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WebCam Monitor
v4.30 |
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IP Camera
based Security Setup |
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Once you have decided to
opt for the IP camera based
surveillance
system, you can begin specifying the requirements
for your video security system. Before you buy an IP
camera, you need to answer some basic questions. |
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While Buying an
IP Camera: |
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How large an area do you want
to view with each camera? The distance
to and the width of the area you
want to view will determine the type of lens you
need. The higher the “mm” (focal
length) the smaller the field of
view and the more magnification you get.
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How much light is available?
Do you want to monitor and record at night?
The amount of light determines how sensitive the
camera needs to be. You may wand to select a low-light
camera. The "Lux" rating tells you how
well a camera sees in dim light.
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Do you want to use the camera
outside? If the camera needs to be used
in a wide variety of lighting conditions, you need
an auto-iris lens that adjusts to the light.
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Do you have a large area that
requires a Pan, Tilt, Zoom (PTZ) camera?
You can select a camera with either digital PTZ or
mechanical PTZ.
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What frame rate is required?
A high frame rate is required if you want to record a
fast moving object. But if you are using the
camera for
general surveillance; you may only require 1 or 2
frames/sec. The higher the frame rate the more
storage space you will require.
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How much image clarity and
detail do you require? If you want
to view a larger area then you need a higher
resolution camera. Higher resolutions provide
more clarity and better image quality. But if
you want to monitor a smaller area and do not want to see a detailed
view, a camera with lesser resolution might do.
Higher-resolution images also mean larger recorded
video and snap files, thus taking up more storage
space.
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Do you want to monitor manually
or need automatic alerts? f you
simply want to view your IP camera from any
location, you need either a PC or a mobile device
like a PDA (Personal Digital Assistants) or cell
phone with an Internet connection.
Surveillance software can automatically start video
recording when motion is detected. Special
video software like
WebCam
Monitor is used to control
the video from IP cameras. It stores the video,
sounds alarms when motion is detected, controls PTZ movement, and much more. Once motion is
detected you can be notified by email, sound alarm,
or even receive a page.
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Taking these factors into
consideration, you can choose among the many IP cameras
available in market. Some of the popular
manufacturers are
Panasonic, Sony, Cannon, Toshiba, and DLink. |
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It's important to
consider the compression method used by an IP camera.
Compression reduces the size of the video files generated while
monitoring. Since video files contain a huge amount of
data, compression is required to reduce the storage and
bandwidth requirements. The commonly used compression
techniques are MPEG-4 and MJPEG. Let us try to quickly
understand how these work. |
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MJPEG (Motion
JPEG) |
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IP cameras using this
type of compression can capture images at rates of up to
a maximum of 30 frames per second. In MJPEG
recording, each frame consists of a complete JPEG image. This is referred to as
Motion JPEG. By compressing each frame as
an individual image, this produces high picture quality, but
when compared with MPEG4, the bandwidth required for
transmission and the disk space required for storage are
both higher. |
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MPEG-4 |
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The Moving Picture
Experts Group (MPEG) is the organization that defined
the standards for this format. With MPEG4, only a
small fraction of the video frames are sent as a
complete image. For other frames, only information
about the difference between this frame and the previous
one are actually
transmitted, not the complete image. Frame to frame
coding techniques are based on the knowledge that most
frames are similar to the ones preceding and succeeding them. This means that most of these frames
can be transmitted as differences between their
neighbors, which in turn means that a lot less
information has to be transferred. The result of sending
only image changes is both reduced bandwidth usage and
storage space. However MPEG4 has a lower image quality
when directly compared to MJPEG. |
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If you want your family
and friends to watch the live feed, inform them of your
IP address and the port (if you have specified one)
to which they can connect to. You may have to
Configure Your Camera and PC For Internet Streaming. |
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Choosing MJPEG
for Video Surveillance |
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Most IP cameras currently
available in the marketplace are based on MJPEG. MPEG4
provides better compression so less storage is required
but image quality is lower. MJPEG offers higher image
quality. |
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In video surveillance
applications that require storage of the video, MPEG4 is
not as easy to deal with as MJPEG. To find a particular
frame in MPEG requires first finding the reference frame
with regard to which the changes in subsequent frames
have been transmitted and then moving to the exact time
period you would like. MJPEG is a less complicated
compression. When you retrieve MJPEG video you can go
to the exact frame you want very quickly and easily. |
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MJPEG (Motion JPEG) is the compression of choice for
video surveillance because it has better image quality and shows graceful degradation at
bandwidth constraint. MJPEG guarantees a defined level
of picture quality, which is vital in most security
applications. |
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Using WebCam
Monitor with your IP camera: |
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Though IP cameras can be
accessed from any location using Internet and can
provide live coverage of an event, you need surveillance
software for advanced features like motion detection and
alarms, as well email and other automated notifications. WebCam Monitor is
an uncomplicated and inexpensive application
that turns your PC and IP camera into a sophisticated security
system. |
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Once WebCam Monitor is on
guard, you do not have personally monitor activities
recorded by the IP camera or start the recording and
alarms. It
alerts you periodically or when
motion or
noise is detected, depending on your choice. It can
start and stop monitoring at any scheduled time. You can
monitor using multiple devices including IP cameras, web
cameras and several audio devices.
Remote monitoring options like live video/audio
broadcasting, FTP uploading and e-mail notifications
with embedded images keep you informed on all motion and
noise events. You can
view all event history and recordings from within
the application. WebCam Monitor provides customizable
alerts like
Video/Audio Recording,
Photo Snaps,
Sound Alarms,
Launch Program,
E-mail and
SMS Notifications. |
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To work with WebCam
Monitor once you have installed an IP camera, you need
to follow the procedure given below: |
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| 1. |
In the File menu, click on Add
Camera Wizard. |
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Click Next on the welcome page. Choose
the Select or add a Network IP Camera
option. Click Next. |
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Click on Add new IP camera button. Give the IP address and other details of the
camera you want to use for monitoring. Click
Ok to add the camera. |
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Click Next. The camera is added. You
can choose to Add another camera,
Start Monitoring with Alerts or
Configure Alerts. |
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Click Finish to exit the Add Camera
Wizard. |
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If you choose the Configure Alerts
option, Auto Configuration Wizard opens. |
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Select any of the five commonly used
monitoring scenarios listed. Every scenario
comes with presets that automatically configure
WebCam Monitor. You are required to configure
some frequently used settings. You may even
configure advanced settings for the scenario if
you want. |
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Click Finish to exit the Auto
Configuration Wizard. |
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Quick Settings
allow you to easily configure WebCam Monitor depending
on your surveillance requirements. |
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You can use the
Schedule Devices option if want
monitoring to start automatically at a specified time,
using an IP camera that is already added. You can
schedule one or more device pairs using this option. Each pair will monitor for 60 seconds and then switch to
the next device pair in the list. |
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Under the Which Alerts
do you want to run? option, you can select the
alerts you want and configure them if you haven’t
already done it while using the Auto Configuration
Wizard as mentioned above. |
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Once an IP camera is
added and you have configured WebCam Monitor, you can
rest
assured that an effective security system is in place. A simple installation and
a small investment such as
this goes a long way in safeguarding people, places and
things that you hold dear to your heart or consider
important. |
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