Suggestions on continuous video setup for capturing upcoming pool build?

[rawb]

I'd like to capture video of our pool build from start to finish and have been looking for most viable solution to accomplish it. Security cams such as Ring and Arlo don't seem to fit the bill because they only record when motion is sensed and only for a short time. I need something that will record continuously. If I had a good vantage point from an upstairs room in the house, I might could simply setup the home video camera with memory card storage that we have and dump video each night to my PC, but I don't really have a window like that. The only area that seems perfect is the large screened porch off the back of the house. I have easy access to its roof and eaves and the pitch is not severe. I have power outlets on that porch, but would have to somehow run an extension cord up to it if I were to mount a non-battery-powered cam on the eaves of that porch, etc. Any ideas anyone has would be greatly appreciated as we could be starting the project within a week.

Thanks!

 

[manoweb]

Hello. I've been doing something like that for all my backyard renovations.
It's not an easy task and as far as I know there are no "out of the box" ready solutions.

What I've been using is a modified GoPro, but it's still cumbersome.
GoPros are typically set at the factory to have a relatively close focal distance. Because most work in my yard was at around 20 meters from the camera position, I had to tear it apart and change the focus setting. There are videos on Youtube on how to perform this.

Now, a GoPro or any other "bettery powered" camera will not last a full working day even with a secondary extension pack (that I have). You must run an extension cord, or rig something like a huge external battery, that needs to be charged periodically anyway.

I installed the GoPro and command it with my tablet. Even in that case, you have to look on the web for the pirated, older version of the GoPro software, as the new one is cloud based and I have found impractical for a job like this. It will pop up to login in the cloud service at the worst time and because it needs a complicated password I guarantee you will lose some of the action. Also the tablet has to be physically close to the GoPro to work.

Every night you must remove the GoPro, extract the pictures from the SD card, and archive them on your PC and reinstall the GoPro for the next day.

You can see it's a terrible solution. However, any other solution I've tried has even bigger problems: in particular, GoPros have a pretty good dynamic range (you will be able to discern details when the yard has both shaded and bright parts) and maybe more important it has a fairly wide field of view, allowing you to record the whole yard and not just a smaller section.

More complicated setups involving point and shoot cameras with hacked firmware or even DSLRs are possible, but they are quite involved and a job on their own. However they can potentially fix all the GoPro issues while keeping a high image quality.

 

[rawb]

Hello. I've been doing something like that for all my backyard renovations.
It's not an easy task and as far as I know there are no "out of the box" ready solutions.

What I've been using is a modified GoPro, but it's still cumbersome.
GoPros are typically set at the factory to have a relatively close focal distance. Because most work in my yard was at around 20 meters from the camera position, I had to tear it apart and change the focus setting. There are videos on Youtube on how to perform this.

Now, a GoPro or any other "bettery powered" camera will not last a full working day even with a secondary extension pack (that I have). You must run an extension cord, or rig something like a huge external battery, that needs to be charged periodically anyway.

I installed the GoPro and command it with my tablet. Even in that case, you have to look on the web for the pirated, older version of the GoPro software, as the new one is cloud based and I have found impractical for a job like this. It will pop up to login in the cloud service at the worst time and because it needs a complicated password I guarantee you will lose some of the action. Also the tablet has to be physically close to the GoPro to work.

Every night you must remove the GoPro, extract the pictures from the SD card, and archive them on your PC and reinstall the GoPro for the next day.

You can see it's a terrible solution. However, any other solution I've tried has even bigger problems: in particular, GoPros have a pretty good dynamic range (you will be able to discern details when the yard has both shaded and bright parts) and maybe more important it has a fairly wide field of view, allowing you to record the whole yard and not just a smaller section.

More complicated setups involving point and shoot cameras with hacked firmware or even DSLRs are possible, but they are quite involved and a job on their own. However they can potentially fix all the GoPro issues while keeping a high image quality.

Thanks so much for the detailed reply. And wow, you're right...that does sound rather complicated even though I'm an I.T. guy. I was hoping there would be something "out of the box" like you mentioned, but maybe there's just not. I even found a device made for time lapse construction projects but it's really just taking still shots and marrying them all together on the fly for you. I'm looking for video =/ I will keep looking around and double-check at home to see if I may have missed a vantage point from inside the house, but it's doubtful.

