Webcam as a Security Camera and Motion Detector
 

A simple computer webcam can serve as a security and surveillance device through recording and motion sensing software. An old desktop/laptop with an attached webcam can serve as the control and recording device. Depending on the availability of an internet connection, you can even choose to live stream the webcam video, or choose to detect motion and save only screenshots.

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Yawcam is a free and simple webcam monitoring software. Yawcam means yet-another-webcam software. True enough, it is free, fast, simple, and feature packed webcam software.

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Yawcam’s primary features:
1. Save captured video and pictures on the computer.
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2. Yawcam can be set to automatically upload its captured pictures and video to an FTP server. This allows for remote viewing and storage of files on a remote server.
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3. Yawcam can be set display captured video and pictures on a website.
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4. Yawcam has an amazing motion sensing capability. It monitors the screen for any movement and captures a screenshot of the moving object.
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The best of all, Yawcam can be set to perform the features above all at the same time! This means you can receive real-time email alerts about detected movement. Together with the email alert, you can receive high resolution screenshots of the moving object on your email. If you have access to a computer, you can immediately browse to your webcam’s ip address and watch the captured video online. While all of these are happening, Yawcam can also be set to backup surveillance pictures and video to an FTP server.

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Using Yawcam as Security Camera and Motion Sensor

Yawcam’s easy to use and configure motion sensor is one of its very strong points. Remember that the motion sensing feature of Yawcam captures still photos only, do not forget to enable the capture of live video. This ensures that you have quick access to the parts of recorded video where there is movement. The timestamp on the capture picture files will help you skim through the video capture.

1. On Yawcam’s menu, click Window, click Motion Detection

2. On the Settings tab, feel free to experiment with the Sensitvity and Tolerance meters.
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My personal preference is that 80% sensitivity and 1% tolerance. I
set the lowest Tolerance so that it frequently captures detected movement.

3. On the Actions tab, I suggest you set Yawcam to save the file, upload a copy to FTP, and send an email attachment.
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You can set Yawcam to use a Gmail account for sending email.
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Remember to setup the optional text and image overlay.
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This will put a watermark on captured video and pictures. Setting a text overlay of the camera’s location and timestamp will help you reference and browse to saved video files.