Today you’ll find a button on your video playback page that gives you one-click submission of highlight videos to your YouTube account.  Use this for video blogging, annotating your clips, or just as an alternate way to share your clips!

Point your phone’s browser to hlcam.com/m to watch your latest highlights from anywhere.

Hlcam.com/m can be used with any phone that has a browser to see animated previews* of your five most recent recordings.  And for smartphone users, click on a preview to watch the entire highlight video with sound.  (Compatible with iPhone, Palm Pre, and any mobile device that can play MP4 video.)

Scroll to the bottom of the page to find controls for refreshing the page and for requesting new highlights right away!

* Some phones do not automatically play animated GIFs.

Ever watch your latest highlight video and can’t wait to see what happens next?  HighlightCam usually looks for highlights once an hour—but now you don’t have to wait.

Look for the new “Ask camera to process latest video now” button on your Playback page:

When you press this button, from any computer, HighlightCam will immediately start processing your most recent recording.  The highlights will usually be ready in about a minute.

Note: To use the “Process Latest” button, you need to be logged in to the requesting computer, and you need to have loaded the most recent Recording client.

CCTV cameras are very commonly used for security, but archiving and remote viewing the footage can be a nightmare.  In this article we’ll help you connect your CCTV camera to HighlightCam, so you can review a whole day’s security footage in just minutes, even from a remote location.

Hardware Requirements:

CCTV cameras most often use either RG-59 coaxial cables (with BNC-type connectors) or RCA cables/connectors. To communicate with HighlightCam you need to connect your camera directly to a computer, which will probably require an adapter.

We’ll cover what is probably the simplest and cheapest adapter to use.  These specific instructions are for computers running Windows, but similar hardware will work with MacOS or Linux:

1. Buy a Composite-video to USB adapter with an RCA jack.  We tested the EasyCAP USB 2.0 Video Capture Adapter.  (Further instructions are specifically for this model.)
   
2. If your camera has a BNC plug, buy a BNC to RCA adapater.  (If your CCTV setup already has RCA outputs, you can skip this step.)
   Here’s the one we’ve got: Lorex BNCB BNC to RCA Adapter

Software Setup:

Once you have the hardware adapter, you’re ready to configure your computer to communicate with your CCTV camera.

1. Install the EasyCAP video capture drivers (specific instructions come with the device).
2. In addition to the drivers, install Ulead Video Studio (which comes on the bundled CD). This is required to put the EasyCAP into NTSC mode (if you’re in the US) and to enable Composite Video Mode rather than TV Tuner.
3. Connect your camera to the yellow plug on the EasyCAP (using the BNC-to-RCA adapter if necessary). Connect the EasyCAP to a USB port on your computer.
4. Start Ulead VideoStudio and configure it following these steps:
   • Select the Capture tab
   • Click on Capture Video
   • Select the Syntek STK1150 device in the Source drop-down.
   • Click on Options and select Video and Audio Capture Property Settings…
   • Under Input Source select Video Composite.
   • Under TV System select NTSC if in the US, PAL if you’re not.
   • Press OK. Then you can close Ulead Video Studio.
5. Go the recording page on HighlightCam. If your CCTV camera isn’t selected automatically as the recording source, you’ll need to choose it manually.  Right click on the Recording screen, select “Settings…” and click the Webcam tab (the rightmost one).  Choose the Syntek STK1150 dropdown list of cameras.
6. You’re all set! You should be able to see the feed from your CCTV camera in the video input box.  Click “Start Recording”!

Setting up a CCTV camera can be tricky.  Contact support@hlcam.com with any issues that might arise, and we’ll help you in any way we can.

Now you can submit your own videos to be shortened to any desired length using the HighlightCam video summarization infrastructure.  Details here:

HighlightCam API at Google Code

You can see a great example of the API applied to a nature documentary in this writeup over at VentureBeat:

Automatically cut videos down to the best parts: HighlightCam releases API

and a technical discussion at Hacker News.

For now you can submit up to 20 videos a day for free!  A paid version for heavy users is coming soon.

Our graphic design team just finished a complete overhaul of the site, which went live as of midnight PST.  We’re very proud of the polished new look, and the inclusion of some much-requested new functionality:

• On the Playback page, choose “Grid View” to see all your video thumbnails at once laid out in a grid.  If you’ve recorded more than a few hours of videos, this makes them much easier to browse!
• YouTube Zeitgeist.  Automatically generated trailers for all the recently popular videos on YouTube!
• Justin.tv Animals and YouTube Zeitgeist highlights can now be easily embedded on your blog or webpage.

We’ve tested the new design thoroughly to make sure everything still works as intended, but if you kick the tires and find something amiss please let us know.

A big improvement to our video summarization algorithm just went live.  We now do a great job detecting moving objects against a static background, even when the camera itself is moving.

The algorithm deals particularly well with two of the most common “moving camera” scenarios:

• Panning security cameras.  Interesting activity will be picked out whether the security camera is fixed or panning.
• Jitter.  With handheld camera footage, moments of camera jitter are no longer marked as most interesting.

Check back later this week for a tutorial on using HighlightCam with your CCTV security camera!

PetWave.com, a great source for information about pet health-care, has joined HighlightCam as an affiliate.

We provide a free pet monitoring service to PetWave members, so that they can easily keep tabs on their sick dogs and cats when they have to go to work.  I’ve used it already when my dwarf rabbit Cadbury was under the weather.

Want to provide HighlightCam as a service to your users?  Contact us!

As of tonight, video timestamps no longer default to Eastern Standard Time.  Now your computer’s timezone preferences are automatically used instead.

We’re as happy about this as you are—HighlightCam hasn’t been based on the East Coast for a long time now!

Just like with YouTube, HighlightCam now lets you embed your latest highlight video anywhere on the web—like this blog post:

The embed code for your recordings is on the Playback page under Sharing and Embedding.

We’ve been getting some good attention since HighlightCam launched.  Here are a few highlights:

• TechCrunch - YC-Funded HighlightCam Makes It Easy To Remotely Watch Babies, Pets And Burglars
• Y Combinator - “I have HighlightCam monitoring my baby in his crib— it’s fabulous (and easy). Congrats on the launch guys!”
• LifeHacker - HighlightCam Is a Quick and Easy Motion-Sensing Security Cam

One thing we’d like to add to these accounts: HighlightCam records your footage all the time, whether there’s motion or not.  We then find the highlights using a bunch of different cues, including motion and audio.

A tiny mouse running across the floor, or a loud conversation held off-camera—if that’s the most interesting thing that happened in an hour, that’s what we’ll show you!

• Baby monitor
• Glimpse a mouse zipping through the kitchen
• Catch the garbage guys knocking over your cans
• Keep an eye on the cash register
• Watch the rabbits while on vacation
• Look for deer in the back yard
• Monitor the house while a realtor shows it off
• Burglar alarm
• See who wanders past your laptop
• Recap a party
• Summarize a lecture