There is an application called Dorgem (Windows Only), which has motion detection function on normal webcam. This is a pretty cool feature because you can convert webcam to a security camera. Dorgem also has couple of other features that are useful for security camera, such as capture images and store off-site (i.e. FTP site), and supports unlimited number of simultaneous cameras.
Dorgem is a webcam capture application for Windows 9x and up. Any Video for Windows compatible webcam (or other digital camera) is supported.
It has unlimited storage events that can put the captured image on an FTP site as well as a local disk, all with their own time interval. It can put a unlimited texts and bitmaps on the captured image before the image is stored.
Dorgem supports an unlimited number of simultaneous cameras. It has a built-in webserver for still images and can be used as security camera because of its motion detection.
Simplehelp has a full tutorial on how to setup your webcam as a security camera. It should give you a head start on configuring the application.
How to use your PC and Webcam as a motion-detecting and recording security camera – [Simplehelp]
A (not free) alternative is found at http://www.trackercam.com
TrackerCam sells a motorized base for USB cameras. The bundled software has motion detection/motion tracking functions, and will let the camera pan and tilt to follow a moving object in its field of view. Another bundled program is supposed to let a PC monitor multiple video feeds and record video when motion is detected.
An additional product is a motorized pan/tilt base that interfaces with a digital video camera through a Firewire cable. This product will control pan/tilt and camera zoom.
I’ve used their basic product, and it is quite satisfactory. One useful application for a webcam is to point it at the control panel of the office laser printer when doing a long print job. I could go home and monitor the paper level, etc. and go to the office when I needed to replace paper or clear a jam.
[...] It’s a webcam? No it’s a motion-detecting and recording security camera! There is an application called Dorgem (Windows Only), which has motion detection function on normal webcam. This is a pretty cool feature because you can convert webcam to a security camera. [...]
For Mac there is SecuritySpy.
SecuritySpy comes with a nice Dashboard widget.
http://www.bensoftware.com/ss/
Looks pretty straight forward to operate.
I have Dorgem work as far as a FTP an image from my webcam to my homePage.. Now I need examples or suggestions on how to get my webpahe to update every few seconds or so…
Put the Code Below in the of your web page to automaticly refresh it. Change the 300 (Seconds) to the time you wish.
Jim:
You might plug “META REFRESH” into your favorite search engine, and use that tag to refresh the page every so often. On the other hand, you might want to look into using the webserver that is built in to Dorgem. It’s not massively configurable, but it does snap a new picture with every page hit…
Will it be be possible to automaticaly have an email sent with pic from any of these apps [dorgem ?]
You can try http://www.mycamerlink.com. You can set up motion detection directly in you browser without installing anything. I tried it, it sends a sequence of 5 captured images with the email.
Sorry, wrong link above: it’s http://www.mycameralink.com