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video home monitoring kit questions

I got a video surveillance kit from Wal-Mart for about $45. It has a simple camera, a black-and-white screen (about 5 or 6 inches) and the RCA video outs.

I would like to connect the video to a VCR, to record interesting events outside the home.

However, in order to save tape, I would like it to have the VCR record

*only* if motion is detected outside.

What are the usual ways to "wake-up" the VCR and send it a "signal to start recording" once motion is detected? Would I need a special VCR dedicated to video monitoring, or could any off-the-shelf VCR do this job?

Reply to
onehappymadman
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You need a "VCR commander" type widget, which I'm sure the fine folks who sold you the setup in the first place will be more than happy to sell you. (probably at an outrageous markup)

It won't be easy to "homebrew" one, unfortunately.

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Reply to
Don Bruder

Thanks... I'm guessing the "VCR commander" devices will work with off-the-shelf VCRs?

Reply to
onehappymadman

After you "teach" them your specific VCR, yeah. Basically, they're a variation on the remote control - "Get signal X from some outside source, send the remote-control signal for function Y to the VCR"

BSR/X10 makes something like it, but I don't have module numbers handy. Basically, it's a box that sits somewhere line-of-sight to the VCR's infrared sensor, catches incoming signals (maybe from their "eagle eye" motion detector unit) and activates the VCR.

--
Don Bruder - dakidd@sonic.net - If your "From:" address isn\'t on my whitelist,
or the subject of the message doesn\'t contain the exact text "PopperAndShadow"
somewhere, any message sent to this address will go in the garbage without my
ever knowing it arrived. Sorry...  for more info
Reply to
Don Bruder

For a variation on this idea... I've got an old-ish laptop with a USB

1.1 interface. I could maybe attach a USB camera to this... is there any freeware software which would allow me to capture images from the camera, and cycle through the jpegs once hard disk space has been exhausted? (For example, if \\directory\\img5999.jpg causes an out-of-space error, then start new images with \\directory\\img0001.jpg, overwriting it if it already exists...?)
Reply to
onehappymadman

better to stop before running out of space as writing \\directory\\img0001.jpg may cause an out of space too if the disk is full and the new version needs more bytes.

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Bye.
   Jasen
Reply to
Jasen Betts

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