video taping yourself

noahmckinnon · Post by **noahmckinnon** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 12:14 am

I thought this may be of interest to some people either for themselves, or those they know who suspect they have apnea but don't currently have someone to tape them at night.

I wanted to see myself when my apap reported me having an "event" so I decided to look for some video software that would control a regular digital video camera and record only when it detected either motion or noise. I also wanted it to be able to "pre-record" so that when recording was triggered, the video would automatically save the previous 20 seconds (or whatever duration you specify). Essentially, the software is always recording, but just saves when the event is triggered. It also imprints the time and date directly on the video footage. Ideally the software would interface with the apap so it would record when the apap detected events, but I'm hoping that when events happen, I'll move slightly or make some kind of noise.

In any case, I found some software called Security Spy and will be demoing a beta version of it for the next few nights. Unfortunately for you PC users, it's mac only, but I'm guessing there's a PC equivalent out there somewhere.

As far as camera and lighting go, the set up is pretty easy. Most dv cameras these days have either a low-light or "night shot" mode and will stay on without automatically turning off as long as there's no tape inside. I only have a low-light camera so I have to have a small light on all night. But I'll be wearing a pretty good sleep mask so I'm hoping the light won't be an issue. Attach camera to laptop via firewire cable, launch the video application, adjust the motion and sound sensitivity and let it do it's thing. You can have it save one movie file for the night or one movie file per event. Again, you can specify how long you want it to record for so you'll only have footage of the "action".

If the testing goes well, I may write up a review of the software on forum as well as a more detailed description of set up.

rock and roll · Post by **rock and roll** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 12:35 am

Oh goodness, talk aboout one boring movie, one destined for the back shelf of some video store, destined to come to the surface if you decide to run for politics and especially if you do something Michael Jacksonish!!!!!

Just kidding, It's great to hear of a software that only a Mac has instead of PC for a change. As a Mac man myself of course.[/list]

snamvar · Post by **snamvar** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 12:42 am

Hi Noah,
It sounds very interesting. It seems like trying to replicate one of the things they do in sleep studies, except watching it yourself in the morning.
I have my old VHS camcorder which does motion activation recording, but haven't given it a try. I would be interesting as what you might find. Please keep us posted.

Sleeping With The Enemy · Post by **Sleeping With The Enemy** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 9:51 am

Before I was officially diagnosed with OSA, my husband and I thought it was pretty funny how much and how loud I snored.

One night I fell asleep in the recliner and he actually video taped me and let me tell you it wasn't very pretty!!!!

noahmckinnon · Post by **noahmckinnon** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 5:05 pm

rocknroll, the video was pretty freakin boring - 22 minutes of some tossing & turning and a lot of small movements. But ultimately it worked. It's pretty easy to see my chest expanding and contracting, hear little noises (I dangled a microphone right above my head). And because the resulting file is a digital movie, you can instantly navigate around the timeline. There was one funny part where I remember waking up in the middle of a dream. In the dream I was laughing, and on the video, I sound like an a hooting owl.

When I looked at my sleep data, interestingly none of the arousal events as recorded by the Spirit corresponded to any of the recorded events triggered by movements, not even within the pre-recorded time span (i.e. the duration of video that's saved prior to the recording trigger). The time differential based on a synchronizing during the session (pulling the mask off to trigger a massive leak) was about 15 seconds. I guess when I stop breathing, I really don't move much or make a noise (motion & sound sensitivity were set fairly high, sound almost too high).

To make this more effective in my case, I think the software really would need to be synched with the apap (something I have no idea how to do) so that it records based on apneas and hypopneas.

rock and roll · Post by **rock and roll** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 5:29 pm

A hoot owl huh

My wife says when I stop breathing I show no activity either just she will hear me stop and waits to hear me again. Also no set breathing rythm. Not surprised you really did not see anything. I think the sleep guys at the clinics are watching all the moniters hooked up to us more than us really.

unclebob · Post by **unclebob** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 10:11 pm

Kind of interesting thread!

Wouldn't it be great to see a video of ourselves while sleeping that could be correlated not only with our apnea events but also our dreaming? Nah, probably pretty boring unless actual verbalized unconscious thoughts could also be recorded - bring on the wet dreams! Kind of miss those from my youth.

Also. these tapes could be used to demonstrate abuse when our spouses slug us in the middle of the night on the pretense that we were snoring when actually it was only a quiet giggle when trying to achieve a wet dream.

Sorry about all that. What I really meant to ask was - during my sleep study there was a video recorder focused on me. how about you? I never thought to ask about that aspect of of the study and what it revealed. Anyone have any experience with this?

Talk about rainout of a different variety - wet is OK!

Bob F

Bullwinkle · Post by **Bullwinkle** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 10:19 pm

Sounds like cool software; I too have wondered about what is going on at the time of an "event". However, my wife outlawed video cameras in the bedroom a few years ago.

Jeff - sorry, my mind rarely gets out of the gutter.

unclebob · Post by **unclebob** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 10:34 pm

Thanks R&R - I needed that!

Who the hell needs a wobbly hose that shoots moist hot air anyway! Need to suck it up and carry a big stick to fend off thoughts of actual uneventful sleep.

Bob F

Bob, who takes so many pills already may never have noticed if a viagra (rhymes with Niagara - damn, more wet dreams) was slipped in!

ozij · Post by **ozij** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 7:24 am

I'm pretty sure that where I had my test they usually just focus a camera on you, in order to watch you sleep (e.g. is your mouth open during titration?). Recording everyone's hours and hours of sleep is not very practical - where do you store all those tapes (or digital data) who has time to watch all that... etc.

Bullwinkle · Post by **Bullwinkle** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 8:55 am

unclebob,

If you are anything like me, you would know if someone slipped in "the blue pill" because, you would probably have a massive headache that would keep you from caring about any primary benefits of the pill. Sigh.

You can always try "the orange pill" if you just can't throw the football through that swinging tire any more, but it can swell up your sinues as much as it's primary target so that a CPAP mask that night would be impossible. Double Sigh.

Or so I have read at least

-Jeff