The big thing that separates webcam surveilance software from normal webcam software is the capacity to monitor movement on the camera. This is known as motion detection and is performed either directly by the camera or the computer it is attached to.

Some of the advanced surveillance software packages even have the ability to nominate an area of the camera image to monitor for movement. This was most useful when positioning the camera looking outdoors. If the camera view included trees (that blow around) they set off the motion detection accidentally. When monitoring areas such as driveways, it was a good idea to "mask out" an area of the image from motion detection so that the neighbours car do not set of the motion detection. If you have pets they have a habit of setting off the motion detection so it's a good idea to also set the sensitivity of the motion detection. These sensetivity settings let you control how much movement must be detected before the camera will start recording.

Once the PC or camera has detected movement a variety of actions can occur. If the camera is connected to a computer then the surveillance software can start recording the camera image to your hard drive. Most surveillance programs will let you choose the codec and type of video compression to use so you don't have to worry about your hard drive filling up. The surveillance software will also let you take still image photos at regular intervals as well. You can set the surveillance software to upload these images or videos (including sound) to the website. We were particularly impressed with this feature - most security companies charge thousands of dollars for this feature. Even if the computer and cameras are stolen or damaged (such as happened to this person) the footage from them is still available at your ISP. In order to defeat this process you'd need to be able to hack your ISP in order to erase the images. Of course an uninterruptible power supply is recommended too, because if the burglars cut the power there will be no power to the PC to record the event.

Most surveillance software supports stamping the time and date on each image and also in the video frames so you can clearly see when the footage was taken. Some of the more advanced packages will highlight movement and even pre-sharpen the images.

Microphones are usually supported. You can use this to record sound from the camera. If you're filming movement it can be handy to have the audio track available too. It would be nice to have a sound feature that triggered the camera to record if there was a loud noise. Obviously the footage would show no movement but you'd at least have the sound recording and time of the event marked.

There are also usually facilities to send an email or SMS to alert you that movement has been detected by your cameras. This is a great way to allow you to respond to a burglary. With a pc monitoring system you can even connect to the internet from wherever you are and view the images of the movement that are being uploaded to your website.

The first thing you need to do is choose you camera hardware. There's your basic USB cameras, capture card kits, composite cameras and Ethernet and WiFi cameras;

• USB Cameras
  Costing as little as $30 a USB camera will allow a maximum of about 10 meters cord-length from the pc to the camera. Logitech have been making Quickcam models for many years and they're a good well known brand. We'd heartily recommend using a PC with USB2 because we've noticed some performance issues with USB cameras and USB 1.1. USB Cameras can also take a fair bit of processing power.
  
  We'd suggest that you want to have at least 500mhz worth of processing power for each USB camera connected to your pc.
   
• Capture Cards
  Caputure cards are usually fairly reliable and use less processor power than the USB cameras because much of the processing is done on the capture card itself.
  
  Capture cards are a little more difficult to set up than a USB camera but they usually deliver a better quality image. They're compatible with just about any type of camera so you can use an old handycam camera or you can use the latest Digital cameras with it.. Just make sure you have the right cables to connect the camera to the capture card.
  
  There's also some great mini composite cameras available that will let you conceal the camera which is handy if you're mounting the camera outside.
   
• Ethernet Cameras
  Ethernet cameras will let you film from the comfort of your own Ethernet cable. They usually come with basic monitoring software but there are plenty of packages available that specifically support TCP/IP cameras.
  
  A word of advice though, Don't mount an Ethernet camera outside. If you do you're providing access to anyone who wants to plug in. Obviously, the best thing about Ethernet cameras is that you can plug them in to any network point on your network. Ethernet will provide up to 100metres of cable-length between the PC and the camera.
   
• WiFi Cameras
  Cameras that use WiFi for communication back to the PC can often run up to the same length as Ethernet (approx 100meters) but obviously don't require any untidy and obvious cable runs. WiFi cameras can be carried around easily and are great for temporary setups.
  
  It should also be noted that WiFi cameras may not be all that safe. There are many people constantly scouring the place for WiFi devices and if someone was to find your camera then they would be able to launch an attack on it to gain access to the camera footage.

Once you've selected you camera you'll need to find a webcam surveillance software package that fits your needs. There are quite a few available and they range from the very basic programs such as Fwink that will save still pictures from the camera when motion is detected right through to extensive programs such as ActiveWebCam who's features seem to be just about endless.

We recommend you try a simple surveillance program first, such as Tincam and then work you way up if you need more features. Opening the feature-sets of some of these programs can be quite daunting if it is your first time..

• Tincam
  This software is great, just fire it up and it will give you a basic range of features. Tincam supports multiple cameras, webpage creation, time/date stamping, scheduled recording and emailing images.
  
  Early versions of TinCam were free, see if you can find an old copy otherwise see their website to download a 30 day demo.
   
• ActiveWebCam
  Pysoft's ActiveWebCam delivers an incredible range of features. It supports all of the features we mention in this article and more. If you're looking to do a bit more with your webcam this is the program to use. They have a fully functional 30 day demo available on their website.
   

There are a few tricks to running webcam surveillance well. If you're using it as a burglar alarm it makes sense to run your system 24/7. So you'll need to install the webcams on a computer that is always running. You should probably set the software to start up automatically when windows start and you'll want to make sure that if the power goes off that the PC will power up automatically when the power comes back on (see your computer bios). Obviously power conditioners and uninterruptible power supplies may be required if you're not on a reliable power grid.

If you're setting up a webcam security system, you might also be interested in  article on building your own computer vcr

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