Webcam security camera software that runs as a service
- by hurfdurf
I've been looking for Windows webcam software that will run as a Windows service without any user login. The goal is to use the webcam as a cheap security camera and log the results to secure networked storage (windows share, not FTP). The requirements are:
Motion detection
Video capture
Runs as a service (should start
recording immediately after reboot)
Nice to have: Round-robin
storage, e.g. 10Gb limit, oldest
files overwritten/deleted when space
gets low
I've read the other webcam questions but still haven't stumbled across anything suitable.
Evaluations thus far:
Title MotionDetect Service Snapshots Video SpaceLimit License
Yawcam Yes Yes Yes No No GPL
WebCam ZoneTrigger Yes No Yes Yes No Commercial
Dorgem Yes No Yes Yes No GPL
AbelCam Yes No Yes Yes No Commercial
Logitech Yes No Yes Yes No Paired with camera
IspyConnect Yes No Yes Yes Yes Free
SecureCam (SourcefoYes No Yes Yes No GPL
AbelCam Yes No Yes Yes No Commercial
Active WebCam Yes Yes(?) Yes Yes Volume Free Commercial
WebCam Surveyor Yes No Yes Yes No Commercial
WebCamsPy NA NA NA NA NA GPL
Camera: Logitech Webcam Pro 9000
Windows 7 32-bit
WebCamsPy failed to initialize so couldn't be tested
So far, the contenders:
Active Webcam comes the closest, and claims to run as a service, but i haven't been able to get it to record after a cold boot even though a service is running.
Yawcam can be set up as a service but doesn't record video.
IspyConnect has exactly the type of space limit I want and looks great, but doesn't run as a service (seems also to be a bit of a cpu hog)
Any other suggestions? I'm locked into Windows so can't use linux Motion, which looks almost perfect. Any pointers to rich Windows webcam/motion detection libraries out there that could easily be turned into a command line program would also be appreciated.