Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Hello

 

I have a Swann security camera positioned above my front door which overlooks the street in general. I also have some software which came with my Swann USB capture card. The software is supposed to do motion detection but in reality it captures just about everything, irrespective of movement or not.

 

Anybody got any good recommendations of good software that I can use with my camera to record motion?

 

Don't mind paying but would prefer free stuff.

 

I use Windows 7.

 

Cheers

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hello, I'm assuming you want to cover the front door/walkway instead of the street, correct. So motion on the doorway starts recording and not cars driving by. Am I right

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Hello, I'm assuming you want to cover the front door/walkway instead of the street, correct. So motion on the doorway starts recording and not cars driving by. Am I right

 

 

Yes please

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

What make/model DVR do you have. It should have a Motion Detect or Recording type menu. In this menu you will have a 'region' or 'mask' button so you can unselect the street and other areas you don't want to trigger recordings.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

"Motion detection" doesn't work in any outdoor setting. You're going to need some kind of real video analytics to achieve what you want without getting a flood of false alarms.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
"Motion detection" doesn't work in any outdoor setting. You're going to need some kind of real video analytics to achieve what you want without getting a flood of false alarms.

 

False

 

I have a camera mounted under my front door and overlooks my walkway, driveway and street. I ONLY get recordings when people walk up my driveway or front door walkway. Never since setting up my motion detect region to mask the street have I had emails or recordings sent from street motion.

 

Maybe your just using the wrong equipment

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Do you get falses from animals?

 

BRK is correct, motion detection is iffy at best outdoors. It's fine if it's only recording, but if you're using it to send you alert emails, most people are going to find it excessive. Careful camera placement and a lot of tweaking of masking and sensitivity can help, but it's still subject to falses from things other than just street activity.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Do you get falses from animals?

 

BRK is correct, motion detection is iffy at best outdoors. It's fine if it's only recording, but if you're using it to send you alert emails, most people are going to find it excessive. Careful camera placement and a lot of tweaking of masking and sensitivity can help, but it's still subject to falses from things other than just street activity.

 

Sure I get alerts when something passes into my grid of motion detection, i've picked up cats, dogs, birds. Never anything smaller. Not using email alerts at the moment but I can enable remotely in the event I do need them turned on.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
"Motion detection" doesn't work in any outdoor setting. You're going to need some kind of real video analytics to achieve what you want without getting a flood of false alarms.

 

False

 

I have a camera mounted under my front door and overlooks my walkway, driveway and street. I ONLY get recordings when people walk up my driveway or front door walkway. Never since setting up my motion detect region to mask the street have I had emails or recordings sent from street motion.

 

Maybe your just using the wrong equipment

 

 

No, maybe I just have more experience in it than you do.

 

I will guarantee that you do not ONLY get recordings from people, unless you have also managed to prevent any kind of animal or weather intrusion into the area as well.

 

Motion detection is horrible outdoors, and to lead someone to believe that it's a viable solution is improper.

 

I will admit that when some people compare "free" motion detection to an actual analytics application that has a real cost, they MAY decide that they do not want to spend additional money for greatly enhanced performance, but there is not a "motion detection" product on the market that can properly deal with all the random activity that comes along in the typical outdoor environment.

 

If you want to use the motion detection only to try to maximize recording time, then it can have limited benefit, because you're not getting alerts, you're just using it to mask out the completely dead times.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

If you read my last post you can see I said yes I get MD records from animals (when they pass into my grid of MD) but I don't have shadows or weather to worry about because my camera is mounted where it's always shaded, and yes I did forget to mention when snow or rain or wind blows branches into my grid I will get recordings, (big DUH) Just assumed we all knew what a motion grid was. I guess not " title="Applause" />

How can you guarantee something you know nothing about. You obviously are using the same systems and like to stick with it. Try other brands my friend you will see what I'm talking about.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I use motion detection recording and it DOES work for the most part, and work GREAT when you need to search video to see if anyone was there. I wouldnt have it send emails though, clouds and shade etc will set off some cameras depending on the time of the day. But I rather scroll through several false alarms than hours of nothing. BTW Video motion detection is never a replacement for a good alarm system.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Just assumed we all knew what a motion grid was. I guess not

 

Well, I thought I had a pretty good idea about video motion detection, but maybe I'll pay attention to more of your posts and try to learn some new things. You've clearly got this figured out.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Just assumed we all knew what a motion grid was. I guess not

 

Well, I thought I had a pretty good idea about video motion detection, but maybe I'll pay attention to more of your posts and try to learn some new things. You've clearly got this figured out.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
If you read my last post you can see I said yes I get MD records from animals (when they pass into my grid of MD) but I don't have shadows or weather to worry about because my camera is mounted where it's always shaded, and yes I did forget to mention when snow or rain or wind blows branches into my grid I will get recordings, (big DUH) Just assumed we all knew what a motion grid was. I guess not " title="Applause" />

How can you guarantee something you know nothing about. You obviously are using the same systems and like to stick with it. Try other brands my friend you will see what I'm talking about.

 

So what brands do you use?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

OP if you have not come across it yet, try Vitamin d, at vitamindinc.com. I found it on this site a while back. It provides motion analytics and I am using it with much better (but as others have said, not perfect) results than pure motion detection. There is a free version to try with lower res than the (inexpensive) paid version. I like it also because it worked on PC or Mac. One nice feature of the paid version, is that you can have it FTP video as well as save it locally. I use a slightly beat up macbook pro as my recording system, and back up the footage to a cheap net top box, running FTP in the basement, on the theory that a thief would probably grab the laptop and my video if I get burgled. It supports standard windows capture devices along with a decent list of IP cams.

 

Cheers

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×