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Sharing a built-in iSight?

4K views 20 replies 11 participants last post by  guytoronto 
#1 ·
I have an iMac with the built-in iSight, and I was wondering if anyone knew of any software, or way, to share or control the iSight on the iMac from a remote computer, more specifically, my PowerBook? Ideally, the software would allow the use of the iSight, with the display on the iMac staying asleep, and allow the remote computer to record the video stream. And in case I'm not describing what I need well enough, here's the scenario I'm looking to address:

My wife has been after me to get a video monitor because our little girl generally doesn't sleep through the night, and she want's to be able to see what's happening. Rather than getting a video monitor (which really wouldn't be necessary after we figured out what the problem was), I thought I might be able to imitate one. If I moved the iMac onto the dresser in her bedroom for a couple of nights and faced it towards her bed, the little glowing light would gentally illuminate her room, and provide the perfect camera angle for monitoring her. If I could then watch the stream from the iSight on my laptop in our room, or even better, record the stream for the night and review it in the morning, we could then isolate what was waking her up, and I wouldn't have to waste the money on a video monitor. I would prefer to have the display on the iMac stay asleep since it can generate a fair amount of light and having the video running on the display might prove a distraction to a 2 year old who should be sleeping.

Anyone have any help?
 
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#2 ·
Off the top, you could just simply open a video chat between the two computers and watch it from another room on your laptop.

Or...if you just want to be able to record and watch later....you could simply point the camera where you want it to be and use iMovie to record. However, you'd better have LOTS of HD space, as the file that would be created would be massive.

You could also try hooking up your laptop to a VCR or something and record to tape.

I'm sure others may have more sophisticated solutions, but that's what I could think of straight away.
 
#3 ·
I thought about opening a video chat, but never tried, wouldn't this keep the screen active during the 'chat'? And can you do a video chat with only one end with a camera? I've never actually done a video chat yet, I keep meaning to set one up, but just haven't had the time.

Another question raised by your post, does iMovie offer the ability to record in lower resolutions, or to save in a compressed format to reduce disk space usage?
 
#4 ·
If you set your screen on the iMac to go black after a short period of time, that should do the trick. I think you can find that in either the Display or Power/Energy saving functions in the System Prefs. I believe the machine with the iSight could invite your laptop to one-way video chat.

As for iMovie...am not sure if the recording / frames per second, etc can be fiddled with.

Consequently, you could also run your video out through a VCR or something and record to tape.
 
#5 ·
I would not even bother. First off, the iMac would have to be within a couple of feet of your girl's bed to see any real detail (eyes open or eyes closed, for example) unless all you wanted to do is monitor her room for movement. Secondly, the Mac's sleep light illumination is not enough light to record anything. The room would be in darkness, unless your iMac is very close to your daughter (this point is moot if she sleeps in a lit room). Thirdly, if I was your daughter, I'd personally be freaked out by having a computer that close to me all night.

To answer your question, I believe VertiGoGo has the best solution.
 
#6 ·
So it's the daughter you want to spy on, and not the wife, right?

Right.

One of the main reasons that children don't sleep through the night is that they simply aren't tired enough to do so. It's not only normal, you should expect this to happen, often, as in more than once in a while. It doesn't indicate a problem, it's perfectly fine. Teach your child that if she wakes up during the night, it's okay and if she wants to play or sing to herself or whatever that it is fine. The more you are okay with this, the more she will be--rather than responding to her waking up in an unhealthy manner, like yelling at her to sleep, or whatever, or responding to her waking up by anything more than a quick visit to make sure she's okay, since a prolonged visit will tell her that if she wakes up it's cuddles and playtime.

Also, you should slowly be cutting back on daytime naps and increasing early evening (not too late) activity, to ensure a child sleeps through.

Hope this is useful to you, should be, if it's the daughter you wanted to check on.

.
 
#7 ·
Bjornbro said:
I would not even bother. First off, the iMac would have to be within a couple of feet of your girl's bed to see any real detail (eyes open or eyes closed, for example) unless all you wanted to do is monitor her room for movement. Secondly, the Mac's sleep light illumination is not enough light to record anything. The room would be in darkness, unless your iMac is very close to your daughter (this point is moot if she sleeps in a lit room). Thirdly, if I was your daughter, I'd personally be freaked out by having a computer that close to me all night.

To answer your question, I believe VertiGoGo has the best solution.
I will run some tests to see if the light is enough to actually see anything, and what kind of detail I can see. I know I am amazed at how well the sleep light on my PowerBook will light up a room. I wasn't planning on putting theiMac in her face, I was hoping on the dresser at the end of her bed. If that isn't going to be close enough, then there isn't much point to going any further.
 
