OAP webcam help

GaleSF63

It's very easy to forget something you do a lot because it becomes second nature and you do it without thinking. 

I use a diary to write down what time I've taken my pills as I don't always remember taking them, or when,  and I can easily forget all about them for several hours so don't want to take them too early the next day. It works pretty well.  Using the computer would be too much faff. 

As for age, I once had to go back home half way through my journey to work  because I couldn't remember whether I'd switched the iron off.  I was about 30. The others in the office (all male) thought it was hilarious. A few months late my (male) boss did exactly the same thing. 

Sandtree

bobfredbob said:

 A webcam may be difficult to maintain and to watch hours of video.

Hence the OP asked if there was a way that a webcam only saves when there is motion rather than continuous recording... there are many apps that offer this.

bobfredbob

OP wanted "a 24hr loop that I could play back."  I think your suggestion of motion could be good, but IMO, a motion detect inside the house is likely to detect a lot of motion.  So you'd end up with lots of videos to go through.

So, perhaps you have your medicine on the kitchen table and every time you pick up your mug of tea you get a new video because you place your mug too near the medicines; or you get lots of videos of your cat walking past; or you turn on a light and many cheaper cameras thinks it's motion.  I know better motion cameras can specifically detect a face, etc.

A paper printouts with the medicines and tick boxes seems easier to me, especially if coupled with a repeating alarm on a phone to remind a person to take it.

Sandtree

bobfredbob said:

OP wanted "a 24hr loop that I could play back."  I think your suggestion of motion could be good, but IMO, a motion detect inside the house is likely to detect a lot of motion.  So you'd end up with lots of videos to go through.

So, perhaps you have your medicine on the kitchen table and every time you pick up your mug of tea you get a new video because you place your mug too near the medicines; or you get lots of videos of your cat walking past; or you turn on a light and many cheaper cameras thinks it's motion.  I know better motion cameras can specifically detect a face, etc.

The OP said something "like a 24 hr loop" with the stated problem of not wanting to fill a HD up hence suggestion of only actually recording motion.

Cleary depends on setup etc, in my minds eye it was a camera with very close focus on just the medicines but it could be triggered by a pet or such too. Clearly how practical it is depends on location of the computer (always on requirement), lead length on the webcam etc.

I have done something similarish, though it was an iPad triggering a DSLR to take stills, and it worked perfectly fine tucked away in a corner of a room for a few weeks taking a few bursts of photos each day but we don't have pets and could set it up where we werent otherwise going to be placing mugs etc. Given what it captured the one time there was a false trigger the Mrs clearly intentionally did it

dobbiesloan

I tried leaving my cam on record, It only lasted 3 hours saying anything bigger would be too big to save in a file. It was funny seeing myself sleeping for 2 hours when I was watching something on line.
 I did not have to watch it all as the  insulin and things were in different places in the last frame from the first.

Sandtree

We put a video doorbell in not that long ago, it records when it has any movement all but it marks the points in the timeline in different colours when it seems major movement anywhere or any movement in the zone immediately around the front door (and it sends alerts if it believes the movement around our door is a person).

Was fairly addictive watching each morning to see what had been happening over night... mainly foxes sniffing about, found that our point in the road suddenly becomes a place where people do u-turns/3 point turns but have never seen one done in daytime but did make the Mrs jump when a spider came down infront of the camera and looked car sized.