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Re: Newbie Question- debian & secuirty cameras



tripolar wrote:
I am a new to Debian ( just installed 3.0 on my toshiba laptop last night - sweet success)
Forgive my questions if they are off topic.
My Brother has a gas station/store with security cameras. He would like me to set it up so he can view video from store from a pc at home.
I have some ideas though I would appreciate any advice, ideas & tips. I do have an ulterior motive- By setting this up on a Linux Box and showing him what we can do with Linux I hope to convert him to Linux from the M$ OS.
Thanks ahead of time
Suleyman


This should be totally possible. I have been involved in a similar project. I see the key points as:

1) Type of camera(+network)
If he's cameras are old fashioned (normal TV signal or such) this might be tricky. Assuming it's not a non-standard signal, you'd need a TV tuner card, and somehow cap the picture. Haven't done this, so I can't help you. But if you are using digital cameras, this is quite easy. The ones we use(d) sent one picture every 1/X seconds. This picture could be automagically stored as avi, jpg, bmp... The software used was runnig on M$, though, and required a special card with X cables to the cameras.

2) Available computer hardware
In addition to the above, you'd need a machine running 24/7, and a script to do the work for you. If you'll do vidcap, be ready to sacrifice those extra coins to get a better CPU and more RAM. Digital cameras also make this part less expensive. A simple script is sufficient.

3) Speed of connection between home - store
This mainly sets the quality limit on what is being sent home. A modem is sufficient, but be warned: you'll either have slow refresh or low quality. I think that JPEG gives the best flexibility for this.

4) Required security on transmission
I: I don't know the exact cons and pros with https and an automatically
   refreshing html, but this is easy to set up.

II: Another secure way is to send over an encrypted link, and do part
    of the scripting at home (refreshing). There are possibly apps out
    there inentioned for this already.

III: Modem-to-Modem. Not using the internet is a secure way, but encryping is still good.

IIII: Paranoid: Write you own program or buy one of those old pieces of
hardware inteded for digital client-bank connections. And dont tell anyone that's what you're using. :)

Good Luck!

--
Johan Ehnberg
johan@ehnberg.net
"Windows? No... I don't think so."



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