Best Webcam Surveillance Software

**Trog** · 04-03-2012

Webcam Surveillance software’s are useful when you need to put your regular camera for some special purpose. Software’s which help you to track or record the ongoing activity with extra security measures are called as Surveillance Software. There are many open source and commercial tool that you can choose. Fortunately there is trail version available in which you can test and choose the best you want. Anyhow every webcam tool offers you a recording stuff. So when you want your webcam to record automatically you can setup the settings in tool and leave the system free. This is a cheap alternative to costly solution needed for temporary base only. Surveillance Software is capable of recording current activity, web stuff, spying, motion detection, etc and many more qualities. The task performed depends on the quality of camera used. It is not required that you have to go and buy a new high end camera for this purpose. Your regular one does a bit of bond thing. I am listing some of top surveillance tools that you can download. First of all what are the qualities should these tools carry? I am not asking about any major stuff but some kind of basic task that the tool can perform with your regular camera with minimal configuration.

There are some points that I will like to mention before reaching further. There are many reasons behind using such tools. Like you need to keep a watch on children’s, or keeping a watch on shop, etc. Surveillance Software is kind of watchmen who keeps an eye and track every record. Later on when it is not needed you can delete the data for next recording. Many webcam tools offer you long time recording. This is one of the basic qualities. Second some tools offers you web support. That means you can access the camera from web. This is a quiet beneficial feature. So if you want to quick glimpse in your house or shop you can access the camera from web. Another thing is the quality and additional feature. Like the video correction support, quality of recording etc with special feature likes motion detection and all. I am listing very basic tools that can fulfill your basic needs only. You cannot expect much from them. Under this my first choice is to go for open source or free tools. There are special services on web which offers you to go for personalized security scheme. It depends on your choice. I had hooked my camera to my old P4 system which consists of 80GB drive. I had fixed that on the door which keeps a track on coming people. I had automated a process of cleaning my drive after a prescribed day and left the system.

So in case of throwing an old system you can utilize it for this purpose. Though it is a kind of a loss where you will need to hook a dedicated system. Surveillance is just a complex word for watching. Using Surveillance software’s the camera will record the data and you can review the same whenever you want. For offices, shops, etc it is recommended that you must put a single camera. Today there are many security agencies which give you entire setup. But that is costly and needs a constant payment. But in my method you just need a working system and a camera. The more advance tool you use the more better benefit you can get. Check below the list of Surveillance Software.

**Trog** · 04-03-2012

Top Surveillance Software

Below list is some of top Surveillance Software. They are not full fledge tools but best for basic support. You can try downloading them from web. Their official site provides free trail to test the produce and when you like you can purchase that on your will.

Yawcam :

This is one of my favorite. It is simplest tool. I was also able to hook my mobile camera on this. This is a very simple software to use. Just download and install it. It comes with ability to monitor your home with very basic options. Other than this the tool also gives you a web support where you can integrate the camera on web and access it. The tool also offers some advance tools that are recommended to use. It offers you a feature called motion detection. That means on the base of sensitivity in the room when this feature is enable it activates. Another thing you can do is stream the video on the web so that you can see it in your web browser. It is a good choice for spying stuff. When you enable stealth mode in this tool, it works in the background. The camera turns on when the computer starts and does not show any window on the screen. It works secretly in the background. So for start this is a good tool.

Above all this tool is free to use. You can download it for free. It has a very simple interface with button over the screen. Connect your camera and then run Yawcam. The software offers a schedule. This schedule support recording, ftp transfer, streaming, and motion detection. That means you can setup days when you want to perform the said action.

Features:

Video streaming
Image snapshots
Built-in web server
Motion detection
Ftp-upload
Text and image overlays
Password protection
Online announcements for communities
Scheduler for online time
Time lapse movies
Run as a Windows service
Multi languages

WebcamXP:

This tool is a bit advance then Yawcam. In one word this is a powerful tool. It can help you to manage more than one camera. You can control the camera configured on your network also. It is in right term surveillance software. WebcamXP is best recommended for stores to keep a close watch on thieves. This tool supports a number of camera models. WebcamXP incorporates both a management software webcam (you can capture an image or a video) but also includes a mini web server for publishing live images. WebcamXP is based on the pilot Twain webcams, so it is compatible with most existing webcams.

Features

local and remote pan & tilt control (Logitech Orbit, Creative LiveMotion! and IP cameras)
supports FTP/FTPS and HTTP/HTTPS Post
motion detector (optical or acoustic) with many possible ways to handle alerts (local recording, ftp, http post, launch external applications)
Advanced users manager to grant limited or unlimited access.
Overlay editor supporting picture in picture, animated gifs, alpha-blending and text editor.
DVR (permanent recording deleted after X hours)
run as service
interact with Power Home automation software
Support audio from network cameras (Panasonic, axis, etc...) [webcam 7]

Webcam Broadcaster:

This is somewhat similar to Yawcam. But it features basically broadcasting the video on web. It is a kind of simple video sharing tool. You can simply use the tool to share videos from your friend. It is very easy to manage especially for the web sharing. Other than this the software also offers you a chat box in which you can chat with each other while video sharing. It is available for free to download. It is recommended if you want surveillance from remote location. You just need provide proper web settings and then you can enable video sharing. The software works well with many models. First it recommended that when you have webcam software installed already in your system do not run it with Webcam Broadcaster. It is possible to monitor your home or office even with a help of cell phone. There are very less tools which give you mobile support. It is a free tool. It also comes with some advance security measures.

Vitamin D:

Vitamin D is another powerful video surveillance tool. It can be called as professional surveillance software that can be used of security purpose. You can convert your regular webcam, your network camera to intelligent security software. The tool has an ability to detect difference between moving humans and objects. It is best recommended for home and office monitoring. The setup is fine and it works without interference. This tool carries some of the best features which others do not. The best part of this tool is that it can detect human movement. When you view your recorder video it will highlight the part where anyone comes in the picture. It becomes easy to review long videos. This is software is free unless you have only one camera usage. More than one will be chargeable. Vitamin D is one of the best tools I will recommend you to use. It has much option which other tool lack. It can detect objects on the screen which are easier to review. You can also highlight a specific part on the screen where you want the surveillance to work. Other than this Vitamin D offers you a record which is sorted on the base of calendar. It worked nicely with network camera and usb camera also. The configuration of this tool is not tough. Recommended if you own a shop or any office. You can manage many activities via this tool.

VisionGS:

VisionGS is a similar to Webcam Broadcaster. It offers you a desktop interface and a mobile interface also. VisionGS is a free suite of tools for monitoring and security for webcams on Windows. You can use VisionGS both to stream video from your webcam live on the Internet, using the integrated web server, FTP server or stream over web. VisionGS PE is a webcam software, with lots of options, which runs on most Windows platforms 32. You can broadcast your live images over the Internet using FTP or HTTP server VisionGS improved. Everything you need is a compatible camera or capture device with a driver Frame grabbing and an Internet connection. No need for a special webcam, you can use for example a TV card as standard wintv with a camcorder to publish your images live over the Internet.

Conclusion

Above mention all tools are functional and can be used as needed. If you do not need a very high end tool then you can go with the most basic one. Or else if you want really advance and commercial support then iSpy offers you more services. According to me I will go with Vitamin D. This one is a nice tool which offers great option to mange security with your webcam.

**alexferri** · 05-03-2012

1AVMonitor is also great for webcam surveillance specially because it delivers real time video over the network. It has motion detection and FTP upload as well as a personal web server password protected that gives access to pictures taken and live-video.