I've been using Indigo with SecuritySpy and have received many triggers due to changes in lighting conditions, bugs on window...etc. Right now I'm using the sensor in my camera which is a Panasonic BL-C131A.

I have an Insteon Motion/Occupancy Sensor on my back door and get very few false triggers.

I would imagine that there are Indigo users using this sensor to trigger their camera using SecuritySpy. It would be great to hear from those doing just that and how they set it up.

Thanks!

Agreed, the built in motion sensing is frustrating. In SecSpy I turn on motion detection but put the sensitivity to 0%. In Indigo I have a trigger for receiving the Insteon command from the motion detector, the Action runs an AppleScript (as file and not embedded)

Code: Select all

tell application "SecuritySpy"
   set motion camera name "Front Door Cam"
end tell

This works well. But, on my to-do list is some error checking, is the cam online or what if SecSpy times out. I have a USB cam that's a bit flakey and SecSpy either can't find it or even becomes unresponsive. Anyone want to add to this?

Here's a copy of my script. I use it to email me images when I am away from home. You will have to create a folder to save the images and modify this script with the folder address, and your own email address. I don't think this script will work on OS X 10.5 or earlier.

tell application "SecuritySpy"
capture image camera number 0 as "/Users/username/Desktop/SecuritySpyimage.jpg" overwrite yes
end tell

set theSubject to "Daily Motion Detection"
set theSender to "home"
set theContent to "File Attached" & return & return
set theAddress to "username@gmail.com"
set theAttachment to "/Users/username/Desktop/SecuritySpyimage.jpg"

tell application "Mail"
set theMessage to make new outgoing message with properties {subject:theSubject, content:theContent, sender:theSender}

tell theMessage
set visible to true
make new to recipient at end of to recipients with properties {address:theAddress}
make new attachment with properties {file name:theAttachment} at after the last paragraph
end tell
send theMessage
end tell

I'm curious to hear how you're getting the motion sensor in the Panasonic to trigger an external event. I haven't figured that out, yet.

I played around with the camera detecting motion via Security Spy, and that triggering actions, but I learned very quickly how futile it is to expect the camera to reliably view a scene without giving false triggers. Light changes from a car driving down the road would trigger events. That's when I moved to triggering events with the motion sensors and not the cameras.

At this point, I have a "security" mode for the INSTEON network. When I set the house to "secure" mode, Indigo tells Security Spy to launch and all cameras stay in passive mode until motion is detected by motion sensors or doors/windows are opened with the triggerlincs. When motion is detected, the system sets all cameras to active mode with a 35%-50% sensitivity (depending on camera and location). Indigo also sends me an alert via SMS and email, letting me know where the security "breach" occurred. I can then log in remotely and check the video images. Just for added effect, Indigo activates AirFoil to access all Macs and Airport Expresses (think AirTunes/AirPlay) in order to play an alarm sound.

The system went nuts one day when I was on vacation and I forgot to cancel the cleaning lady. I'm sure she wasn't thrilled with the alarm, but the system worked like a charm and I was notified right away.

dshj wrote:I'm curious to hear how you're getting the motion sensor in the Panasonic to trigger an external event. I haven't figured that out, yet.

I played around with the camera detecting motion via Security Spy, and that triggering actions, but I learned very quickly how futile it is to expect the camera to reliably view a scene without giving false triggers. Light changes from a car driving down the road would trigger events. That's when I moved to triggering events with the motion sensors and not the cameras.

At this point, I have a "security" mode for the INSTEON network. When I set the house to "secure" mode, Indigo tells Security Spy to launch and all cameras stay in passive mode until motion is detected by motion sensors or doors/windows are opened with the triggerlincs. When motion is detected, the system sets all cameras to active mode with a 35%-50% sensitivity (depending on camera and location). Indigo also sends me an alert via SMS and email, letting me know where the security "breach" occurred. I can then log in remotely and check the video images. Just for added effect, Indigo activates AirFoil to access all Macs and Airport Expresses (think AirTunes/AirPlay) in order to play an alarm sound.

The system went nuts one day when I was on vacation and I forgot to cancel the cleaning lady. I'm sure she wasn't thrilled with the alarm, but the system worked like a charm and I was notified right away.

If you haven't, take a look at the Indigo Security Script... v4 of the Security script adds support for action groups. So when a security event occurs, you can trigger an action group... So the owner can configure whatever actions they want and isn't limited to an single action....

