Mac compatable webcam for home surveillance?
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Jean S. Barto - 02 Mar 2005 04:15 GMT I'm having some firewood pilfered/stolen from my two woodpiles, and I'd like to catch the folks who are doing it in the act. It's happening in the evening while I'm at a night class--for example, I noticed my front firewood pile, near my garage door, about 18 inches lower than it was earlier this morning. My larger wood pile on the side of my house also is lower than earlier this week. I don't have a fence around my yard, so whoever is doing it has easy access to where the wood is stored.
Do any of you know of any reasonably priced Mac compatible webcams that I can get and hook up for this type of surveillance? I'd really prefer having something Mac compatible, because I have the iMovie software on my iMac and it would be very easy to save and edit it as required.
Thanks in advance,
Jean in VA
Lawrence Glickman - 02 Mar 2005 04:48 GMT >I'm having some firewood pilfered/stolen from my two woodpiles, and I'd like >to catch the folks who are doing it in the act. It's happening in the [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > >Jean in VA I know nothing about Mac, but I've seen infrared surveillance cameras. Or consider putting a motion detector activated light out over the wood piles, and have that turn on a vcr / or camcorder at the same time.
Lg
Joakim Wendel - 02 Mar 2005 23:35 GMT Anyway... (i hate violence) There is a software called EvoCam that will do it, it works with most USB cams (and Firewire cams too) if you use a "driver" from IOXperts. You can find the software at versiontracker.com and the cams all over ...
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myal - 02 Mar 2005 07:12 GMT > I'm having some firewood pilfered/stolen from my two woodpiles, and I'd like > to catch the folks who are doing it in the act. It's happening in the [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > Jean in VA Dont worry with webcam , booby trap the fire wood .
Use your imagination , a drill , some catridges....
Done good enough , they wont have a heate to burn it in anymore
Stormin Mormon - 02 Mar 2005 14:25 GMT I was thinking some small holes, and then powdered sulphur.
 Signature Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus www.lds.org www.mormons.com
Dont worry with webcam , booby trap the fire wood .
Use your imagination , a drill , some catridges....
Done good enough , they wont have a heate to burn it in anymore
Don Bruder - 02 Mar 2005 16:30 GMT > I was thinking some small holes, and then powdered sulphur. Ah, yes... And expose yourself to liability out the wazzooo...
Y'see, here in Amerika, the crook who rips you off is entitled to sue your socks off should what he steals cause him harm. And worse, said crooks have filed those suits, *AND WON*.
Blowing up somebody's fireplace is justice at it's finest, no disputing that. But it isn't much in the satisfaction department when the slimebag who stole your booby-trapped firewood and blew his house to hell has a lien on every nickel you'll make for the next hundred years because of your booby-trap...
If you want to be buying Bubba's prison groceries until he dies of old age, go for it... Drill a few hole, stuff a few rounds of ammo, or a few ounces of magnesium, sulphur, or similar into 'em, and wait for the resulting ruckus. But don't be at all surprised when Freddie the firewood thief fingers you as the cause of his injuries - In a who-knows-how-many-million-dollar lawsuit. And be even less surprised when the judge in the case rules against you, and to add insult to injury, files some criminal charges against you for the illegal "man trap" you created...
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Gunner - 02 Mar 2005 17:04 GMT >> I was thinking some small holes, and then powdered sulphur. > [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] >injury, files some criminal charges against you for the illegal "man >trap" you created... The typical firewood thief hits more than one place usually, based on my experience. It would appear to me that he would have to prove it was your wood, you had booby trapped it and so forth. For all you know..someone may have booby trapped wood and intended it for you, and the thief got it instead.
Admit nothing. Remove any evidence of the deed. Let them make the case..or try. Wide eyed innocence is the key.
In the mean time...the thief is fingered or fooked.
Gunner Rule #35 "That which does not kill you, has made a huge tactical error"
Don Bruder - 02 Mar 2005 18:19 GMT > The typical firewood thief hits more than one place usually, based on > my experience. It would appear to me that he would have to prove it > was your wood, you had booby trapped it and so forth. For all you Ahhh, but you're forgetting a crucial concept, Gunner, m'lad...
It only has to be proven "beyond a reasonable doubt" in criminal cases.
In civil cases, "proof" is a lot more lenient.
