Do you have a question? Post it now! No Registration Necessary
- bob prohaska
October 21, 2021, 2:00 am

Does anybody know of a WiFi webcam that can be used with
RasPiOS? I'd like to use it as a "trail camera" in low/no
light for nocturnal vermin in a garage. Motion activated,
IR sensitive. No need for PTZ or remote focus. Doesn't
matter if the logging is done on the camera or the Pi.
A quick look at Amazon reveals many, many cameras but none
say anything about software and OS requirements, I'm guessing
they're mostly mac/windows based. I didn't see any mention of
Linux. My only practical experience with surveillance was 10
years ago, and that system was strictly Windows.
Thanks for reading!
bob prohaska
RasPiOS? I'd like to use it as a "trail camera" in low/no
light for nocturnal vermin in a garage. Motion activated,
IR sensitive. No need for PTZ or remote focus. Doesn't
matter if the logging is done on the camera or the Pi.
A quick look at Amazon reveals many, many cameras but none
say anything about software and OS requirements, I'm guessing
they're mostly mac/windows based. I didn't see any mention of
Linux. My only practical experience with surveillance was 10
years ago, and that system was strictly Windows.
Thanks for reading!
bob prohaska

Re: Logging webcams for RaspiOS
On 10/20/21 21:00, bob prohaska wrote:

I would imagine that a RaspberryPi camera is sensitive enough to IR that
using an IR LED for light would be sufficient. I don't have any IR LEDs
or I would try it. Then you could use some software for the motion
detection.
knute...

I would imagine that a RaspberryPi camera is sensitive enough to IR that
using an IR LED for light would be sufficient. I don't have any IR LEDs
or I would try it. Then you could use some software for the motion
detection.
knute...

Re: Logging webcams for RaspiOS
On 21-10-2021 05:37, bob prohaska wrote:

Looks like you may not want another DIY project which I can understand,
so this is probably not helpful. Also without some clever customisations
raspi cams need a lot of attention to keep going, in my experience. But ...
You could put a RasPi NoIR (no-infrared filter, also noir=black, get it,
har har... argh) camera on a RasPi Zero, attach a PIR sensor and some
infrared LEDs, record to SD card or to network, download files to your
computer and view them locally. The camera is not really cheap, though,
for a hobby project.
On the other hand, I think off the shelf surveillance or webcam
solutions now almost always use cloud storage with subscriptions, which
is *definitely* not right for a hobby project.

Looks like you may not want another DIY project which I can understand,
so this is probably not helpful. Also without some clever customisations
raspi cams need a lot of attention to keep going, in my experience. But ...
You could put a RasPi NoIR (no-infrared filter, also noir=black, get it,
har har... argh) camera on a RasPi Zero, attach a PIR sensor and some
infrared LEDs, record to SD card or to network, download files to your
computer and view them locally. The camera is not really cheap, though,
for a hobby project.
On the other hand, I think off the shelf surveillance or webcam
solutions now almost always use cloud storage with subscriptions, which
is *definitely* not right for a hobby project.

Re: Logging webcams for RaspiOS

Somewhere around the office, we have a pile of Geovision (?) IP cameras that
I was able to get working by pointing VLC at a port that hosted streaming
video. They were wired cameras powered by PoE (if you have to run a cable
to it for power, you might as well put data on it too). No motion
detection, but wouldn't something like Zoneminder have that?
I was able to find documentation for our cameras so I could get them to do
that. Lack of documentation is a problem for most IP cams; they'll want by
default to send everything back to the "mothership," and corralling them
into doing your bidding is tricky.
If you don't mind putting something together from parts, you might look into
the ESP32-CAM. They're dirt-cheap, include WiFi, and you can connect a PIR
motion sensor to trigger it.

They have a "NoIR" camera specifically for low-light use that lacks the
usual IR filter. I used to have one on my 3D printer (happened to be the
camera type I had on hand); when I was using a halogen light bulb as a light
source instead of LEDs, what it did to colors was...interesting. :)
_/_
/ v \ Scott Alfter (remove the obvious to send mail)
(IIGS( https://alfter.us/ Top-posting!
\_^_/ >What's the most annoying thing on Usenet?

Re: Logging webcams for RaspiOS

Our Foscam FI8910W cameras can see in the dark using built-in IR LEDs. The
resolution is only 640x480 which is poor by modern standards. I've run the
camera from a large USB battery, via a lead that I made up with a USB-A plug
on one end and a cylindrical plug for the camera end. The camera
communicates by either Ethernet or wifi (2.4 GHz only) and it produces an
MJPEG interface: you can set camera-monitoring software to poll URL
http://<IP address>/videostream.cgi?user=<user>&pwd=<password> (substituting
for IP address, username and password).
I've used it with iSpy on Windows, and I'm about to investigate equivalent
software for RasPi. Some solutions (eg MotionEyeOS) require a special distro
of Linux, rather than just being add-on packages installed on top of
RasPiOS, which is a shame if you already have a Pi set up for running other
software.
I would imagine a lot of IP cameras can be used in this way: all they need
to present is a URL with MJPEG protocol (or something equivalent).

Re: Logging webcams for RaspiOS

The Foscam FI8910W would be a decent start. For live viewing a browser
will work. I'll still need some sort of logger, since the vermin are
most active when I'm asleep. That particular product is out of stock
on Amazon, but a version with optical zoom is offered as substitute.
It's unclear just what sort of software is required for control. There
is a note from the seller that it doesn't support "MJ stream", but I'm
not sure if that's significant.

If you find something useful please post. If I have to buy a more
costly camera to get standalone (no cloud) operation so be it.

Is MJPEG the same as MJ stream? if so the Foscam Z2 1080P FHD won't help.
Thanks for posting!
bob prohaska

Re: Logging webcams for RaspiOS
On 21/10/2021 11:34, NY wrote:

Although it can be a steep learning curve the package "Motion" runs well
for me on raspbian / rasp OS.
apt install motion

Although it can be a steep learning curve the package "Motion" runs well
for me on raspbian / rasp OS.
apt install motion
--
Nev
It causes me a great deal of regret and remorse
Nev
It causes me a great deal of regret and remorse
We've slightly trimmed the long signature. Click to see the full one.

Re: Logging webcams for RaspiOS

Motion installed without visible difficulty. The man page suggests
that network cameras are supported, but didn't list any particular
cameras. The key seems to be RTSP or RTMP compatibility, terms I've
never seen before. It'll take some searching to locate a suitable
camera.
Thanks very much for posting!
bob prohaska

Re: Logging webcams for RaspiOS
On 24/10/2021 04:23, bob prohaska wrote:

IIRC VLC supports RTSP
It's fairly common with e.g. TV dongles etc.

IIRC VLC supports RTSP
It's fairly common with e.g. TV dongles etc.
--
"A point of view can be a dangerous luxury when substituted for insight
and understanding".
"A point of view can be a dangerous luxury when substituted for insight
and understanding".
We've slightly trimmed the long signature. Click to see the full one.
Site Timeline
- » JTAG?
- — Next thread in » Raspberry Pi Group
-
- » division par 1000 en bash
- — Previous thread in » Raspberry Pi Group
-
- » JTAG?
- — Newest thread in » Raspberry Pi Group
-
- » (PDF) Hair and Scalp Diseases by Amy J. McMichael
- — The site's Newest Thread. Posted in » Embedded Programming
-