Sigh.

I am not too busy at work, so I quickly go through all the usual steps to try and figure out why I can’t see the camera image in EvoCam. Including:

• Connect to the camera via it’s maker’s software. 
• Connect to the camera via the web interface. 
• Restarted EvoCam, the router, and the iMac. 

While logged into the AirPort Extreme via Airport Utility, I noticed that there weren’t many devices connected to it. This likely meant that it was a hardware or power issue. Since I could connect to the iMac via VPN that ruled out power.

Because of the snow storm, we were sent home to work remotely. But when I got home, I still did things the hard way. I looked at the switch and it looked to be working. Lights flashing on the appropriate ports. The PoE Injector was dangling a bit from the AC outlet, but the lights were on and it looked to be functioning.

So then I turned to cables. And naturaly I did this the wrong way as well. I started by unplugging the cable from the PoE to the switch. I changing the port. Then I decided to grab a new Ethernet cable. I was going to bypass the switch and go right to the router. I plugged the cable into the PoE and as I approached the router, I had a flash…

This morning, you moved the router to tuck the telephone line and power cable behind it. Did you…?

I reached behind the AirPort Extreme and pressed on the cable that leads to the switch.

Click.

Sigh.

That was it. I got in my own way (again) and created a problem for myself. This time because 2 small black cords were distracting to me. And then I kicked myself some more when I realized I didn’t even think of the most simple of checks by failing to turn on the AppleTV to see if it could connect.

Now the silver linings.

While I had been futzing with EvoCam from work in the morning, I noticed that the time-lapse movie was huge in file size. When I was home, I took a peek and noticed that I had 2 different processes writing to the same file name. This led to the movie being a combination of the last 3 days worth of video. I think I sorted that out, and I may not have noticed had I not screwed something else up!

Also, by doing all that hard work a few weeks ago organizing cables, and bypassing my wireless kluge, I freed up an old Airport Express. It sat on my desk for a few weeks, not unnoticed, as I discovered the grey of the Apple logo is the color I want to paint the upstairs bedroom/library/office/exercise room. The reason having the device was handy is that I was able to use it to plug the VoIP telephone from work in and be able to have it near the iMac which I use to screen share to the office so I can work from home. Much better than last time, when the phone was downstairs plugged into the AirPort Extreme and I had to put people on hold and run upstairs to look things up or troubleshoot.

So, I got that going for me.

My experiments in the last few days have resulted in mixed — but encouraging — results, and as promised I am sharing them with you.

Good Things I Learned

EvoCam export action settings

First, a few of things I like about EvoCam’s time lapse export feature:

• The process is self-contained. EvoCam acts as the file converter and the FTP client. I already use the FTP settings in the software to upload the still images, so when the time lapse movie is created by EvoCam, it easily uploads it to this website without having to use a third party FTP client.
• Control over the frames per second (FPS) settings.  With the current process, I have no control over the frames per second, meaning that the speed of the daily video is going to be 30fps.  With the EvoCam settings I can decide just how fast the individual frames are displayed in the finished product. I have been experimenting with frame rates as low as 5, and as high as 15. The results are pleasing.

Minor Downsides

Some downsides do exist, but EvoCam helps minimize some of the impacts:

• By slowing the video down, I make for a longer watching experience. This wouldn’t be an issue if most of the videos — especially in winter! — weren’t complete darkness; however, since making the adjustments to the white balance settings, that is the case. The solution to this, so far, has been to use EvoCam’s light detection feature. Each video starts just around daybreak, and ends just after sunset. The drawback, is that any celestial movements such as the moon or bright stars are missed.
  

  EvoCam light detection settings

• File size concerns. I would love to include the night time hours for the reasons above. Slowing down the time between images in the video means the video’s file size may get to the point where I lose a portion of my (already very small) audience.  The experiments with daytime-only videos are resulting in videos that are of a manageable size, but that is also a result of using stills taken 60 seconds apart as opposed to the 30 second intervals I currently use. More images, and slowing things down could mean a much more bloated final video. I have the bandwidth thanks to my awesome ISP (also my employer), but many of my neighbors either have slow DSL or services such as satellite with bandwidth caps.

Further Questions to be Answered

One the most frustrating thing about all this is that EvoCam’s developer disappeared without a trace over a year ago, and I worry about the future of my little hobby. I have been unable to find similar software that does half of the things that I want, nay, need for my projects. For the time being the software is stable, but I wish that someone would be willing and able to take it over if the former developer is done with it. If you know how this can be accomplished, please do hit me up.

For now, my experiments continue.  I still have a few things I need to investigate. For example, I am not sure how to control archiving or names of the files. I am fine if the local files are simply sequential (i.e., daily-1.mp4, daily-2.mp4) because I will have the creation dates to let me know the date of the footage. I like to review the videos to see if they contain anything funny, unusual, or unique.

But, I need the uploaded file to always be the same (daily.mp4) so that I don’t have to adjust the HTML. Based on the results when the “delete movie …” setting is enabled, I assume this will be the case; however, as usual, I just thought of this whilst I was typing the paragraph above.

Parting Thoughts

As I said in the opening of this entry, there are some benefits and drawbacks to both methods. The great news is I don’t really have to choose. The current method is hacked together, but it is working (knock wood). And I can continue to run my experiments without them getting in the way of the other method.

