Mobius as house CCTV?

Ziyi

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Hi, ive been looking around for a few weeks now to find a decent priced Full HD 1080p camera for the back garden of my house to be used as CCTV.
Unless i have missed something it seems that pretty much every single actual CCTV camera setup out there is utterly rubbish (blurry image) unless you fork out silly money, even then you still only get average quaility, reliablity and low FOV thus needing twice as many cameras which adds to the cost.

So, being totally frustrated i thought about trying out a Mobius wide angle version camera (indoors on windowsill) to run 24/7.

I would like to ask for some help to work out what i will need for this please.



Bascially what i am after is...

24/7 running in motion detection mode
Connected to a TV to view live image, if thats possible while in motion detection mode?
Power supply suitable for the Mobius (i live in the UK)
Will i need a capacitor instead of the battery if so what one, or can it run without either?
Is there a way to transfer files from the memory card via the Mobius rather than removing the card each time?

If unable to live view while in motion detection mode is there a way to have a PIR motion detector set up to turn power on to the Mobius so it auto records and allows live viewing still?

If there is anything you think i have missed please let me know, i am rather new to camera tech and certainly up for other options if they are not costing much over £100 for a single 1080p wide angle camera setup.


Ps. i do have a 500w security light in the garden so night time video should be fine.
 
Sounds like a drop cam may be a better choice. I'm not sure the Mobius is set up to run 24/7 with that wish list
 
Hi, ive been looking around for a few weeks now to find a decent priced Full HD 1080p camera for the back garden of my house to be used as CCTV.
Unless i have missed something it seems that pretty much every single actual CCTV camera setup out there is utterly rubbish (blurry image) unless you fork out silly money, even then you still only get average quaility, reliablity and low FOV thus needing twice as many cameras which adds to the cost.

So, being totally frustrated i thought about trying out a Mobius wide angle version camera (indoors on windowsill) to run 24/7.

I would like to ask for some help to work out what i will need for this please.

Bascially what i am after is...

24/7 running in motion detection mode
Connected to a TV to view live image, if thats possible while in motion detection mode?
Power supply suitable for the Mobius (i live in the UK)
Will i need a capacitor instead of the battery if so what one, or can it run without either?
Is there a way to transfer files from the memory card via the Mobius rather than removing the card each time?

If unable to live view while in motion detection mode is there a way to have a PIR motion detector set up to turn power on to the Mobius so it auto records and allows live viewing still?

If there is anything you think i have missed please let me know, i am rather new to camera tech and certainly up for other options if they are not costing much over £100 for a single 1080p wide angle camera setup.

Ps. i do have a 500w security light in the garden so night time video should be fine.
24/7 is no problem, but 24/7/365 remains to be tested.
Room temperature is the ideal environment!
A supercap would most likely be the better solution for long-term usage, otherwise you may have to change the battery every year or so.
TV-out is possible during motion detection - the GUI incorrectly says this is not possible. That will be corrected in the next release.
A quality 5V power supply specified at 1A or above is essential.
You don't need to remove the card to transfer files.
I would suggest you build a short 'intermediate' cable connected to the Mobius with a 5-pin plug at one end and a 5-pin socket at the other end. All 5 pins wired one-to-one. This would make connecting/disconnecting more convenient.
When in live mode, connect your power supply to the socket with pin #4 shorted to ground and pin #2 and #5 (ground) connected to your TV. A "Y" cable with one end Power and the other end TV-out. I made one of these for testing the firmware. Works very well!
When in file transfer mode/setup mode, remove the Y cable and connect your standard PC USB cable to the socket (pin #4 not connected).
Keep the total standard USB cable length (camera to PC) as short as possible or the USB driver may not be able to identify the Mobius.

I'm not sure if using the Mobius is the ideal solution. I'm sure there are dedicated cameras that do the job better - at least I would hope so! If the motion detection is sensitive enough, then you would lose about 1-2 seconds before the Mobius starts recording. You could use a PIR if it has a relay. Basically you would use the same Y cable, but the +5V would be switched via the relay. You would lose about 5 seconds while the camera turns on.
If placed on a window sill you may get false triggers caused by reflection.
 
If there is anything you think i have missed please let me know, i am rather new to camera tech and certainly up for other options if they are not costing much over £100 for a single 1080p wide angle camera setup.

Hi

Firstly the Mobius is a decent choice of camera for your task, this is due to its decent low light sensitivity and frame rate, I would recommend the A lens as the B may make the required capture area a bit small (depending on the distance you may even need to change the lens to get in even closer, so start with the standard lens)

However.. (there's always a however, lol) if you go with tv display and recording on the Mobius then after a short while you will see that its a bit of a PITA / cumbersome to view what was recorded whilst you were not watching the live video feed.

So I'd recommend using a PC that's on 24/7 either with an analogue video capture card or even use the Mobius in web cam mode connected via usb and software like Blue Iris (trial version is available FOC), as its record on motion detection is adjustable for size /contrast / colour / masking / pre record time / record time and is and is a far superior method.

EDIT... and yes as mentioned in a previous post, reflection from the glass if the room lighting is brighter than outside is yet another problem, lol
 
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Cam1.20140107_125657.jpg

Just for a bit of a demonstration, pointed the Mobius at the kitchen window connected via usb (640 x 480) and took a screen shot from within Blue Iris,
the time and date stamp is generated within the Mobius it self and the yellow numbers are from Blue Iris and are the frame rate

The structure in the foreground is about 4 meters away using the standard 'A' lens
 
Do remember the AV out of the camera is not HD, its regular old fasioned PAL tv signal
 
Mobius


A little slide show showing what happens when the lights are on in the room that has the camera, the light out side is only the street lighting and thus the 'video' noise is quite bad... however its still adequate to provide non blurred pictures. (right click on the image box and select view image). A decent flood light would improve things dramatically
 
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