#8 ·
HowEver said:
So it's the daughter you want to spy on, and not the wife, right?

Right.

One of the main reasons that children don't sleep through the night is that they simply aren't tired enough to do so. It's not only normal, you should expect this to happen, often, as in more than once in a while. It doesn't indicate a problem, it's perfectly fine. Teach your child that if she wakes up during the night, it's okay and if she wants to play or sing to herself or whatever that it is fine. The more you are okay with this, the more she will be--rather than responding to her waking up in an unhealthy manner, like yelling at her to sleep, or whatever, or responding to her waking up by anything more than a quick visit to make sure she's okay, since a prolonged visit will tell her that if she wakes up it's cuddles and playtime.

Also, you should slowly be cutting back on daytime naps and increasing early evening (not too late) activity, to ensure a child sleeps through.

Hope this is useful to you, should be, if it's the daughter you wanted to check on.

.
Yes, it is my daughter I want to check on. I think my wife might get suspicious if I moved the computer out of the office into our bedroom. My two year old daughter on the other hand wouldn't know the difference.

My daughter used to sleep through the night, then last Christmas she got sick and couldn't sleep through the night because of vomitting, coughing, etc. Since then, she only sleeps through the night once every few weeks. It isn't the fact that she isn't tired, she wakes up crying and then works herself up from there. Once we get her calmed down she wil go back to sleep for a while. This will happen anywhere between 2 and 5 times a night. It's been 15 months now, and it starts to get a little tiring after a while.

For daytime naps, she has only been on one nap for almost a year. It is usually in the morning (around 11:00) for an hour to and hour and a half. We've tried cutting this back and it only succeeds in making her grumpy. As for increasing evening activity, she runs pretty much constantly anytime she is awake (we can tell when she is getting sick because she will actually sit still) She is a flurry of activity right up to the point where we put her to bed, at which point she calms down almost instantly and goes to sleep.

Probably your most interesting point, is your comment about "...anything more the a quick visit...", was this generated from personal experience or something you learned from some where? When I go into our daughter's room, it is usually to tell her that it is still time for sleep, and to calm her down and then leave. This is usually followed by an immediate screaming fit from her, and me repeating the above procedure. My wife on the other hand will spend more time in her room, talking to her and trying to get her back to sleep before leaving. If I interpret your comment correctly, my wife could very well be the cause of the frequent wake ups.
 
#10 ·
bhil said:
Probably your most interesting point, is your comment about "...anything more the a quick visit...", was this generated from personal experience or something you learned from some where? When I go into our daughter's room, it is usually to tell her that it is still time for sleep, and to calm her down and then leave. This is usually followed by an immediate screaming fit from her, and me repeating the above procedure. My wife on the other hand will spend more time in her room, talking to her and trying to get her back to sleep before leaving. If I interpret your comment correctly, my wife could very well be the cause of the frequent wake ups.
Hi, sorry if I was too flip but we do see our share of strange behaviour here (and on other fora).

I tend to not make any specific reference to personal experience, so... once you're certain that it isn't a health issue causing the late night wakeups, I would say that any more than a quick overnight visit teaches the child that screaming gets attention, and even if it's negative attention, a child will repeat the behaviour that obtains the desired result, in this case, visits from parents. What is the worst thing that can happen if you explain before bedtime that she's now grown up enough to sleep until morning, and unless there is an emergency not to call out during the night (or that it's okay to wake up, everyone does, but you won't be visiting)?

In some cases, crying out will last a few minutes, but even if it lasts 15 or 30, many, many children go through this until they sleep through the night. You may think this will go on for weeks. It won't. She is probably smart enough to figure out that you meant what you said, you won't come to see her if she just cries enough. For some people expecting the worst, this takes a few nights; for some, it takes one crying-out fit, perhaps 10 minutes. Those minutes are hell, but it's worth it for everyone.

Keep in mind also that this comes from someone who believes that you can't spoil a child; I don't believe you can spoil an infant with too much attention. I'm not one of those people who thinks that a child who wants it can be picked up too much, and if this child was under 18 or so months I'd say forget this just checking up business and instead stay with her until she sleeps. But at a certain point (your call here on when this should happen) you do say to her it's time to either sleep through the night or at least not wake everyone if you can't.
 
#11 ·
bhil said:
my wife could very well be the cause of the frequent wake ups.
I wouldn't lead with that one. I would, however, suggest that it's true. When kids have trouble sleeping and are rewarded for waking up (e.g. intimate, soft, private time) they like to get up and do it more often. My kids do that. My son is happy to be asleep, doesn't like going to sleep but happily stays asleep once he eventually shuts his eyes unless something is bothering him. My daughter never liked to stay asleep.

