Setting up Webcam monitoring

   

  Configure OrbSecure to record any motion detected under the area of
surveillance and send you an alert via email or SMS in real-time.

OrbSecure turns your USB webcam into a remote monitoring device. Simply connect your webcam, download Orb and you're set. Nothing else to buy and no need for yet another subscription service.

Once connected, the webcam can be remotely set to monitor and record any detected movement. If it detects motion in the area under surveillance, OrbSecure notifies you via SMS or email by sending you a snapshot of the object captured live by your webcam. You can then watch on your phone, real-time, what your webcam is recording.

Set-up Instructions

Setting up OrbSecure consists of three easy steps:

a.    Follow your USB Webcam manufacturer's instructions and install it on the same PC you installed (or plan to install) Orb.

b.    Once it is installed, verify that your webcam works properly with the program it came with, or in any other program like Instant Messaging (IM), Skype, etc

a.    If you have not yet installed Orb, download Orb from Orb's website, then install Orb on the same PC you have installed your Webcam (see 1. above). When the installation completes, you should have a green Orb icon in the system tray of your Windows desktop.

b.    Click your Orb tray icon | Configuration, and verify that Enable webcams is checked.

There is no webcam setup on your Orb PC.

1.    Log in to http://mycast.orb.com with the username and password you created in 2.a above.

2.    Click Open Application | TV/Webcams

3.    On the left Navigation panel, click Webcams to display your webcam in the main Content window to the right. Selecting your webcam in the Content panel will in turn display it in the Properties panel, at the bottom of the screen.

Note: the Properties panel menu can also be accessed by placing the cursor over the webcam icon in the Content panel. The fields in that box are also editable.

4.    Click the Change Thumbnail link to replace that generic icon with a picture:

You have 3 options here: Browse to a file on your PC; Download a file from a URL; or take a Snapshot from your webcam to use as thumbnail.

Select your option, then click OK.

It will take a few seconds more to upload a Snapshot (than it will for a file from your local PC or the Web) and set it as your new thumbnail:

5.    Enter your basic webcam setup information (all fields are optional) in the Properties panel:

a.    Description: Click on this field to enter an identification name for your webcam, then click OK.

b.    Tags: if you have several webcams listed here, enter any here any text you want to use for sorting your webcam by "Tags" (See the pulldown menu of the "Sort by:" column header).

c.    Rating: if you have several webcams listed here, giving them star ratings will force their display order from the highest number of stars down to the lowest.

d.    Permalink: check this box, if you want to create a permalink for your webcam and make it accessible outside of Orb (your blog, web page, etc.)

6.    Configure OrbSecure

Click OrbSecure to display the OrbSecure information box: by default, OrbSecure is off.

Click Configure to open the OrbSecure configuration dialog box.

a.    Start recording for: enter the length of time (in minutes) you want OrbSecure to record when it detects motion in its area of surveillance.

b.    Send SMS to: enter the 10-digit phone number (US only) to which you want OrbSecure to send you and SMS notification when it detects motion in its area of surveillance.

Note: see our KB article How do I configure OrbSecure, the webcam monitoring feature, to notify me via SMS or email when it detects motion?

c.    Send email to: enter the email address to which you want OrbSecure to send you an email notification when it detects motion in its area of surveillance.

d.    Check the Resume monitoring checkbox and enter the resume time (in minutes) you want OrbSecure to resume monitoring after it has detected motion and recorded as you have set in a. above. If you do not check this box, OrbSecure will only monitor the area and record motion detected once.

e.    Click OK.

7.    Start OrbSecure

The OrbSecure information screen will be displayed with the configuration you just entered.

Click Start OrbSecure for OrbSecure to start monitoring the area in its field of capture. The Information panel will now indicate that OrbSecure is on.

8.    You're done. Close the OrbSecure Information box by clicking on the X icon on the top-right corner of that window.

As soon as OrbSecure detects motion (an object crosses its field of capture, or light suddenly changes), then the recording will be triggered: an OrbSecure tray icon will pop up on your Windows task bar indicating that the recording has started.

OrbSecure will then send you the following message via SMS or email (or both, depending on your configuration in 6.b and 6.c above):

"<Creative Webcam Live!> has detected some activity in the area under surveillance"

If the message is sent by email, you will receive a 320 x 240 snapshot color picture of one of the first frames captured by your webcam. That file name will be OrbSecure.JPG, and it will be stored on your Orb PC in:

- in Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Documents\My Pictures\OrbSecure
- in Windows Vista: C:\Users\<yourWindowsLogin>\Pictures\OrbSecure

This path is not configurable and cannot be changed at this time.

   

You can then log in to your Orb account at mycast.orb.com to stream the captured contents of your webcam.

Note: your webcam recordings are stored in the Recorded TV folder, as designated on your Orb PC in Orb tray icon | Configuration | TV tab | Recorded TV path section.

Important        make sure you create exceptions for all Orb applications in your antivirus software so it does not block OrbSecure from recording when it detects activity.