Consumer Webcams With High-Quality Sensors? 218
xmas2003 writes "Since 2005, I've had a live webcam watching my grass grow — another is currently watching a bird nest on my front door — five babies! While I appreciate the 802.11g wireless and Pan/Tilt/Zoom (10x optical) of the five-year-old D-Link DCS-6620g, it has issues, especially image quality. I've investigated getting a new webcam, but except for high-end/security-related gear from companies such as Axis, there doesn't seem to be much improvement in the consumer space, as most offerings are just cheaper and USB-connected for tethered video conferencing, etc." So where, the reader wants to know, are the high-quality, reasonably affordable webcams? (Read on below.)
"I have an 18 Megapixel Canon 7D DSLR that shoots gorgeous 1920x1080x30p hi-def video. While I don't expect that in a consumer webcam, their recently released T2i uses the same chip and sells for $800. And heck, point-n-shoots are a couple of hundred bucks, and now many cell phones have cameras built in, so there're plenty of low-power, speedy CPUs in small packages these days to handle the signal processing. So why hasn't someone taken a sensor with good image quality, downsized to around 1024x768, and put it in a PTZ webcam package with 802.11n wireless for around $500?" Even if it's not that exact combination, what are the best options going these days for high-resolution webcams?
We've all been there... (Score:2, Funny)
HQ, reasonably priced wireless webcams to be easily stashed wherever I please? I've had that dream as well......
Oh come on now. (Score:3, Funny)
Watching grass grow? Watching birds? Tell us *really* what you are going to use the webcam for...
Slashdotting in 3... 2... 1 (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Oh come on now. (Score:5, Funny)
Hey, every growhouse needs a security/monitoring system. Gotta watch that grass grow and make sure no one steals it.
Your website is so awesome..... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Wow, bad website design... (Score:3, Funny)
MY EYES!!!! (Score:5, Funny)
The goggles do nothing!
Here you go (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Your website is so awesome..... (Score:3, Funny)
Watching the grass (Score:2, Funny)
Depends what kind of grass we are talking about doesn't it? What is grass to some are weed to others ;)
Re:Great question (Score:3, Funny)
^^^ Argh. Memo to self: never use the back-arrow when actively posting to Slashdot. It'll repost the same comment you made earlier under whatever comment you happen to be viewing at the time :(
Re:Great question (Score:3, Funny)
I'm a step ahead of you. I already have switches on the doors and windows. They didn't work in this case because the burglar smashed a 4x8 sliding glass door (tempered glass) instead. The sensor on the broken door didn't trigger, because the magnet was glued to the door, and the switch was glued to the frame -- neither of which moved. I have glassbreak, shock, and motion sensors in the room... but all three were disabled because my cats, loud motorcycles, and cars playing loud bass music while driving by kept triggering them (motion detectors are notoriously difficult to use in homes with cats, because "pet-safe" detectors are really "dog-safe" (dogs don't climb and jump the way cats do). Ergo, I reworked a few things. The disabled sensors still don't trigger an alarm, but they DO turn on all the X10-controllable lights in the house and call me on the phone to alert me when they're set off. At that point, I can check the cameras, and manually trigger the alarm from my phone if I want to.
I also bought a few USP 60lb+ pressure mats to put on selected stair treads. I figure that one way or another, a burglar IS going to go upstairs... and to be honest, *I* barely know which steps have sensors, and which don't, so I doubt they'll be able to guess, either. Just to be extra clever, I bought a bunch of 99c floor mats from Ikea, cut them down to be the same size as the pressure mats, and put one or the other under EVERY step, and ran wire from all of them into a thick bundle to the alarm panel (I had plenty of wire), so even if the burglar spots a wire and looks, every step looks like its wired. The fake wires didn't go to waste, either... they're shorted out at the hidden end, and wired in series as a zone in their own right, so if a burglar tries to cut one, it'll set the alarm off, too.
My original intent WAS to use the stair camera to trigger the alarm, but as you noted, cameras are too prone to false-triggering to depend on for alarm purposes.
As far as the outside goes, there's not a whole lot I can do. I already have the whole front and rear yards lit up like stadiums with landscape lights. In fact, the guy broke in in the middle of the afternoon -- when the neighbors and I were all away at work. My long-term plan is to implement a door peephole camera on a digital recorder, because there's no way to approach the house without being in full view of the front door (well, without attracting a LOT more attention by trying to climb over the front fence for no apparent reason, and managing to not scream when he painfully discovers the thin finishing nails I hammered into the tops of the boards so ~1/2" sticks up, cut off the flattened heads, and painted black to camouflage. Officially, there for hanging Christmas lights. At least, that's the story I came up with for the HOA if anyone notices them and asks.
I also want to install a motion detector, and set it up with a circuit to play a faux-windchime rendition of "(I always feel like) Somebody's Watching Me" when triggered. The basic intent is to make it superficially pretty and pleasant... but give an aspiring burglar the creeps as he sees little hints being dropped and have some chills run down his spine when he realizes I'm teasing and taunting him every step of the way, playing with him the way a cat toys with a mouse. If I can find a cheap way to store a few minutes of digital video, turn on the TV, select that player, and start looping it (probably using X10 or Z-Wave), I think it would be hilariously funny to let the aspiring burglar outside see the TV turn on and start looping through a few seconds of 'COPS', proceeding to 'Oz', then the climax of the "Lorena Bobbitt" scene from "I Spit on your Grave". All while the fake windchimes play the themes to the relevant shows on the TV, quietly rising in volume as video progresses.
OK, what I'd really like to do is forget all of that, and just install a set of Secur security blinds from http://www.securityblinds.co.uk/ [securityblinds.co.uk] (they're interior steel bar
Re:Great question (Score:2, Funny)
If you want an instant (not customized) solution, get a few guard dogs and a gun or two, and stay at home most of the time.
Are you sure two guns will be enough?