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Cameras from Ubiquiti, Vivotek, Axis, and many others support retrieving the current image jpg through a http request to the camera..

I don't know your exact budget as it's not detailed but Axis has made quality webcams for >15 years (I've got a 2100 from ~2000 and it's still running fine) and they support ftp uploading. The small M10s are dirt cheap, but work well. Check out http://www.axis.com/products/m... to see. If you want something fancier look at their higher priced offerings with better features. I don't work there, own stock, resell them, etc, but I've had great luck with their cameras for a really long time.

Anyone know if those LED baseball caps really work? What about a can of spray paint, aimed at the Glass-hole?

This looks promising, it's an IR based 'camera blinder' that hides your face:
http://www.slashgear.com/surveillance-cam-blinder-2010369/

Dunno how effective it is against different camera types and it does require you to wear a dumb-ass headband but it looks like a promising concept.

I've been playing around with various IR LED types, such as this one, at a couple wavelengths, and I found that in darkness and twilight, you need only very few to become a huge blob of ghostly light, but in good lighting conditions, a good camera like an Axis P3367 and even some of the crappy webcams I tried will see them as merely little points of red light. So I'll integrate a bunch in my backpack's straps and on it's surface, to at least get that commute, including subways etc.. covered, but with little hope of completeness.

So the real challenge may be: can we build a device that automates lens detection, focuses a small laser on the lens in question, and keeps it there while both the lens and the wearer of the countermeasure laser move along. +1 for a switch that will briefly increase laser power to burning strength. As in using a 2W Laser diode at low power. Capability :-)

Wow, are YOU new to the game.

The images, both still and video, that were captured were very useful in pulling together evidence regarding their basic features, movement patterns, clothing, etc. And the public ate it up.

What wasn't there was the resolution.

This is the PERFECT argument that we need to plaster our public spaces with security camers. However, just not those cheap-ass 640x480 ones. More like these 5 MP ones. They have a maximum resolution of 2592x1944.

I'd expect a *minimum* of 1080p with low-light capabilities and mechanical pan-tilt-zoom on the RFPs that come out. Add an optional optical zoom (not that digital fake shit) and they'll be able to tell whether or not the subject has dandruff or cleans under his fingernails from two miles away.

Of course, it'll all be maintained by minimum wage flunkies whose main form of entertainment is spying on women with revealing clothing and posting it to YouTube.

If only all those millions of security cameras were as good as they are on TV. But they aren't. The images they produce are shitty and worthless.

Except they might be that good. The images recorded from newer IP cameras can be pretty amazing. Especially if you're recording at full resolution.

Some of the images released were at least megapixel resolution.

Is installation of cameras just plug and play? I've heard that you have to mess around with baluns. Is that right? How far should the low-voltage camera lines be from medium voltage (120 and 220 volt) lines to not cause interference?

There are a lot of ways to answer this. Much is dependant on the types of cameras you are installing. Standard video cameras (which will be the cheapest) simply require a CCTV grade coaxial cable (RG59 or RG6) and an 18 Ga. 2 conductor. There is specially made cable that has both these combined together, called Siamese cable. You will be able to get approx 1000' out of RG59 and 1200-1400' out of RG6. At those extreme lengths, being anywhere closer than 2' to HV lines (especially 220V) may cause interference. Shorter lengths will not matter so much, and intermittent contact with power cords and the like should have little to no effect.

Baluns are used to convert from coaxial cable to UTP cable such as CAT5 or 6, and bring their own problems to the table. Using them allows for easier switching to an IP camera solution in the future, since there will already be Ethernet rated cable in place. NVT has many devices of this type, as well as many others. http://www.nvt.com/


IP cameras are subject to the same limitations as any ethernet device (320ft) and PoE devices change that some as well. There are ways to lengthen an ethernet run through the use of mid-range bridges. IP cameras will be the easiest to install (especially if you will be using PoE), and will offer the most future proof solution, as they will be the standard for many more years to come. They are are anywhere from 2-4x the cost of standard video cameras, and I don't mean the cheap chinese ones. Spending money on good cameras up front is a worthwhile investment. Axis cameras, while somewhat pricey, are universally accepted by most if not all NVR's, and will set up very quickly and easily. http://www.axis.com/

Also, what cameras to get? IR? Dome cameras or bullet? What mm should they be? How do you know?