You want a prime example?
OJ Simpson's results:
Criminal verdict? Not guilty. You're free to go. Have a nice day. Civil judgement? "Your a.s belongs the plaintiffs from now to eternity or until you cough up whatever-the-number-was dollars. Have a nice day."
> know..someone may have booby trapped wood and intended it for you, and > the thief got it instead. In a civil case, the wood coming from your woodpile is good enough - Nobody cares who put it there, who built the booby-trap, or anything else. It came from your woodpile, so you're the "guilty" (Errr... sorry, in a civil case, you're "responsible", not "guilty"....) party.
Only someone too stupid to continue breathing without illustrated instructions would say anything about ripping off you *AND* George down the street *AND* Bill across town *AND* Joe just outside the city limits *AND* Bob next door in such a lawsuit... "Well, yes, your honor, I did rip off the defendant's woodpile. No sir, nobody else's. His was the only one I ever stole from, so that's the only place the bullets in the logs could have come from."
> Admit nothing. Remove any evidence of the deed. Let them make the > case..or try. Wide eyed innocence is the key. Let's see... 10 .308 rounds went off and blew the sh.t out of Freddie's house... Freddie claims that yours is the only woodpile he pilfered. So your place gets searched (to fulfill Freddie's subpeona), and your .308 is found, along with a box of shells for it that has 10 missing. Not admissable in criminal court, sure. But for a civil case? Circumstantial evidence *IS* admissable in civil cases most of the time. You better damn well believe you're going to take the fall...
Is this "right"? Hardly. But it *IS* reality under the "He who has the most to spend on a lawyer wins" legal system we're currently saddled with.
Regardless of the legal end of things, booby-trapping a woodpile is just plain stupid. Ignore questions of liability, and start thinking in terms of common sense - How are you going to avoid shoving that log into the furnace yourself? You can't very well mark it visibly - That would give it away to the bad guy. And I can tell you from experience that unless you're some kind of nutbar that holds personal conversations with 'em to get aquainted with each and every stick of wood on the pile, one looks exactly like the next when it's been more than 5 minutes since you last eyeballed it. Or what if Wifey, who isn't privy to the trap, goes out for a load of firewood? Or the "Gunnerlets"? Betcha they don't know which one has the ammo buried in it, either. And I'd bet my left nut that a houseguest, trying to lend a hand/earn his keep, wouldn't have a clue which log was trapped, and stand just as good a chance as "Freddie" of grabbing it in an armload of wood.
The point is, booby-traps are illegal for a reason: There's no way to know who's going to fall victim to them. It might be the intended target, it might be your kid, your wife, or your relative, or even *YOU*. They're non-selective. I don't know about anybody else, but I've failed to figure out a way to teach a trap the difference between "the good guy" and "the bad guy" and "the innocent bystander" who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. They'll trigger for any of them, with absolutely zero concern for who/what might be in "the kill zone" beyond "It's there! Hit it!"
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Gunner - 03 Mar 2005 06:39 GMT >Let's see... 10 .308 rounds went off and blew the sh.t out of Freddie's >house... Freddie claims that yours is the only woodpile he pilfered. So [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] >evidence *IS* admissable in civil cases most of the time. You better >damn well believe you're going to take the fall... Ah..Don? Only an idiot would leave such evidence in their own custody. And only an idiot would use ammunition for such a booby trap. While it might make an interesting series of pops..it would cause virtually no damage to a fireplace, let alone a house.
There are far far better things to use in such a sceanario..the least of all being the magnesium deck from an old lawn mower..or pieces there in. None of which are easily traceable back to the wood owner. <EG>
Please be aware you are cross posting into misc.survivalism...and the folks tend to be not your usual run of mac nerds....
Ill refrain from going into greater detail..but the contents of the area under your kitchen sink will supply the ingredients for much better things than stuffing some cartridges into a log.
Gunner
Rule #35 "That which does not kill you, has made a huge tactical error"
Gunner - 03 Mar 2005 06:46 GMT >The point is, booby-traps are illegal for a reason: There's no way to >know who's going to fall victim to them. It might be the intended [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] >any of them, with absolutely zero concern for who/what might be in "the >kill zone" beyond "It's there! Hit it!" Of course. The thief might even sell the wood on the open market. Such has happened before. Rare..but does happen.
