Home surveillance with webcam, advice?

[chriswood_7]

Hey all,

Im looking for some advice on setting up a home surveillance system for as cheap as possible. Unfortunately, I have a very destructive puppy who is eating sofas, carpets, door frames and for some reason he just flips at a certain point in the day. We have a dog walker who comes in and often says that there is no mess when she comes in, so at some point in the day he starts to destroy stuff. Cue webcam.

I havent used a webcam before but I have a basic understanding on what to do. I basically want something that can pan and tilt, and record video and sound to a decent quality. I want to be able to log in at work to keep track on whats going on, but at the same time it would be nice to be able to record and save the file so we can analyse it and get to the bottom of our problem, and to an extent to ensure that both our dogs are not fighting etc.

Can anyone offer me advice on the best thing to do? Id prefer the cam to be wireless so I can connect to my router, but if necessary I can have it connected to a laptop. Im not sure id be able to record over wireless, but I hope there is a way.

Any advice appreciated,

Cheers,

[Saracen]

When you say pan and tilt, do you mean you want to be able to control it like that from your remote office, or just a manual adjustment mechanism? If you do want remote control, unless things have changed since I last looked, you are talking about a pretty pricey cam there.

Then again, it was a while ago, so they could well have changed.

[smithmr8]

I think something like this might be what you're looking for:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/134757

If you hook this up to your laptop, it will most probably come with some recording equipment. I'd set it to record when any motion is detected. This particular webcam, as I understand it, will follow the motion and keep it at the centre of the focus, which may be particularlly useful when dealing with animals.

Also, in terms of accessing it via work. There are ways of remotely accessing web-cams, which might be good for checking up on things at the time. But, for viewing past files, maybe remote desktop access would be more useful.. as you could access your laptop from work or wherever and view any recorded files directly. Remotely viewing files this way isn't great, but if it were what you were after.. you could just set up a media server on the laptop to stream the recorded video files, so you can view them on demand.

[GoNz0]

wonder if you could stick a water pistol on top and remote trigger it to stop the little bugger in its tracks

a m8's dog did the same, was nice and calm. if anyone knocked at the door and didnt come in the dog would wreck the place.

i guess you could setup a teamspeak server, login and give the dog what for if you see it kick off

[Webby]

Perhaps something like this http://www.scan.co.uk/product.aspx?ProductId=20968

Or with Pan and tilt (but 2.5x the price) http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=599482&Product=Edimax+IC-7000+wired+Pan%2ftilt+IP+camera+with+night+vision

The cheaper one is on today only save ~£2.

Oh if you want to find them on scan they are under Cameras->Network/IP cameras

[chriswood_7]

Thanks for your advice guys

Id prefer it to be wireless just incase he manages to see the laptop and destroy it. That'll be another £500 on top of the £££ of damage already caused. Ill see what I can get with the cash I have. I have heard of these accounts you can log into online that allows you to remote view through webpages, but not pan and tilt. As long as its a wide angle lens I should be able to place it somewhere and get a decent view

Next stop is rehoming him, but I really REALLY dont want to have to do that!