This will all depend on the conditions of the site. Do you expect vandalism? Get a rugged dome. Is it an area that has low lighting at night? Get an IR-equipped camera but don't expect too much from it at any real distance. The camera type is mostly aesthetic unless vandal resistance is a big issue. Then height is your friend. Here is a site I just found that can calculate what lenses you will need based on viewing distance and field of view. http://www.cctvlenscalculator.com/

What about viewing over the Internet? Also, how easy is it to hack them? Any additional security recommended?

I do not recommend putting these devices directly on the internet, as they are proprietary (mostly Windows based) systems and as such may have holes you won't know about. Put it behind a good firewall and gateway, and then VPN into the network to connect to it. They can be configured for direct internet access in most cases though, to be accessed by their client software by internet IP. Good luck to you if you try it.

IP cameras have become quite cheap, depending on your needs. If you get PoE models they are also far easier to run than traditional cameras, as a single CatE cable can get the job done. I've set up small systems a number of places including my house, and it all works quite well and easily. While you can go the open source route, I found the easiest way is with some Mac software. You can even do it without network DVR software and use cameras that capture to onboard SD cards. I find that inconvenient, but it can be a good backup if your cameras are mounted out of reach but your server isn't.

Checkout, in no particular order:

• Vivotek
• Axis
• Panasonic
• Y-Cam

There's a product for every need. Cheap, $50 indoor lit-room only solutions to $2000 pan/tilt/zoom IR illuminated outdoor vandal proof units.

TrendNet makes affordable PoE switches. 10/100 is fine, an individual camera stream is maybe 2Mbps for a high res stream.

I use SecuritySpy on a Mac. Even watching 8 cameras it uses

Place cameras where you can get good shots of faces as they come through doors. Maybe one of your driveway or street in front to get a car. They won't stop the break in, although visible cameras outside may be a deterrent, but they will give you a fighting chance of catching the person who did it.

Oh, and get a dog with a loud bark. Most robbers don't want to find out if it is a small dog or big dog!

You might want to take a look at these IP connected video cameras:

http://www.axis.com/products/video/camera/ptz/index.htm

They have pan/zoom so you can control them remotely.

Security cameras don't usually have high resolutions and are easily avoided.

Actually, security cameras can have very high resolution and are unavoidable when properly installed.

We run a Video Surveillance system in a SAAS model (video data is pumped offsite to us, where we store it so its safe from theft/destruction/etc.), so we see a LOT of cameras and a lot of video busts. When we first started there were a mostly 320x240 crappy cameras with pin-hole lenses on the market -- these only worked if you framed the subject right in front of the camera and were in broad daylight. Now you can get a 1600x1200 pixel camera with enough light gathering ability to see clearly in sub-candlelight, and in complete darkness if you have an IR illuminator (e.g. Axis 223M).

Another poster mentioned putting at least one camera at a bottleneck entrance and then others on the gear. That's the perfect strategy, and SOP for the security industry. This way you get at least one really good face shot of each attendee when they walk in. Now it doesn't matter that the cameras that are covering the gear can't get a good forensic face shot -- as long as the recording is good enough to match the person doing the stealing with the video of him or her at the bottleneck, you've got enough for a bust.

Even if you don't get the perfect face shot, if you get video of someone grabbing someone else's tower case or 28" LCD monitor, just e-mail the footage to all the attendees ... someone will know who it was.

It supports both WiFi (WPA2-PSK, if you want it) and 100BT. There's no IR illuminator, but they claim 2 LUX sensitivity. You can find them on the 'Net for about $400.00.

I run VoIP and Bittorrent on the same network

I'm not an expert but I don't think that's an accurate interpretation of QoS. As I understand it it refers more to delivering time-critical packets within a maximum expected time. Clearly only a small portion of the traffic for an ISP can be time-critical. Assuming 'traffic for my customers' must always be handled faster than 'traffic for other customers' doesn't make sense from a networking standpoint and is unlikely to gain a competitive advantage for the service provider anyhow.