I agree..that video evidence is best, or even a good well planned stakeout where the perp is caught redhanded is even better.
On the other hand..there could be a certain amount of personal satisfaction in having a aluminum and iron filing filled log (with a bit of magnesium) tossed into the fireplace of the thief.
Or other contents with a bit more..ah...brisance.
Gunner
Rule #35 "That which does not kill you, has made a huge tactical error"
Don Bruder - 03 Mar 2005 15:34 GMT > >The point is, booby-traps are illegal for a reason: There's no way to > >know who's going to fall victim to them. It might be the intended [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > satisfaction in having a aluminum and iron filing filled log (with a > bit of magnesium) tossed into the fireplace of the thief. Ahhh... Another fan of homebrew thermite, I see :)
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H L. Falls - 02 Mar 2005 19:30 GMT >>> I was thinking some small holes, and then powdered sulphur. >> [quoted text clipped - 35 lines] >"That which does not kill you, > has made a huge tactical error" I've known folks to drive through a neighborhood with a pickup load of wood, knocking on doors until they find a buyer...
If you could guarantee that the thief were stealing it for his own use I'd say boobytrap away, but what if you blow up someone who just happened to buy a load of firewood from the wrong person?
--Landon
myal - 02 Mar 2005 22:06 GMT >>>>I was thinking some small holes, and then powdered sulphur. >>> [quoted text clipped - 46 lines] > > --Landon It'd be a while before they needed to buy stolen property again .
Stormin Mormon - 02 Mar 2005 22:29 GMT Reminds me of the time I knew a guy whose bicycle was stolen. He was fuming about how he'd pound the thief, the next guy came by on his bicycle was gonna get it.
I don't think he understood the concept of thieves selling stolen stuff to unsuspecting folks.
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I've known folks to drive through a neighborhood with a pickup load of wood, knocking on doors until they find a buyer...
If you could guarantee that the thief were stealing it for his own use I'd say boobytrap away, but what if you blow up someone who just happened to buy a load of firewood from the wrong person?
--Landon
myal - 02 Mar 2005 21:05 GMT >>I was thinking some small holes, and then powdered sulphur. > [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > injury, files some criminal charges against you for the illegal "man > trap" you created... Doesnt he have to prove you set the trap in the first place ?
There is strong possibility that it could have been ticked off firewood vendor supplying booie trapped firewood to dickhead customer , or the neighbourhood kids playing dillybuggers...
Whatever happened to the much vaunted innocnet till proven guilty crap that we hear ?
Don Bruder - 03 Mar 2005 03:48 GMT > >>I was thinking some small holes, and then powdered sulphur. > > [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > > Doesnt he have to prove you set the trap in the first place ? Not to file charges, he doesn't... Only to convict.
> There is strong possibility that it could have been ticked off firewood > vendor supplying booie trapped firewood to dickhead customer , or the > neighbourhood kids playing dillybuggers... > > Whatever happened to the much vaunted innocnet till proven guilty crap > that we hear ? It only counts in *CRIMINAL* cases. Civil cases have a much lower "standard of proof".
"Man traps" in any form are illegal everywhere in the US that I know about - Locally, a fellow put up signs (only signs - "Beware of spiked pit near garage door", "If this door is opened improperly shotgun will fire through door", and similar) warning of booby-traps on his property after a rash of thefts and vandalism. He was arrested within hours, and spent quite a bit of time and money before finally getting the charge dropped. Meanwhile, the vandals/thieves he was trying to scare off got away free as a bird...
Gotta love police priorities... Arrest a guy trying to protect his property within hours of him taking steps to do so, yet ignore the reports of theft and vandalism for days before sending someone out to take a statement/view the damage/etc... A classic case of the law being an a.s if ever I saw one.
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Stormin Mormon - 02 Mar 2005 22:21 GMT Are you related to my mother?
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In article <U1kVd.53884$nC5.7308@twister.nyroc.rr.com>, "Stormin Mormon" <cayoung61-#spamblock*-@hotmail.com> wrote:
> I was thinking some small holes, and then powdered sulphur. Ah, yes... And expose yourself to liability out the wazzooo...
Y'see, here in Amerika, the crook who rips you off is entitled to sue your socks off should what he steals cause him harm. And worse, said crooks have filed those suits, *AND WON*.
