Motion Sensor for Surveillance

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Ever get tired of staring in the same spot for 12 hours??? I’ve been testing motion sensor applications for a while now but the problem I found was sensitivity. Basically a motion sensor that will be able to properly work needs to recognize pixel changes on your camera. I’ve been playing with a software program that allows me to adjust sensitivity as needed and has worked flawlessly so far. Basically I am now able to mount my camera and point it at my subject’s door or driveway and when movement is detected I get a loud noise notification. This may be dangerous for the unseasoned investigator as nothing is flawless and I wouldn’t recommend solely relying on this program. However it’s a great backup and can really help on those 24+ hour cases.

In the video below I purposely set the camera up on a busy intersection so I wouldn’t have to wait too long for activity. You can see exactly how this program works.



To rig this setup you need to mount your camera and point at the subject’s door or driveway. You then plug your RCA cables into your Dazzle device and plug the Dazzle into your computer. The software program will recognize the Dazzle device. The only problem some of you may have is battery power on your laptop and/or camcorder. If you do not have deep cycle (marine) batteries with a dual battery setup in your vehicle, I don’t recommend plugging your laptop into your vehicle power for a long period of time without having the engine running. If you do, when your subject comes out your car won’t start! To avoid the cost of dual deep cycle batteries you can also utilize a netbook or have several laptop and camera batteries to switch out when one goes dead. This program does not drain your battery any faster than using an office program.

HOW TO USE WEBCAM ZONE TRIGGER



Download WEBCAM Zone Trigger here: http://www.zonetrigger.com/

UPDATE: Spoke to the project leader and he gave some comments:

“Here is a tip: there are some cases where a smaller Hot Spot works better than a full screen resized Hot Spot. Especially when the camera is far from the target, you get more motion detection precision if you focus only on the area of interest. Also, when it’s darker, a smaller hot spot can give better results: it may be easier to tune the sensitivity when we are focusing on a small area.”


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