Surveillance camera based on BuildRoot and Motion

[sav25]

I've completed a Pi CCTV camera system (one camera so far) using MotionPie and a Nwazet case. Check it out here:

http://www.averagemanvsraspberrypi.com/ ... urity.html

[Kirkbybil]

Thanks for the reply- I got the Network share running and it's now sending the videos to my NAS.

Do you have a date estimate for the next version release? I really just need to be able to turn off the camera LED as I am setting up two bird boxes and I think this will be a better and more reliable solution.

I can live without static IP addresses so my only problem is that I want to nail them up on the wall in the next week but the red light might put off nesting birds (it will look too much like a brothel so I will only get birds of ill-repute )

I could always try covering it with a sticker I suppose and then upgrade later but once they are up the wall I can't get to them for several months so it's risky if an upgrade bricks it.

[ccrisan]

I already have a "beta" version including all the promised features. I have yet to test it before releasing it into the wild and I'm hoping to find some time to test and release it tonight. I'm not promising anything though.

Thanks for the reply- I got the Network share running and it's now sending the videos to my NAS.

Do you have a date estimate for the next version release? I really just need to be able to turn off the camera LED as I am setting up two bird boxes and I think this will be a better and more reliable solution.

I can live without static IP addresses so my only problem is that I want to nail them up on the wall in the next week but the red light might put off nesting birds (it will look too much like a brothel so I will only get birds of ill-repute )

I could always try covering it with a sticker I suppose and then upgrade later but once they are up the wall I can't get to them for several months so it's risky if an upgrade bricks it.

[sav25]

Top stuff Crisan, looking forward to it!

Quick question - can you add generic IP cams to MotionPie?

[ccrisan]

What do you mean by "ceneric IP cams"? Normally everything that talks JPG or MJPG should be visible as a Network Camera in motionPie. The tricky part is to find the URL (usually chrome with developer tools is of help).

Top stuff Crisan, looking forward to it!

Quick question - can you add generic IP cams to MotionPie?

[sav25]

I mean your generic £30 IP camera, kind of thing you get from Amazon etc. I have one at home and would be good to see that alongside my Pi (seen screenshots showing multiple video feeds)

[Thaui]

Why messing up the motionPie software with other IP cams. If you want so see several generic cams just take some apps and implement your other stuff. As I said on Android a good solution is tinycam monitor or ipcam view.

[sav25]

I could say why use 2 apps/interfaces when you can use one? It's 2014 after all...

It was just a question, I prefer MotionPie to TinyCamMonitor (I have the paid version and know how that works, just prefer MotionPie).

If I can do both in one - perfect.

[Thaui]

You have answered your own question. You can do it with one app. Tinycam Monitor is doing the job for you. I am doing exactly the same thing. 2 motionpie cams and 2 dlink ip cams. Works perfect.

[sav25]

Ohhh I see! Dumb moment...Wednesday is a killer.

MotionPie makes my Pi like an IP cam...of course...well I'm earning my 'average' name today!

Cheers

[ccrisan]

Nevertheless, you can add as many extra cameras as you want to motionPie as well, obtaining the same effect. I don't see why not, as long as you don't care for high resolution and framerate.

Ohhh I see! Dumb moment...Wednesday is a killer.

MotionPie makes my Pi like an IP cam...of course...well I'm earning my 'average' name today!

Cheers

[ccrisan]

Just as I (didn't) promise, I prepared a pre-release image that includes support for static IP and for disabling the camera led. It's not a full update because the features are too few and not tested enough. You can download the image from here: https://github.com/ccrisan/motionPie/re ... g/20140910. Use the writeimage.sh script (supposing you use Linux) to further configure your PI when writing the image. Let me know what you think and how this works for you.

Thanks for the reply- I got the Network share running and it's now sending the videos to my NAS.

Do you have a date estimate for the next version release? I really just need to be able to turn off the camera LED as I am setting up two bird boxes and I think this will be a better and more reliable solution.

I can live without static IP addresses so my only problem is that I want to nail them up on the wall in the next week but the red light might put off nesting birds (it will look too much like a brothel so I will only get birds of ill-repute )

I could always try covering it with a sticker I suppose and then upgrade later but once they are up the wall I can't get to them for several months so it's risky if an upgrade bricks it.

[Kirkbybil]

Wow - Thanks for the fast response. I have no idea what to do with the script but I'll see if I can figure it out from your instructions.

I assume I just run it with the parameters I need, as opposed to changing anything in the actual script?

Thank you!

[ccrisan]

Just run it without arguments and you'll see the list of available options.

Wow - Thanks for the fast response. I have no idea what to do with the script but I'll see if I can figure it out from your instructions.

I assume I just run it with the parameters I need, as opposed to changing anything in the actual script?

Thank you!

[Kirkbybil]

I have tried running the script but I get the following error:

:: writing disk image to sdcard
dd: bs: illegal numeric value

I get this even if I strip the command back to just : ./writeimage.sh -d /dev/rdisk1 -i /Users/A/Desktop/motionPie-20140901.img
If I copy the image 'normally' using: dd if=/Users/A/Desktop/motionPie-20140901.img of=/dev/rdisk1 bs=1m it works fine?

