Wireless recording device

[Dannyx]

Good day folks. I'm looking to get or build myself a little listening bug device and I'm not sure where to start. Before we delve into WHY I need this (and it will be installed in my own home, just so you know ), let's look over how I imagine this device: I imagine something that can record from a microphone to an SD card and can then be accessed wirelessly to listen to what it recorded....sounds simple, but I could not find anything that fits the bill. I got fairly close with some projects which describe listening to a microphone wirelessly with an arduino or ESP, but none had a record feature, I'm guessing because the limited power of such devices makes it impossible to listen AND record to a card at the same time. I also don't suppose you can get any "hi-fi" quality out of something like this for the same reason. If there's someone like "Q" from James Bond in here who has any good ideas, I'd be happy to try them out The hardest bit I believe is going to be recording the sounds for later access, since live listening could be achieved relatively easy from what I learned.

[stj]

Re: Wireless recording device

use an old android / linux phone??

[Dannyx]

Re: Wireless recording device

Hey good idea. Why didn't I think of that ?! It's so simple it's positively brilliant ! Cheers dude !....I mean it can record, that's for sure (in very reasonable quality actually), but can I then download sh!t off of it and "manage" it remotely without having physical access to it ? That's going to be an issue, because it's going to be couched somewhere I won't have access to...I'll plant inside a TV. That's right, INSIDE the friggin TV, in the cabinet !

[stj]

Re: Wireless recording device

if it's got wifi then you should be able to ftp or ssh into it.

[Dannyx]

Re: Wireless recording device

I believe it will require rooting for some of this "off-label" uses. I'm actually talking more about controlling the thing, rather than downloading stuff from it, since once it's locked up, I can't go in there and hit record. I'd have to do that remotely somehow or via an app or stuff...

[stj]

Re: Wireless recording device

so what's the issue?
unlocking the bootloader,replacing the recovery partition and then installing custom firmware is the first thing i always do.

tell me what phones you could potentially have for this and i'll do some checking.

[Dannyx]

Re: Wireless recording device

I'll dig around the ol' junk box of the shop tmmoz. Some even have dead batteries or dead touchscreens, but if I can get it going via OTG and then manage it wirelessly, it's all I need really...

[stj]

Re: Wireless recording device

you need a working touch screen to configure it.
you also going to need the volume buttons working - to get into "fastboot"

[Dannyx]

Re: Wireless recording device

When the touchscreen is busted, we usually go OTG....provided there isn't a part where you need to select something and it only works via the touchscreen, which I believe is what you're referring to, since the actual UI - no problem, OTG works like a charm and I have done it countless times. I looked up some "spy apps" for this purpose and found a few, but haven't actually tried anything - the offer is quite substantial...

[stj]

Re: Wireless recording device

well list your phones

[Dannyx]

Re: Wireless recording device

well list your phones

The one I got my hands on the quickest without having to dig too much is an Allview Viper S...it belonged to my workmate who liked to "play developer" every now and then, so I believed he's already frankensteined the hell out of it with rooting and custom sh!t, plus it totally works....I'm not too sure about the recording quality, but for a proof of concept, it should do.

[Dannyx]

Re: Wireless recording device

Mic sounds pretty good on this thing - I did a couple of test recordings and I could clearly hear myself across the room

[stj]

Re: Wireless recording device

well you could plug a new mic into the handsfree/headphone socket.
infact you probably should just so you can get it directional.

[Dannyx]

Re: Wireless recording device

I'll probably do that after I've set up the hard part which is going to be the app or whatever does the job that I want. I have one of those little mics designed for CCTV cameras which has a little preamp module and sounds very good over large distances, so I reckon I can use that for even better results.

[Dannyx]

Re: Wireless recording device

Found a random app which sort-of does the job: it listens on the Viper and broadcasts the sound to the PC. Trouble is the "receiver" app works only on PC, no mobile version. It also doesn't record "locally" on the device that does the bugging - the computer does the recording, which is not practical. I'm also not sure how you'd access this setup remotely, at least not without a lot of hassle, so the overall idea works, but it's not there yet....

EDIT: found THIS one which comes even closer than the last one, offering WAN support and local storage (just like a DVR) but haven't tried it yet due to the poor reviews and...well I'm sleepy at the moment, so I'll take a nap first but I wanted you guys to see what it SHOULD do, since the description is very promising...functionality probably not so much, according to what the reviews say...

[stj]

Re: Wireless recording device

all you want is an ssh server and an ftp server.

ftp for getting the mp4 file, ssh for commanding it to start and stop.

[Dannyx]

Re: Wireless recording device

Not being too skilled with mobile development and apps and stuff, I have a general idea as to what those protocols are, but no idea how you'd even start setting up and implement.

[stj]

Re: Wireless recording device

they set themselves up, they just listen for the pc.

on the pc you install filezilla ftp client to up/download files,
and if your on windows then you want putty for the ssh.

[Dannyx]

Re: Wireless recording device

and if your on windows then you want putty for the ssh.

Yes, I'm a simple windows guy I know Putty. My buddy uses it all the time to control his Raspberry Pi and even I gave it a whirl when I messed with a TP-Link router and tapped into its serial port.
Now the question is what about the device side ? How do you enable remote access and stuff ? Would this allow live listening as well somehow?

[stj]

Re: Wireless recording device

live listening - maybe, i'm not sure.
for that you could just stream the audio over tcp to vlc on the pc.