Would you settle for a 1.6 megapixel 802.11g/WPA2 wireless camera that can do 12fps full res or 30fps full-motion mpeg4 at 800x600?

http://www.axis.com/products/cam_207mw/index.htm

My family owns a vacation cabin in the mountains and this is what we do:

  - Dual heating systems. One gas heater keeps the house warm enough (55F) and electric room heaters are set below that. We've had yet the chance to see both fail.
  - The water is shut off. If a pipe breaks then at least it doesn't flood.
  - To avoid water breaks, cover all outside faucets. We use something similar to this: http://www.improvementscatalog.com/HanoverAssets/I mprovements/large_images/264284zz.jpg
  - Some lights are put on timers for protection against burglary (the house looks occupied). You should also ask your neighbors to call if you they see suspicious activity.

Don't forget that when you come back to turn on the water and flush out both the hot and cold water from the system. You don't want to be heating up or drinking water that's been sitting around in water heater or pipes.

If you're really worried about the place, get a security camera. I've used Axis network cameras ( http://www.axis.com/products/video/camera/ ) and they are good cameras.

You can already buy wireless network cameras. They're a little pricey, but not insanely expensive. And you can get cheap clones if you shop around.

http://www.axis.com/products/cam_207/index.htm

We run an Axis 207 at work. Pair it up with Zoneminder and you've got yourself a montion capture system, albeit in the form of home security system software.

My 24h webcam is an AXIS model, too. I am very satisfied.

They also do have wireless models.

I like the Axis cameras. Write a quick script to grab the images and display them in your custom webpage, it's a 10-minute job. Plus, I think the cameras actually run Linux, which I know is a big selling point in some crowds.

Axis of Sweden makes a Network Document Server that is a small (think mini ATX) linux appliance. It has a network port, an optional keyboard port, and a scsi or USB interface to drive multi-page scanners. Axis recommends which scanners work well and its most of the mutlipage scanners out there.

We use one of these in lieu of having a copier in our office, so I went with the more expensive one so that I could attach a more powerful scanner to it, but the less expensive USB multipage scanners from Xerox and Documate are pretty good.

http://www.axis.com/products/document_servers/inde x.htm

..and their network document servers. Basically they have USB/SCSI for the scanner and ethernet port
for the network. They can send to email, network drive etc.
In addition you can scan to browser or command the scanner through HTTP.
http://www.axis.com/products/document_servers/inde x.htm

I needed similar things to yours, but with HTTP capability. I and my customers
have been quite happy with this solution.

We have one of these.
The server sits on a little 1U server and sucks video over IP from Axis cameras deployed wherever. The little Axis boxes run embedded Linux, and I think the server itself runs off a bootable LiveCD (I haven't really rebooted it much to check).

http://www.axis.com/
http://www.axis.com/adp_cd/adp_cd8/companies/broad ware/BMS.pdf

We have one of these.
The server sits on a little 1U server and sucks video over IP from Axis cameras deployed wherever. The little Axis boxes run embedded Linux, and I think the server itself runs off a bootable LiveCD (I haven't really rebooted it much to check).

http://www.axis.com/
http://www.axis.com/adp_cd/adp_cd8/companies/broad ware/BMS.pdf

Even better if you use the existing cameras and these Less money to waste. And BTW get mjpeg capable.

My first questions is, are you planning on replacing the entire system used, not only client/server but also camaras? My guess is that the camaras connect to a hub of sorts that then simply transfer the softare to a server, the server runs a web server with specific software that lets you view the incomming video/audio from the different locations.

If this was your situation then the camaras wouldnt need any type of computers or firewalls. If this isnt the solution you are using then your entire install was flawed from the get go.

Heres an example of what I am talking about, no computer per location, simply connect cables to hub and camara and your done.

Again if this isn't the type of solution you are using, and each location has a PC thats use, it's all ready flawed, with a system thats "hundreds world wide" the person who setup it up if not all ready should be fired.

If what your talking about is on the "server side" meaning not a deployed location, then you can really use any type of PC you want, since most modern and sane setups will only be accessable from a browser or remote connection. No specific ports need to be open besides 80 then.

There is TONS of information about this online, look up IP camaras online, if the company is willing to let you switch over hundreds of locations world wide to use linux then your better off saving the money on install times and just do it right this time.

I suggest that you contact Axis. http://www.axis.com/ They are very Linux friendly. Call them up and explain your needs to them. They can most likely point you to a Linux based DVR.