A couple more questions: I have never used cidr before - do I need it? If not do I just remove '/cidr' ?
Is DNS the same as Netmask in this case on my home network?
Does overclocking have any impact on video recording performance ie can framerates/resolutions be higher? If so is there any guidance on this and any downside?

Sorry to have so many questions but I'm learning and hopefully they will help others.

Thanks again.

[ccrisan]

Hi,

It appears that a certain argument of the command dd does not work on your computer as it does on mine. Just replace "bs=1M" with "bs=1m" in writeimage.sh and it should no longer complain.

CIDR is used instead of a netmask. Most likely you're using 192.168.x.y with a netmask of 255.255.255.0. In CIDR notation that would be 192.168.x.y/24.

DNS and netmask are differnent things. Use 8.8.8.8 as DNS server if you're unsure.

Overclocking is enabled by default in motionPie (@900 Mhz), these options only allow you to further alter the overclocking settings using the presets available with Raspbian's raspi-config.

I have tried running the script but I get the following error:

:: writing disk image to sdcard
dd: bs: illegal numeric value

I get this even if I strip the command back to just : ./writeimage.sh -d /dev/rdisk1 -i /Users/A/Desktop/motionPie-20140901.img
If I copy the image 'normally' using: dd if=/Users/A/Desktop/motionPie-20140901.img of=/dev/rdisk1 bs=1m it works fine?

A couple more questions: I have never used cidr before - do I need it? If not do I just remove '/cidr' ?
Is DNS the same as Netmask in this case on my home network?
Does overclocking have any impact on video recording performance ie can framerates/resolutions be higher? If so is there any guidance on this and any downside?

Sorry to have so many questions but I'm learning and hopefully they will help others.

Thanks again.

[Kirkbybil]

Hi, Thanks for the response, I tried the script with your changes an suggestions but the light remains on and the Static IP does not get assigned. I changed the bs=1m as advised and ran as follows:

./writeimage.sh -d /dev/rdisk1 -i /Users/A/Desktop/motionPie-20140910.img -l -s 192.168.2.99/24:192.168.2.1:8.8.8.8
:: writing disk image to sdcard
140+0 records in
140+0 records out
146800640 bytes transferred in 7.619787 secs (19265714 bytes/sec)
:: mounting sdcard
mount: You must specify a filesystem type with -t.

The image works fine but the parameters didn't change. I can turn off the LED by editing config.txt but not sure how to manually add the IP.

[ccrisan]

Obviously writeimage.sh did not complete. It managed to write the vanilla image but it did not manage to mount it and make the customizations. What distro do you use anyway? You have some strange versions of dd and mount.

Hi, Thanks for the response, I tried the script with your changes an suggestions but the light remains on and the Static IP does not get assigned. I changed the bs=1m as advised and ran as follows:

./writeimage.sh -d /dev/rdisk1 -i /Users/A/Desktop/motionPie-20140910.img -l -s 192.168.2.99/24:192.168.2.1:8.8.8.8
:: writing disk image to sdcard
140+0 records in
140+0 records out
146800640 bytes transferred in 7.619787 secs (19265714 bytes/sec)
:: mounting sdcard
mount: You must specify a filesystem type with -t.

The image works fine but the parameters didn't change. I can turn off the LED by editing config.txt but not sure how to manually add the IP.

[Kirkbybil]

I am using terminal on my mac to run the script and write the image. This is how I have written the image in the past. Is this not the way to do it?

[ccrisan]

Mac you say? That might be the cause of these differences between the two command line programs. I'm not sure OS X is able to mount extended Linux partitions natively.

I am using terminal on my mac to run the script and write the image. This is how I have written the image in the past. Is this not the way to do it?

[Kirkbybil]

As everything else seems to work, and I can change the LED in config.txt is it possible to put the IP etc details into the script manually?

ie could I insert my IP in this line for example?:

sed -i "s%static_ip=\"\"%static_ip=\"$IP\"%" $conf

.. and if so where would it go?

[ccrisan]

What the script does after writing the image is mounting the system partition (linux ext4) and making custom changes to some files. Those files are *not* on the boot partition (which is fat32). You can make any changes you want to the system files but you need to be able to mount ext partitions!

As everything else seems to work, and I can change the LED in config.txt is it possible to put the IP etc details into the script manually?

ie could I insert my IP in this line for example?:

sed -i "s%static_ip=\"\"%static_ip=\"$IP\"%" $conf

.. and if so where would it go?

[Kirkbybil]

Okay, I think I understand I either find a Linux machine or stick with what I've got working which is now everything except static IP's. Thanks.

[bcre3306]

So I am trying to record all the time and not just when motion happens. I tried the suggestion on the previous page to set the frame change threshold to 0 but that forces it to record nothing. If I change it to .01 it records but eventually stops and starts back up when motion reactivates it. Any other suggestions on how to accomplish full time recording? Also if I could have it create a new file everyday that would be awesome!

Thanks!

[ccrisan]

Hi bcre3306,

I'm planning on implementing timelapse support some time in the near future. I'm not promising anything but I know it's a highly requested feature and is one of my priorities as well.

So I am trying to record all the time and not just when motion happens. I tried the suggestion on the previous page to set the frame change threshold to 0 but that forces it to record nothing. If I change it to .01 it records but eventually stops and starts back up when motion reactivates it. Any other suggestions on how to accomplish full time recording? Also if I could have it create a new file everyday that would be awesome!

Thanks!