well
[*]Decently easy to set up, and possibly the ability maintain with remote access
[*]Ability to detect motion (anywhere in the webcam's field of view would be ideal) and automatically start recording - this is a must
[*]Ability to send an email or another notification when motion is detected (not required, but it would be helpful)
[*]Support for multiple webcams attached to a single computer (if this is possible); we'd be using the same brand / model for all of them
[*]Ability to set how many frames are captured / saved per minute (lower to save storage space, or higher to get a clearer video)
I read that TinCam does some of these things, though I'm not sure if it supports multiple cameras or has a Linux compatible version.
Any suggestions or ideas?
Thanks.
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