Typically, security systems use CCTV cameras that send video signals over coaxial cables (like cable TV) to another system which converts the analog camera signal into digital data.  The downside to this approach is that the cameras can’t just be plugged into a computer. Special computer hardware or a dedicated CCTV camera system are required to use these cameras.  This is not cheap, but there’s a good reason why this is the norm (read on).

Webcams output digital data via USB so that they can be connected to a computer without any additional hardware.  Software running on the PC can read image data from the webcam and display it to the user or save it to the computer’s hard drive.  The downside to this approach is that the camera interface is not necessarily consistent from one webcam to another.  I have a Kodak webcam and a Logitech webcam, and when I plugged them in I found I needed different software for each.  Windows 7 handles these differences pretty smoothly, but my donor PC for this project is using Ubuntu Linux, and there things are not so polished.  Adding additional cameras would mean having to buy the same camera or fiddling with more software.  Now I bet you can see why CCTV systems don’t take this approach (besides legacy reasons).  Managing many webcams would be a real headache!

Luckily, network webcams that connect to WiFi or via network cables to your home router are available.  Many of these can capture images as standard JPEGs which can be uploaded to a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server.  This method should work for most network webcams.  As a big added bonus, there are no wires to run around the house if the webcam is wireless.

After reviewing cameras on Amazon, I decided on the Foscam FI8918.  This camera strikes a good balance between cross your fingers and pray no name Chinese brands and expensive name brands.  I purchased two for $160 shipped.  This is a lot more than the $25 I paid for my Logitech USB web cam, but not having to run cabling through the house was easily worth the $50 difference to me.  The FI8918 can upload images to an FTP server and can also be configured to detect motion.  It even has a nifty calendar based scheduler built in, though I didn’t intend to use it.

The setup of these cameras is a little goofy, though straightforward.  They must first be plugged in via a hard wire network cable to your router.  You then need to run a utility on the provided CD to locate the cameras and open Internet Explorer to the configuration page.  I changed the default camera name an username/password before configuring the wireless connection.  I found that the Foscam’s wireless configuration page didn’t automatically detect my wireless settings, so I had to log into the router and copy all the settings.  The first camera worked smoothly after all those changes, but the second stubbornly refused to connect to my wireless.  Finally I reset it back to factory settings and repeated the process one more time and all was well.  Not sure what happened…

I then setup the FTP upload and Alarm settings in the administration panel. Sample settings are displayed below.

Alarm Service Settings

FTP Upload Settings

With that all settled, I now needed to actually setup an FTP server!  This turned out to be trickier than I thought… stay tuned!

Tags: DIY, Security
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