Turn Your Raspberry Pi into a Live Surveillance Camera with Motion

This guide shows how to build a simple surveillance system using a Raspberry Pi and a USB webcam, allowing you to view live video from a browser on any computer.

1. Detect the Camera

The Raspberry Pi supports many USB webcams. After plugging the camera into a USB port, verify detection using one of two methods:

Method 1: Check for /dev/video0:

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ ls /dev/video*
/dev/video0

Method 2: List USB devices and look for the camera entry:

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0458:7060 KYE Systems Corp. (Mouse Systems) Genius iSlim 2000AF V2   # detected USB camera
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0424:ec00 Standard Microsystems Corp. SMSC9512/9514 Fast Ethernet Adapter
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0424:9514 Standard Microsystems Corp. SMC9514 Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

2. Install the Motion Package

On the official Raspbian system, install Motion with:

sudo apt-get install motion

If installation fails, first update the package lists and upgrade existing packages:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

3. Enable the Motion Daemon

Edit /etc/default/motion (install vim or use nano) and change the start_motion_daemon setting from no to yes:

# set to 'yes' to enable the motion daemon
start_motion_daemon=yes

4. Configure Motion

Open the main configuration file /etc/motion/motion.conf and adjust the following key options:

# Start in daemon (background) mode (default: off)
daemon on

# Restrict stream connections to localhost only (default: on)
stream_localhost off

# Image width (pixels) – default 352, set to 800
width 800

# Image height (pixels) – default 288, set to 600
height 600

Save the file and exit the editor.

5. Start the Service

Start Motion as a system service and then launch it:

sudo service motion start
sudo motion

The console will display messages such as loading the configuration file and confirming that Motion 4.0 has started.

6. View the Video Stream

Open a web browser and navigate to http://<em>RaspberryPi_IP</em>:8081. The live video feed works reliably in Google Chrome; other browsers may require additional configuration.

The Raspberry Pi’s IP address can be found in the router’s admin interface or by using an IP scanner.