Petcam
flickr:43127470

I'm researching ways for a friend to check in on his cats (not as illustrated) when he's out of town. The preferred solution would be Mac friendly.
(Image: Sidereal/Flickr/Creative Commons.)

Advice

D-Link

Referring to a Chicago Tribune article no longer on line, Gordon Meyer writes of his own experience:

Like the folks in the article, I use a D-Link DCS-900W camera. It’s wireless, so it’s easy to position and connect to our home WiFi network, plus its built-in web server means that I don’t have to a computer turned on in order to access the image. I’ve also had good success with this camera’s wired hard-to-find sibling, the DCS-1000, which is a fine choice if you happen to have a network connection near where you plan to use it.

Details about my setup are in Smart Home Hacks (see Hack #82 - Monitor Your Home with a Network Camera on page 295). There you’ll find that in addition to connecting to the camera for a live picture, you can use a computer to automatically grab an image from the camera and upload it to another location, or send it to your cell phone, at either regular intervals or on-demand. But that’s a more advanced setup, for the basic camera setup, it’s quite simple, and quite rewarding.

EvoCam

For $30 one can buy EvoCam software:

EvoCam is the ultimate webcam software for Mac OS X. Use EvoCam to publish a webcam with streaming video, view and record video from network cameras and video servers, create timelapse movies, or use it as part of your home security system with its configurable motion sensors - these are just a few of the things you can do with this easy-to-use yet incredibly powerful webcam software!

Among the testimonials is this one from Michael Richardson:

My webcam, www.wozcam.org, featuring an aquarium made from an old Macintosh G4 Cube computer shell has been running flawlessly since I started it in November of 2005.

EvoCam is also mentioned in a blog posting, Turn your Mac into a remote activated, motion sensitive security camera!, but in the present scenario motion-activated pictures are a good sign.

Security Spy

Security Spy is software for the Mac:

SecuritySpy is a multi-camera video surveillance application for the Macintosh.

This software will enable you to set up a comprehensive and effective surveillance system quickly and easily. The motion detection feature means that you can choose to capture footage only when there is some activity to record. In addition, you can use the timelapse feature to record continuously.

Unlike traditional analog CCTV systems, there is no need for bulky tapes to change nor for spending hours viewing the captured video. SecuritySpy also offers better image quality and much more convenient access to your captured footage.

A major advantage of using SecuritySpy is the Remote Viewing feature, which allows you to access your surveillance system over the internet or over a local network using a web browser.

If you are building a video surveillance system from scratch all you need is SecuritySpy, a Macintosh computer, and one or more cameras (digital cameras, analog cameras with video input devices, or a combination of the two). If you have an existing system using analog cameras, SecuritySpy will enable you to upgrade to a computer-based digital system whilst still retaining your existing cameras and cabling.

SecuritySpy's flexibility will allow you to set up a system tailored for your individual needs. Whether you want a single camera or many dozens, SecuritySpy is ideal, for both domestic and business purposes.

The Web site includes a live demo.

Purchase options include:

[£29.90] SecuritySpy - single camera use
[£74.75] SecuritySpy - use with up to (and including) four cameras
[£149.50] SecuritySpy - use with up to (and including) eight cameras
[£299.00] SecuritySpy - use with an unlimited number of cameras

Network Configuration

To remotely view your petcam the following links may be helpful:

Conclusion

My initial experiments with EvoCam show it may be a good option to start. No additional hardware (such as a dedicated webcam) is required and the software licence is pretty inexpensive.

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