Re: [PLUG] Security Cameras

[Walt Mankowski <waltman@pobox.com>]

On Fri, Jun 10, 2011 at 12:17:42AM +0000, John Karr wrote:
> Security Cameras
>  
> I find myself needing to install a security camera and figured this
> community would have a lot of good cost effective ideas with a bias
> towards the open source and the cheap. Because one of the confusing
> issues is cctv vs network cameras, I'm going to ask that the
> discussion be restricted to network based solutions that don't
> require a dedicated cctv base station or the installation of a
> capture card into a computer.
>  
> Let me describe my security needs.
>  
> Primary Problem: Barking Dog Cam
> My neighbor's dog stands at the fence to my yard and barks at my
> house. This is whenever they let him out unattended. This can be for
> hours on end. I've talked to them about it several times. I've filed
> one complaint with the city, but to cite them the inspector needs to
> witness the dog barking for at least 5 minutes. If the dog is
> outside barking 10% or even just 5% of the time this is extremely
> annoying to me, but the odds are against an inspector on one or two
> random visits witnessing it. The camera will need to be an outdoor
> camera, which will be attached to a bush or a fence. I need to
> record audio (and it seems a lot of security cameras lack this
> feature). Bark activated is ideal, but motion sensing would work
> since he comes to a specific spot for most of his barking. My
> objective is to be able to post time-stamped video of the dog
> barking to youtube that a city animal complaints inspector can
> easily view, or that I can use in court as evidence when I sue them
> to remove the animal from their property.

I don't understand why this is a "security" problem.  Security cameras
are generally used to take video when no one is around.  If the dog's
barking when you're not around, it's not really a problem.  And if
it's barking when you are around, it seems to me that a much simpler
solution would be to record the video with a normal camera or
smartphone.

>  Secondary Problem: Offender Bird Identification
> Another animal related issue I have is birds defacing vehicles
> parked in front of my house. My roommate went so far as to contact a
> professional in the field of bird nuisances, who needs to be able to
> identify species and patterns to work out a remediation plan. The
> best plan here might simply be to just record video continuously for
> a couple of days.

It seems unlikely that a grainy security camera, presumably mounted
inside your house to prevent theft, would have enough resolution to
identify bird species and poop events.

Walt

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