Need some help from you guys....

Nutster_98 · Post by **Nutster_98** » Tue Nov 27, 2001 2:32 am

Here recently I have been the victim of a thief in my neighborhood. This person (I have an idea who it may be) has come onto my back porch and stole a 50lb bag of Ol Roy dogfood. I know this sounds stupid but it is really true. The first time it happened was last Wednesday night (while I was at work from 3pm-11:30pm) and made me so friggin mad that I didn't know what to do. So I have talked with my other neighbors and it seems that one of them has had some stuff come up missing also, so apparantly I am not the only victim. Anyway, I bought another sack on Friday and guess what??.....when I got home from work tonight it was gone also! It's not the idea of the dogfood, hell I would probably have bought him a sack, but it's the feeling of my security being violated. In fact, I even have a loaded pistol sitting here with me right now and it's all I can do to keep from going over to his house and pistol whipping his ass. What I need to do is to catch him in the act, then I can present the evidence to him and let him know he has one week to get off my street before the cops are involved. Anyway, here is my idea.......I could set up a webcam to monitor my back porch, I would need approx. a 25ft. USB extension and have to leave my computer on. But wouldn't a 8.5hr webcam feed be huge? I have never done any video with a webcam, so I don't have a clue. Maybe if one of you guys have some ideas you could give me some advice. I would like to use a webcam (cause I have one) and don't even know if you could run a 25ft USB extension and the camera would still work. Anyway, thanks for hearing me out and just maybe you can help me catch this bastard,

Nut

Korgun · Post by **Korgun** » Tue Nov 27, 2001 5:29 am

a sign would work pretty much just as well

"Hi there dear neighborhood robber, you might wonder why this sign is here, it's perfectly natural to wonder, it could be to have incriminating evidence, as you read this sign i have took 8 pictures of you, if you don't A) Leave money to cover the stuff you have stolen from me within an hour or B) Returned my stuff I will call the cops on you"

EvilHorace · Post by **EvilHorace** » Tue Nov 27, 2001 7:00 am

http://www.x10.com/home/offer.cgi?!TTAB3,../techtoysab3.htm
I get pop-ups from this place at my RR home page and some of the stuff looks cool but I so far havent needed it, can't justify it.
In your case, I'd look into it.

Years ago at my old house I had a problem with some freak who'ld distroy a small tree that I'd plant in only one area (of many) in my front yard, did this a few times. I too had a nieghbor suspect but couldn't prove it. I used a more primative method but it worked, I put a motion sensor w dual flood lights in the area where this was happening, plus I had the motion sensor also turning on an interior light and alarm so I'd see and hear whenever the motion sensor went off. I even slept on the floor (wasn't near our BR) with a camera for a few nights just in case the suspect dared to still show up. After doing that, nothing happened, the guilty person never had the guts to try it again.
That nieghborhood wasn't all that great, were several kid gangs, etc so I had several motion sensors by doors, etc. I'm glad I havent had the need at this place.

vwkess · Post by **vwkess** » Tue Nov 27, 2001 7:32 am

Thats sucks

I'm not sure how long a USB patch can be off hand. I thought I saw a usb camera package that would start recording when it sensed motion in a catalog (I think it could also email you). I'll see if I can dig it up.

EDIT: Here's the link: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... =P450-7503
And here is some info on USB cable length: http://support.dell.com/us/en/kb/docume ... DN=1013571

Nutster_98 · Post by **Nutster_98** » Tue Nov 27, 2001 7:41 am

Some good solutions guys, probably what pisses me off the most is that I live in the best neighborhood in a very small town. Most of my neighbors are older folk and I like to think that I watch out for them. You can guarantee that this will all unravel this week and when it does I will try to post the footage for y'all to see. Keep the ideas coming and thanks,

Nut

tyler_durden · Post by **tyler_durden** » Tue Nov 27, 2001 9:40 am

what you can do is just put a video camera in your house and have it visible from the back yard. even if there is not tape in there, the person will think twice before they take anything.

RubberDuckie · Post by **RubberDuckie** » Tue Nov 27, 2001 10:14 am

I have used WebCAMs to take Time delay pictures of my LAN Party.
8 hours made a 200Megs file.
that is one picture ever 5 seconds at 480 res.
It is a logitech and I use the software that came with it.
Also I was using a 12ft. USB extension and the webcam already had 6ft. on it.
I would hang the camera from the celing so I needed the extra length.

I hope that helps... Basically yes you can do it (and I would)
There is software that will monitor the webcam and only take a picture when movement is detected, but I have never personall used it.

Catch the bastard. Nothing lower then taking another mans personal belongings.

wvjohn · Post by **wvjohn** » Tue Nov 27, 2001 10:19 am

i know there is a limit on usb length, but if you inserted a powered hub in the chain i'm sure it would help

bear trap? one of those motion detector thingies you can screw into a regular light socket? cinderblock hanging from the ceiling?

what a pain

RubberDuckie · Post by **RubberDuckie** » Tue Nov 27, 2001 10:21 am

BTW converted to Divx it came out to 11megs

Here is an example of what Im talking about:

Grab it here

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Need some help from you guys....

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