Nick321 0 Posted April 27, 2015 Hey everyone! I'm new to all this CCTV stuff, and I'd like some advice or comments. If I'm doing something stupid, please tell me! What I'm planning is nothing fancy at all. Just one camera, recording to a laptop (it will be that laptop's only function). I'd like some advice regarding the software that I should be using. I've just purchased a surveillance camera, along with a video capture card, to monitor the street outside my house. There was a software that came along the video capture card, but it's pretty basic. I'd like to know, is there a software that can record to different formats? The one I got only does MPG, and the file size is much bigger than I expected... if it's impossible to record into other formats, I'll have to replace the laptop's hdd with a bigger one. 2nd question: Ideally I'd like to leave the camera on at all times. But if nothing suspicious takes place, I don't need to keep the videos for very long. So is there a software that you can set to record for, say, 24 hours, and then, every 24 hours, it continues recording, but it records over the beginning of the video? That way, I would always have a recording of the most recent 24 hours, without wasting space to record longer than that. Free software would be best, but if there's one that does everything I need, I'd gladly pay for it! Thanks! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Boogieman 1 Posted April 27, 2015 Hey everyone! I'm new to all this CCTV stuff, and I'd like some advice or comments. If I'm doing something stupid, please tell me! What I'm planning is nothing fancy at all. Just one camera, recording to a laptop (it will be that laptop's only function). I'd like some advice regarding the software that I should be using. I've just purchased a surveillance camera, along with a video capture card, to monitor the street outside my house. There was a software that came along the video capture card, but it's pretty basic. I'd like to know, is there a software that can record to different formats? The one I got only does MPG, and the file size is much bigger than I expected... if it's impossible to record into other formats, I'll have to replace the laptop's hdd with a bigger one. 2nd question: Ideally I'd like to leave the camera on at all times. But if nothing suspicious takes place, I don't need to keep the videos for very long. So is there a software that you can set to record for, say, 24 hours, and then, every 24 hours, it continues recording, but it records over the beginning of the video? That way, I would always have a recording of the most recent 24 hours, without wasting space to record longer than that. Free software would be best, but if there's one that does everything I need, I'd gladly pay for it! Thanks! ispy its free if you dont need remote viewing or alerts (charge for remote viewing and alerts)... blue iris 60 Milestone xprotect go These might not work with your capture device.. Next time go with an HD ip camera, the picture will be better and it will be easier to integrate with the pc..not need for capture card.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nick321 0 Posted April 27, 2015 Got it! I will try those and hope they will work with what I bought! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SunnyKim 2 Posted April 27, 2015 You may check out a USB DVR, pricing around U$20, on the alibaba, amazon, or ebay. They are based on H.264 Software Compression. Analog cameras are around U$15, there. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
