Security Cameras

Can anyone tell me if they found an alternative solution to use Security Cameras with Indigo other then SecuritySpy Plugin? I like the features of SecuritySpy but the licensing is a little to much for the amount of cameras I want to add.



Thanks in advance!

I used EvoCam for a while, it's the same concept of just adding a URL to get your feed and it's pretty cheap but I found I liked SS's features far more. Since most cams support RESTful API calls these days it would be a fairly simply task to either write your own plugin or just script out what you want to do in an action.

SS is really expensive for what you get but you can also use more cameras on it than you have licenses for, you just get a "SecuritySpy Demo" in the middle of the screen. For me, when I add a new camera I don't find the demo warning too horrible because I just want to get an overview picture and the box in the middle doesn't impact that enough to justify spending the oodles of dough to get another 4-8 licenses (I already have 8, increasing from there is stupidly expensive).

I have 12 hardwired IP-cams (mostly Y-Cam) so EvoCam was an obvious choice. I've been using it for more than a year and have no real complaints. I've also connected it to my Indigo alarm network with a simple script, so it will make a recording from all cameras if an alarm occurs. EvoCam is a bit heavy on the CPU though - I have had to dedicate an entire Mac Mini to just monitoring cameras and running Indigo. It keeps up, but takes about 40% of the CPU most of the time - more if recording.

I have noticed the same thing about evocam's cpu usage. I'm not sure if there's anything that can be done about it.

I have 12 hardwired IP-cams (mostly Y-Cam) so EvoCam was an obvious choice. I've been using it for more than a year and have no real complaints. I've also connected it to my Indigo alarm network with a simple script, so it will make a recording from all cameras if an alarm occurs. EvoCam is a bit heavy on the CPU though - I have had to dedicate an entire Mac Mini to just monitoring cameras and running Indigo. It keeps up, but takes about 40% of the CPU most of the time - more if recording.

[EvoCam performance] You are probably right, Greg. They seem to take the product seriously and have maintained it well, but it takes a lot of cycles to manage that much graphics. In the end, considering the reasonable price, I personally think EvoCam is a good way to go for more than a few cameras. Been keepin' an eye open for other possibilities, but haven't seen a good one for Mac.

I am also thinking to buy a camera...maybe two.
I think SecuritySpy is too expensive for what I need.

Do I need a plugin to get Indigo and Evocam working together?

Use Case: movement sensor sees movements, camera is activated, take a photo, sent via e-mail to user.

From my experience with EvoCam, no Indigo plugin is needed. My use-cases are similar to what you said except all cameras are active all the time, with separate motion sensor areas for various portions of the overall view. Any one of them can detect motion and trigger recording, email, etc.

Of course there are many ways to do it, but what works for me is to have EvoCam do the motion detection, not the cameras. It has easy trigger setup that can look for motion, take snapshots, email them, save archive copies, etc. It also has a script trigger--so Indigo can execute a simple script to tell EvoCam that an event occurred (motion or door alarm in my case). EvoCam documentation is fairly easy to understand and includes an example script which works as-is for Indigo.

If you decide to use EvoCam, check it's list of supported video cameras before buying one. Personally, I use Y-Cams because they are rugged, weather-proof, customizable, and work very well on a Mac. But they are also very expensive. On the lower-cost end, I was also able to get a Foscam FI8910 and a D-Link DCS-932L working with my EvoCam setup. EvoCam's list has over 100 cams.

Thanks a lot for the answer.
I was thinking about a D-Link DCS-5222 or a Foscam 9810 (if I recall correctly)

Thanks again

I am also thinking to F9821 (HD, 1280x720); Evocam says it is supported, so I assume it is
Anyone already tested in combination with Indigo? But I think Indigo does not interest too much about which camera is used, Evocam does, indeed.

You are correct about Indigo not being involved in which cameras are used, for this kind of setup. All Indigo does is fire off a script. The script I use is:

tell application "EvoCam"
tell document "my12cams.evocamsettings"
trigger actions
end tell
end tell

EvoCam uses "documents" which are your arrangements of cameras and sensors. Documents can have "actions" and you can add an actions with a condition called, "When triggered from a script". It's that simple. But it's a just a one-way trigger - no information is passed from Indigo when it's used this way. There might be a way for Indigo to give EvoCam more information, but that is way beyond my skill level.

Good luck!

Just ordered a 9821W (supported by Evocam) for 90 Euros

Started yesterday the integration of the Foscam camera.

Setup is:

Foscam 9821W v2 (HD camera) + Evocam + Indigo (of course) without any camera plugin

I have at the moment two "setup"

1. When I am not at home it makes a photo every 10 mins and uploads them to my NAS
2. If alarm is triggered, it starts to make a video for 20mins and upload to my NAS --> it also send a Pushover notification saying that video is started

Very nice and straightforward