When we stopped engaging her when she woke up at night she eventually got the hint that waking up is no fun. She's almost 5 now and still wakes up from time to time (with months in between episodes that can last for days or weeks at a time, often precipitated by some illness or event). Mostly she puts herself back to sleep knowing that if we get up with her the only thing that's going to happen is that we (i.e. me or my wife) will walk her to the bathroom to pee, walk her back to her room, tuck her in, wait for a minute until she's settled, and then go back to our room to sleep. We hardly say a word to her during this whole exercise.

The saying 'sleeping like a baby' is all a lie. Baby's move around MUCH more than adults and aren't typically very still sleepers. They wake up all the time. The trick is to make it more fun to go back to sleep than to stay awake -- i.e. back to your original point, the difference between you and your wife in handling the waking could be the cause. Ultimately it sucks, but if it's easier for you to not engage her when she wakes then you should be the ONLY one who wakes with her. After a little while (could be a few days or up to a month or more) she should get the hint that it's no fun to wake up at night. Chances are this will work and/or she'll simply outgrow the whole thing soon enough.

You'll, for sure, find something in your video if you go that route that you can peg as the cause of her waking. Chances are, unless it's a significant medical issue, it won't be the real cause of her waking. She probably doesn't even know why she gets up, she probably just does it.

I'm no psychologist but on the side of my main academic pursuit I do study human behaviour and with the two-kid-lab we have at home I've found this to be a reasonable course of action.

My two cents.

Here's hoping for a few less bags under your eyes. In sympathy.

Ravi
 
#12 ·
I was six years old and getting pretty independent then, at night if I did wake up I took care not to wake anybody else, and I usually woke up at 6am where I would turn on the TV to watch the ITV Morning News (Edmonton), pour myself a bowl of cereal, and just find something productive to do while waiting for everyone else to wake up. Unfortunately I think if I became a parent I would become just as overbearing but sometimes we just gotta back off and let the kids do their thing because they're still young yes but they certainly know what they're doing. Educate them on what to do if they do wake up, and that means only waking the parents up if there's something that really needs to be taken care of (like the time I saw the furnace light up in the basement and thought the house was gonna burn down heheh that was funny).
 
#15 ·
I make no suggestions to your parenting, but I did read an interesting book in my human development class for ED I.

The book is called Time In Parenting by Otto Weininger. It might provide some insight on the adult part of parenting. (You have all suggested similar things as outlined in the book.) I suggest this only because I find it easy to learn after I do something and then read about it as well.
 
#16 ·
Bjornbro said:
Nice catch. As Ed McMahon would say, "You are correct, sir"! Hey-oh! :lmao:
Ah, but the iMac wouldn't be asleep, just the display. So it may well work. I still haven't tried though. After some of the discussion here, I'm feeling less and less certain it would work as a solution.
 
#17 ·
The content of this thread drifted pretty far off the original question, but I want to thank everyone for their input on both the original question and the actual problem. I am going to sit down with my wife and go over some of the things discussed here, and see what we can work out for minimal nighttime contact, or not going in at all. Hopefully things will quickly turn around.
 
#18 ·
Here is your solution if you are wanting to record and watch later.

http://www.keywebx.com/keycamx.html

You can use this program to either start recording when there is movement or continuous recording. You can turn the brightness of the monitor down enough to be able to see what is going on and record locally or to a ftp server.

This works great. I used it a couple years ago to bust my old roommate taking stuff out of my room. I had the brightness turned all the way down, so he would not see it was recording him, and I had it set to only record when there was movement in the room. I busted that bastard taking clothes out of my room.

Anyway, check it out. It is a great solution for security or stuff like you are wanting.
 
#19 ·
Thanks Jestered, but I've pretty much given up on that concept, though the software is very interesting.

As a follow up for anyone else who is interested, last night after a discussion with my wife, I went in instead of her when our daughter woke up. After two short visits early in the night (before we had gone to bed) our daughter then proceeded to sleep through the night. I know happening once doesn't mean much, but it does bode well for the theories presented in this thread. We're hoping for some repeat performances on the weekend. Thanks again for all the advice.
 
#21 ·
1) Setup quicktime broadcaster (it's free http://www.apple.com/quicktime/broadcaster/ )
2) Set you iMac monitor to go to sleep, but make sure the computer is set to never go to sleep.
3) Watch the stream on your PB in the other room.

If lighting is an issue, be aware that most webcams and camcorders can very easily pick up infrared light. For a few dollars, you can pick up an IR light source at the local hobby shop, and it should give you enough light to see what is going on in the room ( to see how this might work, point your remote control at your iSight, and press a button to see it in action . It works great on my camcorder. Haven't tried it with the iSIght though)

Alternatively, just get an IP webcam.
They're about $150. Check out D-link.
 
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