IP-based camera in SageTV/Use a virtual capture card?

[dbullock]

update: 11/28/2007 - I've decided to get an Axis 207W camera for testing. Axis has a really nice API for their cameras so recording to a file should be nice. I quickly decided against D-Link after reading a slew of bad reviews about the camera locking up and there being no customer support. I should have the camera around 12/4

ORIGINAL:

I'd like to have SageTV see a networked camera as a tuner. Might a virtual capture card/tuner be the best method?

I'm assuming SageTV does not currently support the mapping of an external IP-based camera feed to a SageTV channel.

Thanks,
Dan

[hufnagel]

x2.

I could find many uses for this; not just for home but for a couple of my business clients (new customer base for sage maybe? DIY security cam recording and playback?)

[dbullock]

I want to use it for watching/recording my kids playing and so my parents can watch them remotely a well. As well as using it as a baby monitor.

I've tried a $140 3 camera 2.4Ghz set from Costco. The video quality degraded quickly by just having the camera one room away.

I'm going to investigate what it will take to integrate an IP-based camera. I've just signed-up as a developer for two different camera manufacturers to get a look at their SDK code. I think the hard part would be to have SageTV see the camera as a tuner. I've never made a device driver so I'm not sure how difficult or long it would take me.

[bcjenkins]

You might have better luck using VLC as an intermediary then have it export something SageTV can use.

B

[dbullock]

Can SageTV use VLC as a live feed?

My first impression would be that a device driver is needed for SageTV to use a live feed. Though maybe I'm wrong.. Hauppage does create a temporary mpg cache file.

Might anyone be able to help and explain how this all might work? That could give me a good start on this project.

[dbullock]

I need to read more about it, but at first glance Anders Universal Network Encoder might do the trick of getting the feed into Sage.
http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9767

So long as the camera can output an mpg or mp4 video file then the above software should work. Otherwise some code may need to be written for any specific camera to have that camera save to a file, but that's not Sage's concern.

[dbullock]

Ok.. I think even a simple D-Link camera will work. This particular one (maybe others too) can be configured to save to a machine over the network.
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product...lang=en-US&s=1

It's inexpensive enough for testing. I'm ordering it now.

"For added flexibility, you can set up the DCS-950G to record to network-attached storage, eliminating the need to set up a dedicated computer for storing recorded video. "

[CollinR]

Why not just use an analog camera?

I am a licensed surveillance professional in OK, I can get anything and know quite a bit about most. To get a halfway decent IP cam you'll need to spend at least $300 retail. To get a good analog cam for what you desire you need only spend $100 if that and it'll plug directly in.

DVR baseband output > free encoder, you can integrate with IR commands.
Cam > multiplexer or Quad > free encoder.

Everything gets scaled to 480i unfortunately. So I would be interested as many of my systems go out to 1500p in 4:3 aspect. Anyway...

VLC mentioned above is probably the way to go, however the MJPEGtools projct should also be looked at.

SageTV will never work as a security DVR so you are far better off getting one specific to security recording and integrating that. I also think cameras not recorded aren't really worth having.

[dbullock]

Thanks for the suggestion. My main requirement is mobility. I'm looking to record my kids and not use it for security. I'd like to easily move the around the house so I think wireless is preferred.

I've seen analog to IP devices but that just adds to the cost. But if a wireless analog-IP device can be had for around $100 I'd look at analog cameras.

[hufnagel]

I randomly came across this thread regarding how to fake an encoder for studio development work...

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15871

perhaps it gives some of the more techno inclined some ideas on how to maybe fake/map an IP camera's stream into sage? If you could somehow figure out how to capture the stream coming from the camera then tunnel it into a faked card to be seen by sage, wouldn't that make this possible? maybe even map cameras to different "channels"? or even a camera per "input"? is there a limitation in sage for the the number of inputs a "card" can have?

just some food for thought.

edit: also found this thread.
http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9767

[dbullock]

Using Anders network encoder I've managed to basically map an mpg file to a channel. Now I need to just get the camera and test its mp4 file in action. It's looks like a lot of others have been setting up cameras this way for some time.

hufnagel - I like the idea of the fake/virtual encoder as it seems like the proper way to do this. And I think it could be more easily made into an installable Sage add-on.

Though perhaps this other method can be made into a nice windows app as well. Once I get this all working I can then look at Anders source code and see what can be done to make it into a Windows app or Sage add-on.

Thanks all.