Blowing up somebody's fireplace is justice at it's finest, no disputing that. But it isn't much in the satisfaction department when the slimebag who stole your booby-trapped firewood and blew his house to hell has a lien on every nickel you'll make for the next hundred years because of your booby-trap...
If you want to be buying Bubba's prison groceries until he dies of old age, go for it... Drill a few hole, stuff a few rounds of ammo, or a few ounces of magnesium, sulphur, or similar into 'em, and wait for the resulting ruckus. But don't be at all surprised when Freddie the firewood thief fingers you as the cause of his injuries - In a who-knows-how-many-million-dollar lawsuit. And be even less surprised when the judge in the case rules against you, and to add insult to injury, files some criminal charges against you for the illegal "man trap" you created...
Spud Demon - 02 Mar 2005 14:38 GMT "Jean S. Barto" <jsbarto1@cox.net> writes in article <p6bVd.18260$Az.11095@lakeread02> dated Tue, 1 Mar 2005 23:15:42 -0500:
>I'm having some firewood pilfered/stolen from my two woodpiles, and I'd like >to catch the folks who are doing it in the act. It's happening in the [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] >earlier this week. I don't have a fence around my yard, so whoever is doing >it has easy access to where the wood is stored. Footprints in the snow...?
>Do any of you know of any reasonably priced Mac compatible webcams that I >can get and hook up for this type of surveillance? I'd really prefer having >something Mac compatible, because I have the iMovie software on my iMac and >it would be very easy to save and edit it as required. The iSight firewire camera would probably do; the hard part is the software. Apple makes it really difficult to use their SW for non-standard purposes (video capture SW for surveillance, in this case). Step 1 would be to find some software designed for surveillance, then find hardware which is compatible with the SW.
If you're considering Linux look at this: http://freshmeat.net/projects/lvs
I like the embedded-bullets idea, but you'll probably only get 1 chance at it before they start checking for holes. If they are burning the wood in your neighborhood you'll probably hear the explosions but if they are taking it away in a truck forget about it.
-- spud_demon -at- thundermaker.net The above may not (yet) represent the opinions of my employer.
Tufty - 02 Mar 2005 16:26 GMT > I'm having some firewood pilfered/stolen from my two woodpiles, and I'd like > to catch the folks who are doing it in the act. It's happening in the [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > Thanks in advance, Hello, Jean. I'm saddened to learn of your problem. 18" is a lot of wood off a face cord.
Are you familiar with a website called http://www.dealmac.com ?
Daily except Saturdays it lists currently available good deals on Mac-compatible hardware and software. I've seen webcams listed occasionally. It might be worth your while checking the listings once or twice a day for a week or two. In December, e.g., they had a 1st-generation iSight for $99.
I have found DealMac's deals to be valid and appealing and have bought many items through a dealmac referral.
Also you might Google "Mac" and "webcam" and whatever OS you're using.
Wishing you success, Tufty
Loren Finkelstein - 02 Mar 2005 16:59 GMT > Are you familiar with a website called > http://www.dealmac.com [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > or twice a day for a week or two. In December, e.g., they had a > 1st-generation iSight for $99. Is there such a thing as a 2nd-generation iSight?
BreadWithSpam@fractious.net - 02 Mar 2005 17:55 GMT [Dealmac]
> > or twice a day for a week or two. In December, e.g., they had a > > 1st-generation iSight for $99. > > Is there such a thing as a 2nd-generation iSight? IIRC, they changed the mounting bracket that comes with it and thus the model number at some point.
 Signature Plain Bread alone for e-mail, thanks. The rest gets trashed. No HTML in E-Mail! -- http://www.expita.com/nomime.html Are you posting responses that are easy for others to follow? http://www.greenend.org.uk/rjk/2000/06/14/quoting
Lawrence Glickman - 02 Mar 2005 18:11 GMT > [Dealmac] >> > or twice a day for a week or two. In December, e.g., they had a [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >IIRC, they changed the mounting bracket that comes >with it and thus the model number at some point. Pour some fresh nitroglycerin pills into a piece of wood on the top. Make sure they're in a ziplock baggie to keep moisture out.
There will be no *evidence* left over when that one goes off.
