active home, homeeseer, autom8it and web cams

[Stephen <yahoo@xxxxxxx>]

Hello,

Up to now I have used active home to automate appliances at set times.
Now I want to use other inputs to control events. I have bought a web
cam and after reading the ukha archives I found that people
recommended software like gotcha! I want to use motion detector
software with the webcam to switch a light on when someone moves, just
like a glorified pir really.

Goctha and similar software will execute an application when they
detect movement. What I want is to be able to run a command line like
activehome A1 on from within gotcha.

I can't find anythibg in the active home help about using command line
parameters; is it possible?

I have downloaded the trial of homeseer, because I like the idea of
checking on home via the web or the phone if I am away. I could not
find anything in the help files for that either.

What about autom8it. I haven't tried that yet. Can that do what I
want? Has anyone archived the free betas that I could try?

FInally, any comments on using a web cam this way: is it easier to use
a pir?

What about triggering events by email? Gotcha will send emails to
homeseer, but then I would need a mail server running. Also homeseer
only polls the mail server once every x minutes, so won't there be a
delay between the signal and the action?

Thanks.