Does anyone know who to talk to to get a surveillence camera system that will down load digital movies and stills via cell phone or sat phone?

ZoneMinder will do stills via the xHTML interface. I'm working on .3gp video, I've got it half working but not really exactly how I want yet.

Phil

Phil,

If you have time to consider this, I would appreciate it.

My needs are for natural resource survelleince work.

I would like to be able to set up a camera(s) in remote locations, and not have to drive hours every day to change vcr tapes and batteries. I can overcome the battery requirement to some extent by utilizing solar panel rechargers, and really want to get away from tapes. So digital seems to be the ticket. Further, to eliminate creating human tracks in the snow, and thus leading the poacher directly to my cameras, having the capabilities to download the pictures via cell phone or sat phone would take care of that aspect.

Any ideas?

Thanks alot,
Chris

As I said, it will do stills now. The main problem I find with using mobile phones as access is actually identifying what you should be looking at if you have lots of events. So it tends to default to just showing the most significant frame in an event. The other thing that usually works quite well is setting up email notifications and attaching a couple of frames to that. That way it's still relatively low bandwidth, the connection can be initiated by the server, and you have a permanent record.

Phil

I think he is meaning cellular as upload connection to another computer, not as access device.

With that in mind, you may just want to do a directional antenna on an 802.11 card. That way, you can drive to a certain point, aim a laptop, and download your video. Keeping it directional will minimize the possibility of a technological poacher finding a network in the middle of nowhere.

It would keep your footprints away from the device, and be enough bandwidth to transfer video.

Jon,

You interpretted my request correctly, thanks. Any suggestions on hardware, ie: cameras, battery systems, etc?

Chris

Ahh ha, Something I really know First question is what is the nearest facility too where you want to set your trap? If it's under 20 miles and line of sight I know of some microwave units you could use that would give you lots of bandwidth and no monthly charge and the power requirements are 12V 500ma. They could possibly make 40 miles and a little better depending on location but seasonal fade is -6db in the summer and you have to acount for the sunspot cycles. If I remember the cost was around $1500 USD plus antennas and coax.
If line of sight is not available you could licence a VHF channel and use termenal node controlers (TNC) to set up a 9600bps link (might be faster these days I've been out of that area for a few years). TNC's run about $120 each but the base could talk to multiple units and each TNC needs a radio to go with it.
Then cellular (I've been out of this area a few years as well) Most carriers support at least 48kbs transfer and if you go this route I'd suggest looking for something that supports an external antenna and make sure to keep the coax length as short as possible. Also a 3db or 6db gain antenna will help out with reception and I think they still make a 12db gain that is even better.
As far as cammeras I'm assuming that you want to get video at night as well so Black and white (B/W) cameras would do you best. The lower the lux rating the better it will see at night. B/W cameras can also be aided by infra red lights where color cameras can not. If you want you can check out my camera's I'm using that are 4 cameras at .0003 lux and one camera at .1 lux. If you log in while it's night in PST you will be able to tell which one is only .1 lux cause it's the one you can hardly see anything in.
I'll PM you the login info.
Cheers,
Cordel