Motion-activated recording: Can I do it with a webcam and WMEncoder?

[CZroe]

I've been digging around in the options in WMEncoder and I can't find any motion-activated recording modes. It has to have them, right? If it doesn't, what does or what can I process the resulting video through to acheive the same effect?

 

[Jack Ryan]

http://www.simplehelp.net/2006...rding-security-camera/

 

[CZroe]

Thanks! I'll be reading deep into this.

 

[CZroe]

Well, it looks like this is for "snapshot-style" security only, which may be all I need but isn't exactly what I was looking/hoping for. I can still use it though, so thanks!

I'd like to have motion-activated VIDEO recording, as in it parses out/time lapses the parts with nothing going on and records full frame-rate video when something disturbs the scene, but this method's snap-shot functionality can be sped up and stitched together to approach the usefulness of those slow convenience store security cameras at least. Thanks again!

Perhaps I can record one full motion video stream in addition to the snap-shot camera and use motion-activated photos as a time-stamp to find the clips in the main video, though it will be a lot of wasted storage space in the mean time.

 

[scott916]

I believe CHDK enables something similar to this for Canon P&S cameras, but it may be for just images.

 

[CZroe]

Well, I'm just trying to do it with any standard video capture source in Windows... no fancy Pan & Scan cameras, though I might be able to borrow one from work (I work in security) or the AirLink PTZ from my brother's apartment (IP cam; motion activation is similarly for pictures only). I don't have any fancy DVRs or the BNC/coaxial capture cards and software needed for all that.

The specific need I had seems to have resolved itself already, but I'd still like to see what's out there for any future need. I mean, couldn't the software trigger a time-stamping function instead of just taking a photograph? Couldn't that be used to take a continuous video stream and condense the parts between motion-activated time stamps? Sure, the photo filenames can make an awkward time-stamping method that waste space, but recording full-frame rate video and applying it after-the-fact is an even bigger waste of space. If it could be done in real time, it would be best.

I'm not talking about variable frame-rate. What I mean is that the software buffers several minutes of full-frame-rate video in memory but encodes a delayed video stream with only some frames to create a time lapse until a motion event triggers the encoding to record real-time from the buffer before, during, and after until the condition returns to normal. The videoincluding time-lapse and real-time recordings would play at the same continuous FPS rate. Let's, say, that the time lapse rate is 2FPS and the video plays back at 30FPS... that's 15x speed when played back. When a motion event is detected, it starts encoding all 30 frames per second into the same 30FPS video file. The video will appear to speed up between motion events and slow down when activity is detected/recorded.

It just seems to me to be an obvious feature for any camera and recording device that isn't intended to be actively monitored in real time. Heck, it's a good way to ensure that PTZ cameras ARE being operated by those paid to actively do so and compare performance, so it could be useful in those situations also (a security officer not scanning the cameras often will have a tiny, short recording compared to one that moves them more often).