1) Patch the OS religiously.
2) Remove/shutdown everything that is not being used. As others have noted, worms and viruses attack applications, not ports. If there's nothing listening on a port, you're pretty safe... assuming the attack isn't against the stack itself, but those types of worms aren't very common.
3) 80 through 9999 is a shitload of ports. I'd suspect that not all are being used by the DVR app, as there are ports between 80 and 9999 that are used for other services. Here's a list:

http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/~rakerman/port-table.htm l

I'd close everything that isn't absolutely being used and complain to the vendor about the lose recommendation. 80-999 open is asinine.
4) Disallow any use of the system for purposes other than recording. Period.
5) I suspect that the no-anti-virus requirement is a consequence of processing overhead. With a sufficiently powerful server, I can't imagine why you can't run anti-virus software and still record. Multi-processor would be a great idea.
6) Does the vendor have a usergroup or message board? Surely you're not the first person to encounter this type of problem. Ask the people who know.
7) Don't be too discouraged by the responses you receive here :) It's easy to be condescending when you're staring at a computer screen.

If replacing the system is a possibility, I'm a huge fan of Axis cameras:

http://www.axis.com/

I have several clients running a range of their IP cameras, and they work fantastic. All you need to receive video from the camera is port 80 open and directed at the camera.

There are several options:
Software:
ZoneMinder Welcome to ZoneMinder.com, home of ZoneMinder the top Linux video camera security and surveillance solution.
IPConfigure
Hardware:
Nuvico DVR's - advantage of being built on embedded Linux, with a good feature set.
Axis Video Servers I am presently in the process of installing and configuring a 300 camera system built utilizing IPConfigure and Axis 241Q video servers. I am finding my bigest hurdle is dealing with the corporate IT department for support. How I wish I had paid more attention to network design in school!

I'm sort of the one man IT department for a small nonprofit that is dependent on technology for tons of different things. Recently, we've begun looking into security for our office (I'll spare you the grisly details.) A traditional CCTV system is completely out of the question. A network camera like the Axis 207 ($300 range) is doable in the hardware sense, but they want an additional $600 for DVR software. I have a spare box I could toss Linux on if there were a good F/OSS solution out there.

In short: it's not just the big boys that are looking for these things! :)

I'm interested in setting up a Linux based webcam

Step 1: Buy an Axis.

Step 2: There is no step 2.

The Axis is what you asked for. It is pre-packaged, embedded-linux-based, open (you can edit the scripts on the device if you want) and very easy to set-up and configure (sometimes as easy as plug in camera, access camera from browser).

For my Video Over IP configuration, I have this video surveillance server attached to a Linksys WRT54GL wifi router that I bought from Zinside. And for the cameras I have 6 Axis 206W IP Wifi cameras. This solution has been running great for a while now and I can access it from anywhere in the world.

I've actually seen one working on a web interface, works great, can host multiple viewers.

Check them out here.

They're not so expensive, though don't expect to pay like $20 and get one.

Axis did this ages ago. It even runs Linux for extra bonus points.

http://www.axis.com/products/cam_206w/

To claim that this one is the first "computer-free" camera is bogus. First of, it still uploads to a computer so technicly it's not independent of computers. Secon, almost all network cameras can upload by it self. Axis have been doing this for close to a decade now. http://www.axis.com/products/cam_206w/index.htm/

First WiFi digital camera? Then what is this supposed to be?

just google it ?

E.g. this Axis even supports WPA2.

The Axis 206M is a cheap 1280x1024 (12 fps) TCP/IP camera (it runs on Linux). More info: http://www.axis.com/products/cam_206m/index.htm

Axis http://axis.com/products/video/camera/index.htm has a nice line of network cameras that themselves run linux and a webserver to provide the picture. May be too spendy, tho'.

Canon Digital still cameras run dos, specifically datalight ROM-DOS. However, it is probably very boring to hack, since all the hardware access and UI is probably in the camera.exe, and all the dos does is boot. So you would have to reverse engineer the camera app to do any hacks. Even then, you will probably run out of RAM for anything more sophisticated.