Lg
Stormin Mormon - 02 Mar 2005 22:29 GMT It's my understanding that nitro pills aren't explosive. At all. But, it's a cute idea.
 Signature Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus www.lds.org www.mormons.com
"Lawrence Glickman" <Lawrence_Glickman@comcast.net> wrote in message
Pour some fresh nitroglycerin pills into a piece of wood on the top. Make sure they're in a ziplock baggie to keep moisture out.
There will be no *evidence* left over when that one goes off.
Lg
Lawrence Glickman - 03 Mar 2005 01:53 GMT >It's my understanding that nitro pills aren't explosive. At all. But, it's a >cute idea. I haven't tried the experiment, but I have nitro patches and liquid ( for my heart ) up the wazzoo. So if I want to do an experiment, it will be outdoors this summer in the backyard bar-b-q grill ;-)
I highly suspect that said grill will become disintegrated, with maybe just the wheels left in my yard, if that much.
The dose equivalent is 0.4 micrograms times 200. Is that enough to do anything? If what I read on the "net" is accurate, is enough to level a -house-. A guy who supposedly tossed 2 nitro pills into his fireplace turned it into dust, IIRC.
This idea needs some personal testing, in a hole built to direct the BLAST upwards instead of taking out my new windows and knocking down a wall ;0
Lg
Tim May - 03 Mar 2005 02:27 GMT > The dose equivalent is 0.4 micrograms times 200. Is that enough to do > anything? If what I read on the "net" is accurate, is enough to level > a -house-. A guy who supposedly tossed 2 nitro pills into his > fireplace turned it into dust, IIRC. 0.4 micrograms times 200 is still less than a milligram.
A stick of dynamite, made partly of nitroglycerine, is around a 100-200 grams. So you are less than this by a factor of 100,000.
The math is clear.
--Tim May
Stormin Mormon - 03 Mar 2005 03:23 GMT From what I've heard, nitro needs a shock wave to detonate it. For example, nitro soaked into somthing or other (can't remember what) makes dynamite. Dynamite can be thrown into a fire without exploding, it needs blasting caps.
As for the two nitro tabs throw into a fireplace, I really doubt that. But, if you can find it ont he web, I'd love a URL.
If they were that explosive, you really think the Fed would allow seniors to carry bottles of them in their pants pockets?
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On Wed, 02 Mar 2005 22:29:33 GMT, "Stormin Mormon" <cayoung61-#spamblock*-@hotmail.com> wrote:
>It's my understanding that nitro pills aren't explosive. At all. But, it's a >cute idea. I haven't tried the experiment, but I have nitro patches and liquid ( for my heart ) up the wazzoo. So if I want to do an experiment, it will be outdoors this summer in the backyard bar-b-q grill ;-)
I highly suspect that said grill will become disintegrated, with maybe just the wheels left in my yard, if that much.
The dose equivalent is 0.4 micrograms times 200. Is that enough to do anything? If what I read on the "net" is accurate, is enough to level a -house-. A guy who supposedly tossed 2 nitro pills into his fireplace turned it into dust, IIRC.
This idea needs some personal testing, in a hole built to direct the BLAST upwards instead of taking out my new windows and knocking down a wall ;0
Lg
Don Bruder - 03 Mar 2005 04:33 GMT > From what I've heard, nitro needs a shock wave to detonate it. For example, > nitro soaked into somthing or other (can't remember what) makes dynamite. "Something" in this case equals plain ol' clay originally, nowdays, though, it might be anything from sawdust to cornmeal.
> Dynamite can be thrown into a fire without exploding, it needs blasting > caps. Yep - No cap, no boom. Disposal of old/excess/unwanted/confiscated/otherwise "needs to be got rid of" dynamite is routinely done by pitching it into a fire. No muss, no fuss, no bother. And no "boom".
> As for the two nitro tabs throw into a fireplace, I really doubt that. As you should. The bullshit meter not only pegs on that one, it wraps around the peg several dozen times.
> if you can find it ont he web, I'd love a URL. You're not going to get one, for the simple reason that no such thing (or anything even remotely like the scenario described) has ever occurred outside of somebody's overactive imagination.
> If they were that explosive, you really think the Fed would allow seniors to > carry bottles of them in their pants pockets? A nitro pill (or even a whole bottle of them) is at least as stable as a typical marble or ball-bearing. Maybe more stable, if any radioactive material somehow got into the melt that turned out the marble or bearing...