Now when Indigo 5 is released, I expect that I will be making changes, but the core concepts, will remain... Including the Action group functionality... I am really looking forward to rewriting it in Python instead of Applescript.

Hi guys,
Reading this, you guys seem to know what you're doing. I set up the AppleScript like you said, to "set motion" in SecuritySpy, and it works. (after Indigo gets the trigger from the door sensor or motion sensor) The only problem I have is I need the script to tell SSpy to set motion for 30 seconds.
Right now SSpy only makes a 9 second video, and I need it to record for 30 seconds before stopping. There is nothing in SSpy to set the duration of the recording based upon a motion trigger.
Thank You in advance!

thomasw wrote:Hi guys,
Reading this, you guys seem to know what you're doing. I set up the AppleScript like you said, to "set motion" in SecuritySpy, and it works. (after Indigo gets the trigger from the door sensor or motion sensor) The only problem I have is I need the script to tell SSpy to set motion for 30 seconds.
Right now SSpy only makes a 9 second video, and I need it to record for 30 seconds before stopping. There is nothing in SSpy to set the duration of the recording based upon a motion trigger.
Thank You in advance!

In Security Spy, go to Settings and Camera Setup. Select the Camera from the pull-down. On the "Motion Capture" tab, change your pre or post capture settings. That should allow you to capture video for 30 seconds before stopping.

Thank You for your quick reply DSHJ, that did it perfectly.
I can't believe I didn't figure that out myself.....
I also read your post on how you set up your cameras with trigger lincs and motion detectors. I love the part about scaring your cleaning lady!
I'm still fine tuning my setup, but it is very similar to what you did. Thanks again for the help and ideas.
-T

Being new to this business, I am still having trouble getting SecuritySpy to work with Indigo. The application is in a mountain cabin 90 miles away, where I have a 350mz G4 tower running 10.4, and connected to an UPS. I have Indigo working thru the reflector, and have great control over furnace, lights and appliances using my ipod. However, I need video, and need to add some temperature measurements that are beyond the Venstar thermostat. So far, I have set up a remote lamp beside a display that shows temperatures, and have SecuritySpy set to send me a picture when the (isight) camera that's aimed at the display sees motion. The light triggers the motion, the camera takes a photo, and SecuritySpy emails me the picture. It works great, but is not very elegant. I need to be able to get SecuritySpy and Indigo tied together in a way I can understand, so I can see video when I want, and can use Indigo devices to trigger cameras. There are bits and pieces in the forums, but not a total solution I can find, and I'm afraid of destroying what control I have now if I dig too deep into the networking.

S4Quattro wrote:Being new to this business, I am still having trouble getting SecuritySpy to work with Indigo. The application is in a mountain cabin 90 miles away, where I have a 350mz G4 tower running 10.4, and connected to an UPS. I have Indigo working thru the reflector, and have great control over furnace, lights and appliances using my ipod. However, I need video, and need to add some temperature measurements that are beyond the Venstar thermostat. So far, I have set up a remote lamp beside a display that shows temperatures, and have SecuritySpy set to send me a picture when the (isight) camera that's aimed at the display sees motion. The light triggers the motion, the camera takes a photo, and SecuritySpy emails me the picture. It works great, but is not very elegant. I need to be able to get SecuritySpy and Indigo tied together in a way I can understand, so I can see video when I want, and can use Indigo devices to trigger cameras. There are bits and pieces in the forums, but not a total solution I can find, and I'm afraid of destroying what control I have now if I dig too deep into the networking.

Anything security wise, can be handled by the Indigo Security Script (http://www.schollnick.net/wordpress/hom ... ty-script/ ). Now, currently it is a bit of work to use the security script, since it is in Applescript, and you have to customize the script...

But, when v5 rolls around, I expect that I will be able to rewrite it to use the new plugin system. And that will greatly simplify the use of the security script.


- Benjamin

[quote="S4Quattro"]Being new to this business, I am still having trouble getting SecuritySpy to work with Indigo. /quote]

If you call up Security Spy's web interface you can embed Indigo's information in this web page. This is a simple hack using iframes.
See a mock up of an attached screen shot.

There is some configuration to do get this working. 1) Opening up your router port - I ssh to the Indigo/Security Spy Mac. 2) Creating html markup that is served up by the Security Spy web server.

Hello lalisingh,

If your time permits would you please explain how you used iframes to achieve this hack.

T.I.A.

T-Power wrote:Hello lalisingh,

If your time permits would you please explain how you used iframes to achieve this hack.