However, most cameras will have somekind of network connectivity in future (The All devices will creep in features until they can read and send email law). It's a big chance that some vendors will end up using Linux as the base OS - The axis surveillance cams already do!. That would increase the hacking chances. How about running an tiny httpd gallery right of the camera or an ftp server :-P

From the page:
Axis' network document servers enable users to send scanned documents (e.g. sketches and contracts) instantly over the network to e-mail addresses, file servers, printers, URLs and the Web. Easy to install and use, the network document servers provide a faster, cheaper and safer method of distributing documents than by fax, traditional mail or courier.
link

Axis (makers of network printer servers, web cameras, etc) also make 'network document servers' - essentially, a small dedicated computer to which you attach the scanner, and then it scans the document and emails the result or makes it available through a small web server: http://www.axis.com/products/axis_70u/index.htm

Actually, in a way, the Slashdot effect could indeed be considered an infection. About ten years ago, before there were email viruses that I was aware of, rumors of email viruses that do terrible things (that were not then possible) were circulated by credulous people trying to spread the warning. One such notice was passed to a government client of my then-employer with great solemnity at a meeting, without having been circulated into the engineering department where I worked. When I finally saw the notice and explained why it was not applicable in the client's environment, I explained how the REAL virus was the email notice in question, and that the computer it ran on was the human brain.

Now, years later, these sorts of viruses are all over the place (see snopes.com), as are the occasional "bugs" like this one, in which an unintended result occurs. Of course, "programming" the human mind, by introducing data that will yield a predicted result, is as old as the human (or proto-human) mind. I submit that being skilled in this is potentially far more powerful than anything we code for a computer.

FWIW, it's not like all of these cameras have gaping security holes. At least one, the AXIS 211 claims to have the capability of setting a password on the web interface. (I don't have one to verify this.) As far as I know, Google only follows publicly accessible links in its indexing, so the fact that we can look at the cameras isn't really the fault of Google or the camera vendor. If it's a violation, it's the failure of the camera's owner to read the fine manual.

Not sure what this is, looks like something out of Heidizilla

These are not peoples personal webcams, these are $500 - $2000 buisness cameras most of them are watching traffic and empty offices, and seem to be intended for public access.

Axis makes some very nice network cameras. I've got one DMZ'ed through my router so that I can view it from the Interweb.

Also, D-Link is now selling these in both wired and wireless models. The Axis ones are more sophisticated, however. (Embedded Linux OS.)

"Linux wil run on most, if not all desktop computers currently running Windows."

In fact, Linux runs on about 23 additional architectures that Microsoft can't even remotely support with their most-flexible embedded target.

• Diverse PDA / embedded / microcontroller / router devices:
  • Advanced RISC Machines, Ltd. ARM family (StrongARM SA-1110, XScale, ARM6, ARM7, ARM2, ARM250, ARM3i, ARM610, ARM710, ARM720T, and ARM920T)
  • Analog Devices, Inc.'s Blackfin DSP
  • Axis Communications ETRAX series ("CRIS" = Code Reduced Instruction Set RISC architecture)
  • Elan SC520 and SC300
  • Fujitsu FR-V
  • Hitachi H8 series
  • Intel i960
  • Intel IA32-compatibles (Cyrix MediaGX, STMicroelectronics STPC, ZF Micro ZFx86)
  • Matsushita AM3x
  • MIPS-compatibles (Toshiba TMPRxxxx / TXnnnn, NEC VR series, Realtek 8181)
  • Motorola 680x0-based machines (Motorola VMEbus boards, ISICAD Prisma machines, and Motorola Dragonball & ColdFire CPUs, and Cisco 2500/3000/4000 series routers)
  • Motorola embedded PowerPC (including MPC / PowerQUICC I, II, III families)
  • NEC V850E
  • Renesas Technology (formerly Hitachi) SH3/SH4 (SuperH: link1 link2)
  • Samsung CalmRISC
  • Texas Instruments's DM64x and C54x DSP families
• Intel 8086 / 80286 .
• Intel IA32 family: i386, i486, Pentium, Pentium Pro, Pentium II, Pentium III, Xeon, and Pentium IV processors, as well as IA32 clones from AMD, Cyrix, VIA, IDT, Winchip, NexGen, Transmeta, VIA C3 Ezra "CentaurHauls", and others.
• Intel/HP IA64: Trillian/Itanium/Itanium2
• AMD x86-64 Hammer family (including AMD Opteron)
• Motorola 68020-68040 series (with MMU): m68k Mac, Amiga, Atari ST/TT/Medusa/Falcon, HP/Apollo Domain, HP9000/300, sun3, and Sinclair Q40.
• Motorola/IBM PowerPC family: Most PowerMac (including G3/G4/G5) / CHRP / PReP / POP, Amiga PowerUP System, and IBM PPC64 (AS/400, RS/6000).
• MIPS

"but a mainstream, commercial-grade bluetooth TCP/IP router"

Have you even bothered to hit google?

