Good luck with this one, TTRAN; I'm in a similar situation & heavy research says we're pretty much S.O.L. in making this happen without, as you say, having individual cameras connected by individual receivers. When I bought my 3-camera package, it was my understanding that all 3 cameras could simultaneously be remotely viewed & ftp upload live, however this is not quite the case. I have, in so far testing around 25 programs, finally found a couple of third-party softwares which I think do a much better & more precise job of activating & uploading saved imagery from multiple cameras upon motion, however none of them have fully provided the essential set-up documentation they should, even for use by the most PC Saavy, and while a few will actually display a multi-cam overview, they are still updated in "carousel" order and I am still unable to find any way to override this with motion detection (neither by sensor or software-based image comparison) to achieve my original goal of motion sensing by any camera equally giving it priority for an extended ftp upload & notification. I want those telling images recorded to the Internet a.s.a.p. so I might still have a "mug shot" after my computer is stolen. This brings up another related issue to be very cautious of; many of these softwares do not actually maintain a library or "log" online as they might appear to do. Many times that "log" you'll notice is accessed through HTTP, and actually is still stored on your PC hard drive. In this case if you just happened to be actively monitoring via remote PC at just the right time, then the remote PC might have an identifiable image in it's Temporary Internet files cache; otherwise the highly touted "Internet Access" does not protect your ability to I.D. an intruder should your PC be stolen.
TTRAN, I suspect you are searching for/expecting overall system capabilities quite similar to my own ideals. Much research in this area leads me to say (barring the release of some new hardware & softwares now in development) we're going to have to "wing-it" and discover mix-n-match "pot-luck" solutions of our own for another 9 to 24 months before what we want becomes available, possibly only then in beta. Meanwhile if you're dealing with X10 or similar cameras, there's not much choice; the majority of multi-camera capable solutions are going to require an individual IP or COM address for each camera if it is to be truly equal & not part of a cycled access, meaning each must have it's own receiver and/or USB port, CAT5 plug, etc. etc.
Thoroughly dissappointed and upset with the 4 various softwares my package included (MultiView, WebView, PanTiltPro, and XRayVision; none of which worked correctly or individually provided the features I was promised), I began testing 3rd party softwares, and after great disturbance & determination I've finally been graced with opportunity to test the Vanguard software. (Originally told several weeks ago it would only work with Vanguard cameras when I called to inquire after finding no info on the website, I received a promo email days later which included Vanguard software, clearly stating that it worked with all X10 cameras. A later call confirmed this but denied any try-before-you-buy option. While later re-packing everything for return, I decided to toss the dice once more & call again, and this time actually found an operator (in sales, no less) with intelligence and common sense who could think beyond a teleprompted script. Not totally convinced just yet, I will say that my experience so far (less than 24 hrs.) with the Vanguard software is far better than the included software (trash), and I'm at least willing to discuss a compromise before a complete return.
Author
Topic: setting up multiple cameras to a PC (Read 10031 times)