 Signature Don Bruder - dakidd@sonic.net - New Email policy in effect as of Feb. 21, 2004. Short form: I'm trashing EVERY E-mail that doesn't contain a password in the subject unless it comes from a "whitelisted" (pre-approved by me) address. See <http://www.sonic.net/~dakidd/main/contact.html> for full details.
Gunner - 03 Mar 2005 06:50 GMT >Yep - No cap, no boom. Disposal of >old/excess/unwanted/confiscated/otherwise "needs to be got rid of" >dynamite is routinely done by pitching it into a fire. No muss, no fuss, >no bother. And no "boom". Ah...unless the dynamite has been frozen.
Gunner
Rule #35 "That which does not kill you, has made a huge tactical error"
Gunner - 03 Mar 2005 06:50 GMT >> If they were that explosive, you really think the Fed would allow seniors to >> carry bottles of them in their pants pockets? [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] >material somehow got into the melt that turned out the marble or >bearing... Quite true.
Gunner
Rule #35 "That which does not kill you, has made a huge tactical error"
Stormin Mormon - 04 Mar 2005 02:28 GMT Ah, graphic and descriptive both. Thank you.
 Signature Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus www.lds.org www.mormons.com
> As for the two nitro tabs throw into a fireplace, I really doubt that. As you should. The bullshit meter not only pegs on that one, it wraps around the peg several dozen times.
Willcox - 03 Mar 2005 03:17 GMT > ....because I have the iMovie software on my iMac and > it would be very easy to save and edit it as required. Which means it is not so useful as evidence in a criminal trial. Why not just use an ordinary VCR and a hidden camera?
Jean S. Barto - 03 Mar 2005 04:40 GMT I guess I'm not at all familiar with how I would set any of this up--I'm not mechanically inclined, and I must admit that I don't want to go overboard price-wise on setting things up.
I *do* have a Dell laptop from 1999, and I guess I could do the wireless webcam thing using the PC, but I really prefer doing it from the iMac.
Thanks for the suggestions, and I'll let you know what else happens with this--
Jean in VA
> > ....because I have the iMovie software on my iMac and > > it would be very easy to save and edit it as required. > > Which means it is not so useful as evidence in a criminal trial. Why not > just use an ordinary VCR and a hidden camera? Kerry S - 03 Mar 2005 05:03 GMT I do this using a "floodcam" from X10, which provide a floodlight when motion is detected. The floodlight camera was pretty cheap, watch their site for weekly sales. It's really necessary for night shots - the low light cams aren't really that good.
For software, I use SecuritySpy, which I think is really terrific. Go to http://securityspy.com/
> I'm having some firewood pilfered/stolen from my two woodpiles, and I'd like > to catch the folks who are doing it in the act. It's happening in the [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > Jean in VA Bob G - 04 Mar 2005 10:52 GMT >I'm having some firewood pilfered/stolen from my two woodpiles, and I'd like >to catch the folks who are doing it in the act. It's happening in the [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > >Jean in VA I have no clue about Mac compatible stuff.
However, FWIW, one of the things I deal with for a living is the design and installation of video surveillance equipment.
Might not matter in your case as likely all you'll end up doing is confronting theif, or calling cops who'll issue guy a minor misdemeanor citation.
But if you're thinking of trying for serious charges, where offender might get a lawyer. Courts DO NOT like "edited" video evidence. Not even a little bit.
One of the most common features demanded and wanted in the commercial systems we use and install, is a feature whereby recording equipment includes encrypted data in the video stream. Done in such a way that it can be shown that if encrypted data stream is intact and unbroken, it is "almost" impossible that anyone monkeyed with the video. As in editing it, altering, cutting out portions, and so forth. Encrypted stream includes periodic checksum data, time/date stamping, and so forth. Very hard to break or alter without it being immediately obvious.
Of course, that's for high end commercial surveillance systems. Where theft, damage, mischief is likely to be big bucks, and owner likely to be pressing for substantial charges and penalties.
But it's a good practice, if yah have video to be taken to court for evidence, to do nothing that would alter original recording. If judge detects that video has been monkeyed with, he may not allow it.
Bob
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