 

[Ivesmi01]

I've caught some of mine on GoPro Hero4 but for some reason it seems to "time out" around 2 hours. I updated the software to the latest version as the original would "time out" after about 30 mins. Anyway, as I said, I used a Hero4 on a tripod and just put a zip-lock bag over the camera so I could keep it plugged into power and protected from dust at the same time. The videos I have managed to capture are cool.

 

[manoweb]

One other option, there might be some cameras like the Ubiquiti that have a software that runs on a PC. I believe you can just set it to record everything and not use the "motion detection" stuff. Their latest camera have decent image quality. They get power over the Ethernet cable so you only need to run that one and are already rated for outdoors. Might be worth it. And when you are done with your project you can keep it as security cam or something

 

[JamesW]

Google construction video camera. Several options pop up, such as the Brinno BCC100 Time Lapse Construction Camera.

 

[PoolGate]

Brinno is what I used. Could not be easier. GoPro has almost no time-lapse options but the Brinno was specifically made for construction time-lapse. It is true set it and forget it.

 

[Kevin9999]

Brinno!

 

[manoweb]

Brinno is what I used. Could not be easier. GoPro has almost no time-lapse options but the Brinno was specifically made for construction time-lapse. It is true set it and forget it.

GoPros have fair timelapse support, both in image sequence and actual video.

I looked up tohse Brinno's and they seem nice! Incredible I've never heard of them. Battery powered too.
Wait a minute... 1280x720 resolution? With the GoPro I take 7Mp images that I later convert to HD optionally zooming in for detail. I do not like this part too much.

 

[PoolGate]

GoPros have fair timelapse support, both in image sequence and actual video.

I looked up tohse Brinno's and they seem nice! Incredible I've never heard of them. Battery powered too.
Wait a minute... 1280x720 resolution? With the GoPro I take 7Mp images that I later convert to HD optionally zooming in for detail. I do not like this part too much.

Yeah they are not full HD. The trade off is MUCH smaller files with really the same quality unless you are blowing it up huge. For most of us they will only ever be watched via youtube and are fine. They can record for 4 months without any intervention at all on a 32GB chip. When I looked at GoPro it had 1 option for time-lapse - "on". With the Brinno, you can tell it frame rate, frequency, etc. I set it for 1 minute intervals at 30fpm. I have 1 or 2 in my sig line from it and am working on making the final build timelapse. I have Adobe Premier Elements which is great for stringing together all of the shorter timelapse pieces. I stopped it every now and then to take a look at the video.

Also it has a 170 degree wide angle lens so you can get your entire build even if the camera is close. Mine was mounted on a deck right above the build. It comes with a waterproof case and mounting arm. The case keeps the position static even if you open the camera like I did and dump the video every few days.

 

[rawb]

I had seen the Brinno before posting this message and honestly, it might be my most viable option with the least complications and setup. The only thing is that I'm not getting true video of the build at the end of the day...I'm not even getting all of the pictures that the Brinno took. It just spits out an AVI video file of the time lapse at the end and deletes all the pictures. It will certainly be better than nothing. I was just hoping for a simple way to capture true video of the build. That way, if something unexpected happens or goes wrong and the PB claims this or that happened, I can go back and review the footage to make sure. Might be harder to do that with the Brinno.

 

[rawb]

One other option, there might be some cameras like the Ubiquiti that have a software that runs on a PC. I believe you can just set it to record everything and not use the "motion detection" stuff. Their latest camera have decent image quality. They get power over the Ethernet cable so you only need to run that one and are already rated for outdoors. Might be worth it. And when you are done with your project you can keep it as security cam or something

You may be right. Looks like the Ubiquiti UVC-G3 UniFi Video Camera has some promise. Has good reviews on Amazon in general. One user mentioned this which concerns me a little bit about limitations of OS you can use:

[FONT=&quot]"This works on Windows 7 on a dedicated system with local storage. Or you can buy into their NVR which I'm assuming works famously as well. Any other OS or any kind of NAS recording is an exercise in profanity and obscenity. Consequently I have one for sale that's only been used for testing. Unfortunately too late to send it back."[/FONT]

 

[rawb]

Yeah they are not full HD. The trade off is MUCH smaller files with really the same quality unless you are blowing it up huge. For most of us they will only ever be watched via youtube and are fine. They can record for 4 months without any intervention at all on a 32GB chip. When I looked at GoPro it had 1 option for time-lapse - "on". With the Brinno, you can tell it frame rate, frequency, etc. I set it for 1 minute intervals at 30fpm. I have 1 or 2 in my sig line from it and am working on making the final build timelapse. I have Adobe Premier Elements which is great for stringing together all of the shorter timelapse pieces. I stopped it every now and then to take a look at the video.