Right now it is looking promising that I can stop running the previous method, and do all of the things above within EvoCam. If I do, you’ll be the first to know.

UPDATE: 7 January, 2018

Found out that if one does not check “delete movie…” EvoCam saves only one instance of the resulting video, overwriting the previous day.  This is far from a setback; my quick solution was to create a three-step Automator workflow to rename the video file each day, and move the file to a local archive directory. However, if this is to be a viable replacement from my hacked method, I will need to figure out what time to stop the EvoCam video, and what time to run the cronjob for the archiving workflow. This isn’t an issue with my test model as I am only recording during daylight hours.  But if I want the video to run from as close to 00:00:00 to 23:59:59 as possible, then I need to time things properly. EvoCam needs to export the video to the local folder, upload the file via its built-in FTP. Then the cronjob needs to run an upload the resulting video before the new video is created.

Never mind, the above is all wrong! The way EvoCam works is it hold the images for the new day’s video until it is time to make the video.  Therefore, it I don’t need to time when I run the cronjob. I feel silly now.

I had planned to debut the new webcam on New Year’s Day, but I didn’t so much get bogged down with the adding of the new camera to the mix as much as with the details of the look of the website and the automation process.  I wanted to get it as close to right as I could, and each time I would start to write something about some part of the process I would come up with a way to improve it.  For the past week or so, I have been playing with the look of the site, checking that the Automator process is functioning as it should, and making sure the place is nice and tidy for any new visitors. It certainly isn’t perfect.  Like everything else on this site it is “always a work in progress.”

A Bit of History

This post is going to serve as my return to the webcam world even though I have never really left it.  I started playing with webcams in the early 90s, using Logitech ball cameras. In 1996 I bought a VHS-C camera (yes, I still have it) and pointed out the window of my flat in Washington, DC. I had to come up with a way to transmit the image wirelessly across the room to where the Internet lived and my clunky old Pentium computer was tethered so I used RF wireless transmitters, and it worked.

I took short breaks from anything updating regularly until we moved to Vermont.  First a small cam pointing at the local fire department across the street from our tiny flat in Montpelier, and then from the window of our upstairs spare room — which we can the library — at our current home in Tunbridge, Vermont.

For nearly 7 years the webcam was powered by a Canon digital camcorder, which I hacked to run continuously simply by leaving a tape out of the unit. It was mounted on a big tripod which was precariously balanced on a 15-year-old flat pack shelf and an old portable case for carrying 45rpm records in the 70s.  Seriously. Due to the constant glare I had a black bath towel pinned to the window casing and draped over the camera like an old hooded camera from the 1800s.  The setup needed a firewire cable connected to a firewire-to-lightning adapter, and had to be physically connected to the iMac in my office.

The New Stuff

Since the start of 2016 the webcam is powered by a 4MP high-definition CCTV-quality security camera made by HikVision. I had originally asked Santa for a Foscam, but when I played with it shortly after its unboxing I was disappointed in it’s image quality when pointed out the window and it’s cheap plastic casing.  It was a glorified baby monitor, and I wanted more. So I did some more research and decided to forgo the pan/tilt/zoom feature I thought I craved in exchange for the high-definition camera that would showcase the amazing view we have here at our farm. I think I made the right choice.

The HikVision is mounted outside on a post on our front porch under the roof eave.  It is protected from the elements, but doesn’t need to be coddled. It is well-made of metal and fits in my hand.  It is a Network Camera which can be accessed via IP, but it is not wireless, so I ran CAT-5 from the camera, down the post, under the front porch and through the wall to the basement. In the basement the CAT-5 connects to a PoE injector and then to an Apple Airport Express where the signal is sent to the network.  I left some slack in the CAT-5 as I may eventually plug it directly into the main router. In addition to being configurable (on a Mac no less!) via an application — iVMS 4200 — it can also be configured via a web browser or the free iOS app — iVMS 4500 lite.

If, like me, you are a Mac user then iVMS 4200 is invaluable.  When I first started reading about the camera I eventually purchased, there was plenty of information about configuring the camera via Windows, but I wasn’t finding any OS X information at all.  Even the manual that came with the camera doesn’t mention that there is Mac software available on the camera maker’s site.  So I spent some time before the camera arrived instilling Parallels assuming I would need a little extra help configuring the camera. iVMS 4200 and a web browser were all I really needed, and that is a relief.

I am not going to go into all of the features of the DS-2CD2042WD-I (aka 2042), but some of my favorites are the 4MP image, the HD features, the complete control over the camera’s settings, and the infrared night vision.  The latter was actually an unexpected bonus, and has shown some interesting visitors to the property, but mostly deer.  The IR works really well with almost any light in the frame, and allowed me to even see the movement of the clouds at night when the lights on the barn (~500 feet away) on.  With the barn lights off, I can see cars going up and down the road, snow machines on Killington, and even stars moving across the sky.  Cool stuff.  I may have to put some solar powered lights in the yard for dark night’s when the barn lights aren’t on.

That’s it for this post.  In the near future I plan to write about the other software that makes the webcam possible, and the Automator script I wrote to automatically update the Daily Time-lapse feature.