Searching for Bluetooth AP gave me this Belkin and this Axis, both of which are commercially available, and the Axis even supports SNMP and RADIUS for enterprise installations.

I think Thinkgeek used to sell both a BT LAN AP and a cordless phone with a BT modem.

Bluetooth devices are out there in larger quantities than people assume.

Sun is not "coming out with new chips without connectors". Sun has demonstrated a new kind of interconnect in a lab. They might use it in a DoD funded supercomputer project. Maybe.

You're not going to "stack chips like Scrabble tiles". The unpackaged chips have to be aligned within a few microns and held in position. That's going to be done in an IC packaging facility. The result will be a multi-chip module, a single package containing several chips.

Multi-chip modules have been around for a long time. The Pentium Pro, for example, was a multi-chip module. There's a multi-chip module Linux computer in a single package from ETRAX. Multi-chip modules are expensive and hard to manufacture, and they're generally used only when you need to combine chips that couldn't be manufactured on the same substrate, like a fast CPU and flash memory. They usually cost more than the chips packaged individually. That's why this isn't a mainstream technology.

This new approach might revive the multi-chip module market. Might. This has to become a cheap process before it will be used outside the supercomputer world. A whole generation of automated assembly machinery has to be developed to assemble and align chips in multi-chip modules before this is more than a demo technology. But this looks more promising than the way multi-chip modules are currently made. If it becomes cheaper to put two chips in one package than to put two chips in two packages, this is a significant development. Otherwise, not.

Look into a flash file system to minimize writes to flash and to deal with inevitable bad blocks.

Actually, the architecture I would recommend (and the one I use) for really small footprints is the ETRAX 100MCM from Axis.

The new version (it's not on the web yet, but they are shipping in limited quantities) includes on chip: 4 Mbyte Flash, 16 Mbyte SDRAM, an Ethernet transceiver, Reset circuitry, and dozens of passives (resistors and capacitors), and all the usual: 4 Serial UARTS, a parallel port, SPI bus, etc.

So if you wanted to build a credit-card sized Linux machine with Ethernet, BOA webserver, SSH, FTP, vi, sqlite, LUA scripting language, etc., you could (and you would still have at least 1.5 MB left over).

This is what I use for my embedded designs, and it's astonishingly easy using the cross-compiling toolchain (basically, just gcc and a change in the makefile for target) that they provide. They also have a mailing list for questions if you don't want to call.

Oh, and their architecture is now supported in the main fork of the 2.6 kernel.

I wonder if anyone is researching special filesystems for compact flash storage. It seems to me it would be possible to design a filesystem that spreads data around the media to avoid (as much as possible) overwriting the same storage blocks.

Bluetooth certainly has the bandwidth for two-way voice--that's why you can buy a Bluetooth wireless hands-free headset for your (Bluetooth) cell phone. For example, one from Jabra. However, the range of Bluetooth is much shorter than Wi-Fi. At a maxium of 30 feet (a lot less going through the walls in my apartment), Bluetooth would be less convenient than Wi-Fi. Also, Wi-Fi access points are already becoming prevalent, whereas Bluetooth access points are less widespread. Though you can buy a Bluetooth access point, Bluetooth is meant more as a device-to-device standard for peripherals, not a networking protocol. It would be easier to cover a large buiding with Wi-Fi, and the network would be multi-use, allowing laptops and PDAs and such to connect along with the badges. While it's possible for devices to use Bluetooth to use a computer's internet connectivity (see the Share2Blue2th AppleScript that my friend C.K. wrote for allowing a cellphone to browse the web over a computer's intenet connection (that's the reverse of the usual way where a notebook uses Bluetooth to browse the web over the cellphone's modem connection)), it's much more of a hassle than with Wi-Fi, which was designed expressly for that purpose.