I have a Stand Alone DVD Recorder which i barely use and a camera installed on my house door. Now usually the camera is just used to see who is knocking. But recently something happened where i now would like to record the video..
Recording Equipment is expensive and usually for multiple cameras and would be a over kill.. Also i dont want to record a whole day .. then take another day to sift through it.. So using my DVD Recorder and my PIC Micro knowledge. I came up with a device that will use the Parallax PING))) sensor to determine if someone is walking past my door.. or coming to it and start recording on my dvd recorder for 30 seconds. If the person is still there it will continue recording. If not it will stop and create a chapter… Here is something cool about the PING))) vs Motion Sensor… even if they arent moving they will be blocking my sensor triggering it…
Here is a schematic and a few pictures of it so far… It works like a charm!!!