kayevcee
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The Weather Wizard
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Post by kayevcee on Mar 3, 2010 10:43:16 GMT
Somebody keyed my dad's car for the third time in two weeks this morning. He has to get it repaired before his taxi test- it's going to cost over 400 quid to fix so we obviously don't want to have to do it twice. My dad works funny hours so he knows somebody's doing it around six in the morning- he suspects the milk boy but it could be anyone with an early work schedule and a grudge.
So... can anybody recommend a webcam or other recording device that can take an entire night's video at a reasonable resolution? Would any modern webcam do the job? Do any of them zoom? Would I need specific software that isn't likely to come with it? Can I adjust the gamma correction so it can record with nowt but the streetlights?
Sorry for the question barrage, but my dad threw this idea at me this morning and I'm not sure what to tell him. If anyone out there in Hubland knows a lot about webcams, or has ever had to set up a home security camera (less likely) I would appreciate the input.
-Nick
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chrisl
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I still think its the 1990s - when I joined TMUK
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Post by chrisl on Mar 3, 2010 10:49:42 GMT
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kayevcee
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The Weather Wizard
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Post by kayevcee on Mar 3, 2010 13:10:54 GMT
Blimey. That's a bit more (cash and installation time) than I was planning to spend. Which recommended a camera with monochrome for night viewing and a motion sensor so you don't wind up with eight hours of Car On An Empty Street. I wonder if there isn't more to it. -Nick |
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Post by blueshift on Mar 3, 2010 13:34:40 GMT
A motion sensor would have to be quite sensitive. There's nothing wrong with 'empty car on street' since you can always fast forward footage once you know a crime has been committed.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2010 13:47:16 GMT
The problem with motion sensors is that it does exactly as it says on the tin - it senses motion. Be it another car going down the road, the wind blowing rubbish across the path or anything else quite harmless it will pick it up and before you know it you've got a montage of everything that moves during the night on video.
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Mar 3, 2010 18:33:50 GMT
Stupid question, but... what about a car alarm?
When I was at university in Coventry I lodged for some years with a lovely retired Indian couple, who kept having stones thrown at their porch windows by racist schoolkids. Over the course of a few years I saw them put up high security gates (with mailbox and doorbell attached) to stop anyone getting into their front garden, and then soon after I left they installed a security camera with a monitor in their living room. It was an awful, depressing situation, and I found it so refreshing moving to Cardiff where I not only don't have a garden gate but don't have a fence or hedge either (all the front gardens being open plan). Once or twice a month I have to pick a crisp packet off my front lawn, and once in eight years a kid rang my doorbell and ran away. The contrast blows my mind.
Anyway, you have my sympathies.
Martin
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kayevcee
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The Weather Wizard
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Post by kayevcee on Mar 4, 2010 0:55:11 GMT
Can you get car alarms that go off when someone touches the bodywork? A proximity alarm would be a recipe for disaster and rapid loss of friends.
Well, my dad wanted something done pronto, so I've ordered a webcam with motion sensor and a USB extension cable. Now all I have to do is figure out how to set it up, pray it can take videos with no light other than an outside sodium bulb and learn to sleep with the computer running right next to my head all night for an as yet undisclosed period of time.
Yay.
-Nick
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Mar 4, 2010 7:39:23 GMT
Can you get car alarms that go off when someone touches the bodywork? Dunno, never owned a car. Or a car alarm. That's why I suspected I was asking a stupid question. Ah, just realised what you meant by 'keyed'. You meant literally scraped by a key? Bummer. Martin |
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Post by grahamthomson on Mar 4, 2010 11:35:52 GMT
Tch. Sorry to hear that, Nick. Vandalism is so infuriating.
You can get cheap infra red (wireless) cameras in places like Maplins and other electrical shops to either connect to a computer or television.
I had a look on Yahoo Answers, and apparently screaming loudly is the solution(!)
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kayevcee
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The Weather Wizard
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Post by kayevcee on Mar 4, 2010 22:57:43 GMT
Well, the webcam duly arrived and installed correctly (hooray for USB) and now all I have to do is find software that will a) let me record video on a timer so I end up with 2 hours of video instead of 8 (which, it turns out, I don't have nearly enough hard drive space for) and b) allow me to include a time stamp. At the moment the software that came with the camera does b) while an astronomy program I found online does a).
It would also be great if I could c) figure out how to make the damn thing zoom in. I'd rather not have the houses across the road in shot since I have no wish to intrude even if their windows appear as indistinct square blobs at this res.
-Nick
EDIT: In other news, the motion sensor doesn't sense f*** all. A double decker bus went past filling half the screen and the bloody thing didn't even flicker.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 5, 2010 10:52:51 GMT
If you're looking for a good program try Download.com Nick. I have said several times before that whenever I am looking for a specific program I always get programs off that site and I have had no problems as yet with anything I've downloaded from them.
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