Surveillance

[Fritz Whittington]

On or about 2004-10-01 14:32, Yang Xiao whipped out a trusty #2 pencil 
and scribbled:

>A friend suggested. 
>
>http://www.securityideas.com/
>
>On Fri, 01 Oct 2004 11:40:02 -0700, Rick Stevens
><rstevens at vitalstream.com> wrote:
>  
>
>>Paul wrote:
>>    
>>
>>>Hi,
>>>
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>>>I need recommendations on equipment suitable to capture such action at a
>>>>distance of 200 feet. Audio only at night would suffice as long as we
>>>>can show video and audio of similar events during broad day light. The
>>>>audio is the part that concerns me. I may have to have the equipment
>>>>outdoors to get good audio.
>>>>        
>>>>
>>>Video camera with a date on while recording. Recording into PC with some
>>>form of date stamp and pgp signature, encode to some format of your
>>>choice.
>>>
>>>Failing that, a couple of webcams (you can get them with pretty decent
>>>lens now) pointing at the neighbours house which are sound/light
>>>triggered.
>>>      
>>>
>>D-Link's larger webcams use standard C-mount lenses, meaning that
>>they're capable of accepting any standard video lens including
>>telephoto.  Barring that, get a video card such as the Hauppage or
>>AverMedia and use a standard video camera with the appropriate lens.
>>
>>You'd probably want a gun- or parabolic-style mic, as these are highly
>>directional and quite sensitive.  Visit your local electronic store
>>and find one that will work with your sound card or video card.
>>
>>For recording software, you could try VLC, MPlayer or any other free
>>PVR software that works with Linux and handles V4L.  A google search
>>should reveal a bunch of them.  Many webcams now come with surveillance
>>software, although it's usually Windows-based.  Depending on the
>>package, it might run under Wine.  If you have VMware, all the better.
>>
>>    
>>
I'm not so sure that there's a requirement that the video/audio be 
digital, is there?  A regular camcorder can usually be used as a camera, 
and the output fed into a VHS recorder with a T-160 tape at ELP you can 
get 8 hours.  Surely you can change a tape every 8 hours?   Also, it's 
not important that you catch EVERY instance, just enough cases to prove 
your point.  To be accepted in court, most video needs to be sworn to by 
a human witness, that is, you will need to be present for some of the 
recorded instances so that you can swear that you saw/heard it, and that 
the videotape is a representative record of what you saw, hasn't been 
altered, etc.   As a bonus, a lot of camcorders  can record in very low 
light levels, and with an IR filter, can  record  heat images in total 
darkness.   And the  zoom  is usually  pretty  good,  too.  

The parabolic mike might be needed, might not.  But it could be recorded 
on one stereo track of the VCR while the camcorder's audio is recorded 
on the other track. 

The only other thing I can think of that might be handy is a dB meter, 
so you can take a reading of the noise level. 

-- 
Fritz Whittington
This email does not contain private or confidential material as it may be snooped on by interested government parties for unknown and undisclosed purposes - Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, 2000

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