Also it has a 170 degree wide angle lens so you can get your entire build even if the camera is close. Mine was mounted on a deck right above the build. It comes with a waterproof case and mounting arm. The case keeps the position static even if you open the camera like I did and dump the video every few days.

Your pool and surrounding property are to die for.....congrats!

 

[randytsuch]

You can go here for help and ideas on security cam setups.
https://ipcamtalk.com/

If you buy a "real" cam and NVR, you can use it after the pool build is done.

EDIT
Dahua makes nice cams, especially their starlight series, which do great at night. Any decent cam take nice pics during the day, but good night time performance is harder.

 

[jimim]

that's pretty much what I have going on. I repositioned 2 of my cameras onto the pool during construction so I could do live talks with the guys if they had issues that were big enough for me to see. site lines. stuff like that. they are all hooked up to a dvr in one of my racks in the house. I just pull footage of the dvr if need be. I use all everfocus dvr's cause they have a mobile app for watching outside my home when away but they also integrate with other automation hardware cause they output jpg for viewing on keypads and such.

 

[kefjens]

I recommend going the route that randytsuch mentioned. I used ipcamtalk to come up with a system using a POE IP camera running blueiris software on a PC. Endlessly configurable, use vpn to access from smart phones with the blue Iris app. Was with every penny to be able to keep my eye on the project and let the pool builder know they couldn't bs me about when they were there.

I also used a dahua 2mp starlight, fabulous camera.

 

[manoweb]

You may be right. Looks like the Ubiquiti UVC-G3 UniFi Video Camera has some promise. Has good reviews on Amazon in general. One user mentioned this which concerns me a little bit about limitations of OS you can use:

"This works on Windows 7 on a dedicated system with local storage. Or you can buy into their NVR which I'm assuming works famously as well. Any other OS or any kind of NAS recording is an exercise in profanity and obscenity. Consequently I have one for sale that's only been used for testing. Unfortunately too late to send it back."

I know people that use a Raspberry Pi with it, so it's certainly versatile. I also think that a dedicated PC running 24h for the time of the build is acceptable. It might be different for somebody that just wants the camera for security purposes.

 

[rawb]

Brinno is what I used. Could not be easier. GoPro has almost no time-lapse options but the Brinno was specifically made for construction time-lapse. It is true set it and forget it.

PoolGate,

I'm wondering what interval I should use on the Brinno for the pool construction. Looks like 1/2 second is the fastest I can go but wondering if I'd have enough battery life for the project at that short interval. Their documentation says 2.5 months with the interval set to 30 minutes so I would assume it would be drastically shorter at 1/2 second. Any ideas? I'm just trying to capture as much raw data as I can and like the idea of a short interval.

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Brinno!

I'm wondering what interval I should use on the Brinno for the pool construction. Looks like 1/2 second is the fastest I can go but wondering if I'd have enough battery life for the project at that short interval. Their documentation says 2.5 months with the interval set to 30 minutes so I would assume it would be drastically shorter at 1/2 second. Any ideas? I'm just trying to capture as much raw data as I can and like the idea of a short interval.

 

[PoolGate]

PoolGate,

I'm wondering what interval I should use on the Brinno for the pool construction. Looks like 1/2 second is the fastest I can go but wondering if I'd have enough battery life for the project at that short interval. Their documentation says 2.5 months with the interval set to 30 minutes so I would assume it would be drastically shorter at 1/2 second. Any ideas? I'm just trying to capture as much raw data as I can and like the idea of a short interval.

- - - Updated - - -



I'm wondering what interval I should use on the Brinno for the pool construction. Looks like 1/2 second is the fastest I can go but wondering if I'd have enough battery life for the project at that short interval. Their documentation says 2.5 months with the interval set to 30 minutes so I would assume it would be drastically shorter at 1/2 second. Any ideas? I'm just trying to capture as much raw data as I can and like the idea of a short interval.

I used 1 second and 30 fps after experimenting with the slower speeds (10 sec, 30 sec). The movies were just too jerky at a higher time. The batteries are fine the camera would last 4 months at that rate. I used the same set of batteries for my 3 month plus build and they still show 2 of 3 bars for power. I'll try to post up some of mine but at least one is in my sig line build pictures.