T.I.A.

Below is the html source for two cameras and the top level page returned by Indigo.

Place this html file in document>security spy>web folder. This folder structure is created when you install Security Spy.

If this html file is named cameraWithHA.html then type in browser (assuming you are on same machine as Security Spy)

http://localhost:8000/camerawithHA.html

I have included inline CSS so you can really change the look.

I had to use Safari running in 32 bit mode. The Java applet would not run in 64 bit mode.

Code: Select all

<html>
<head>
<style type="text/css">
/* basic elements */
html {
   margin: 0;
   padding: 0;
   }
body {
   font: 75% georgia, sans-serif;
   line-height: 1.88889;
   color: #555753;
   background-color:#080002;
   margin: 0;
   padding: 0;
   width:1300px;
   }
p {
   margin-top: 0;
   text-align: justify;
   }
h1 {
   font: italic normal 1.4em georgia, sans-serif;
   letter-spacing: 1px;
   margin-bottom: 25;
   color: #7D775C;
   }
a:link {
   font-weight: bold;
   text-decoration: none;
   color: #B7A5DF;
   }
a:visited {
   font-weight: bold;
   text-decoration: none;
   color: #D4CDDC;
   }
a:hover, a:active {
   text-decoration: underline;
   color: #9685BA;
   }
input.groovybutton
{
   background-color:#7D775C;
   border-style:outset;
   font: .9em Zapf Dingbats;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1>
Live View
</h1>
<applet code="CamViewerApplet" archive="CamViewerApplet.jar" width=640 height=480>
<param name="CameraNum" value="0">
<param name="Codec" value="jpeg">
</applet>
<applet code="CamViewerApplet" archive="CamViewerApplet.jar" width=640 height=480>
<param name="CameraNum" value="1">
<param name="Codec" value="jpeg">
</applet>
<table width="95%" border="0">
<tr>
<td>
<form name="form2" method="post" action="++download">
<input type="hidden" name="cameraNum" maxlength="1" size="1" value="0">
<!-- Choose the type of image file. this should be m -->
<input type="hidden" name="fileTypeMenu" maxlength="1" size="1" value="m">
<!-- Show last 7 days of history -->
<input type="hidden" name="ageText" maxlength="1" size="1" value="7">
For ceiling mounted camera history click
<input name="submit" class="groovybutton" type="submit" value='&#10144'>
</form>
</td>
<td>
<form name="form3" method="post" action="++download">
<input type="hidden" name="cameraNum" maxlength="1" size="1" value="1">
<!-- Choose the type of image file. this should be m -->
<input type="hidden" name="fileTypeMenu" maxlength="1" size="1" value="m">
<!-- Show last 7 days of history -->
<input type="hidden" name="ageText" maxlength="1" size="1" value="7">
For wall mounted camera history click
<input name="submit" class="groovybutton" type="submit" value="&#10144">
</form>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<iframe src="http://localhost:8176" width="100%" height="600">
  <p>Your browser does not support iframes.</p>
</iframe>
</body>
</html>

Hello dear lalisingh,

Thank you so very much for taking time out of your schedule to assist.
Very much appreciated!

With every bit of knowledge gained here I will soon be able to share just as you are.

You Rock!

Matt wrote:Here's a copy of my script. I use it to email me images when I am away from home. You will have to create a folder to save the images and modify this script with the folder address, and your own email address. I don't think this script will work on OS X 10.5 or earlier.

tell application "SecuritySpy"
capture image camera number 0 as "/Users/username/Desktop/SecuritySpyimage.jpg" overwrite yes
end tell

set theSubject to "Daily Motion Detection"
set theSender to "home"
set theContent to "File Attached" & return & return
set theAddress to "username@gmail.com"
set theAttachment to "/Users/username/Desktop/SecuritySpyimage.jpg"

tell application "Mail"
set theMessage to make new outgoing message with properties {subject:theSubject, content:theContent, sender:theSender}

tell theMessage
set visible to true
make new to recipient at end of to recipients with properties {address:theAddress}
make new attachment with properties {file name:theAttachment} at after the last paragraph
end tell
send theMessage
end tell

Hello Matt and Everyone,

Has anyone had any success with modifying the above script to record a few minutes of video and than send it to your cell phone/computer via SMS or email?
The above script works great for sending images! Wanted to see what the creative options are in terms of receiving a 5sec to 10sec .mov file.

T.I.A.