[wplug] Security System?

[Eric Cooper]

On Tue, Oct 09, 2007 at 01:14:16PM -0400, Rob Knapp wrote:
> > A cheaper alternative may be to use a 4:1 video mux (google for "video 
> > quad mux"), if the resolution is sufficient. This takes 4 analog 
> > video sources and produces 1 analog output with 4 quadrants, which you 
> > then digitize on your computer. 
>
> I'm assuming that this is a hardware device that I plug all the
> cameras into and then plug the output of the muxer into the bttv
> card?

Exactly.  They cost around $100.  They typically have several modes --
4 quadrants, or cycling (full screen) among the inputs, or fixed full
screen on a given input.  Some also have a serial port to control
this, so you could in principle switch to full screen on a given input
when your software detected motion in a given quadrant, to "zoom in".
I've never attempted this, though.

-- 
Eric Cooper             e c c @ c m u . e d u