Some questions about recording, web interface, encryption, streaming

[bspooky]

I know icam started out as a way for iOS devices to view live cams, which is great. However it is growing into a more robust solution with the recording of motion, notifications, etc. and I am now wondering if it will work for me. I have a few questions:

1) Is it catching video or stills? I guess maybe video is just stills at a sufficient frame per second? And I know it may depend on the camera, but lets assume a fast camera. ;-)

2) On motion, is the recording saved on the computer (Mac in my case) or up somewhere on the skjm website? How is space management handled (delete after so many MB or GB used? Can it record all video, not just motion? And I know masking out certain areas is on the todo/wishlist based on some other posts.

3) The stream out to the world (so I can see it on my iPhone over 3G or whatever) goes through skjm, correct? A) is it constant, and if so what kind of bandwidth are we talking about per camera in case my ISP gets upset? and B) constant or not, is that stream encrypted so others don't go watching my video streams?

4) On an IP camera, like an Axis m1011-W, I assume the mpeg URL will be used. Does the iCamSource software handle all the motion detection, or does the Axis have built in motion detection it passes along in the stream from the URL that tells iCamSource?

5) Can saved motion images/video be saved for archival on my own hard drives?

6) Can I share camera feeds with others and also have granularity (who sees which feed and revoke if needed)?

Sorry for all the questions. Basically I want 3-4 IP cameras around that I can pop into (either using the web on a computer or software on the iPhone/iPad) and view, that also will record (and notify me via sms/email/push notification) motion. But I am also concerned with a third party site (dropcam, ugolog, etc.) having all footage too.

I was looking at securityspy for the Mac, but at $100+ they play in a whole different ballpark, one I am not sure I want to (record everythign on my own hard drives...yeah, I know, I don't want to record it on my hard drives, I am weary about a third party recording it on theirs, but I also want to see all the motion for the last week or whatever...LOL)

Thanks!

[OUAnthony]

1) It doesn't capture enough images to result in fluid motion. Apple limits the number of images transmitted in a given amount of time. If your phone is connected to the same network as your cameras, I think the best you can view is 2 or 3 images per second. I'm not 100% sure, but I would assume this is how many images icamsource is capturing. If you are using a webcam as one of the video sources, you could clone the video feed using ManyCam (on Windows) and use a different program to capture actual video at ~25 frames/second. Most IP cameras use MJPEG or JPEG, which is not streaming video...so I'm not sure how you'd accomplish capturing more frames/second....perhaps by using the IP cameras built-in motion detection (if it has any).

2) The captured images are stored on the computer's hard drive. If the computer is stolen, you are unlikely to retrieve the captured images. This is why many iCam users use DropBox, a free program that automatically backs up stored images to an off-site server (free space provided by DropBox as well).

3) The "video" is not transmitted through SKJM. SKJM's server only negotiates the connection between your iPhone and your computer. It would be like having an operator connect a long-distance phone call for you. The operator connects you, but is not part of the conversation once the call is connected.

4) Yes, use the MJPEG URLfor the camera. SKJM has a tool linked in the forums to help determine the correct URL for IP cameras. Icamsource is accessing the video from the cameras and is also processing the images for size and to determine if motion has occurred. The only thing the camera is doing is providing the video.

5) Since the motion captures are saved in a known folder on the hard drive, you can archive them to your heart's content.

6) You can share your iCam username/password (which you choose in icamsource.exe) with people. However, if you wish to "revoke" viewing priveleges, you will need to change the iCam username and password in both iCam and icamsource.exe. However, if you do this, YOU should be the one to enter the password on each phone that will have the ability to view the cameras. Otherwise, others will have your password and could potentially distribute it to the very people that you don't want to have access.

[bspooky]

Thanks much for the response! Very helpful.

I love the use of dropbox to store the images offsite. Way cool. How many hours/days do most people keep? Trying to get a feel for how big these images are going to be.

[Stefan]

Thanks for the great reply, OUAnthony.

@bspooky - By default the Motion Events Folder for each camera is limited to 500 GB (as opposed to a time limit). Once it hits that limit the old Motion Events are deleted to make room for new ones.