Can my iMac record me while sleeping?

[nancy4art]

Help all you techno- wizards....!
I need a cheap way to video/audio/ record on my iMac somehow...
I have sleep apnea-- and have spent thousands of dollars and years to determine the effectiveness of one sleep apnea apparatus after another to lessen my throat collapsing and me choking at night.
I can't afford a 375.00 home test -- or even an 85.00 oximeter report all the time.

I heard of someone using a video camera to photograph themselves at night to show their MD what was going on.

Is there a way I can plug in my iMac 17" screen with the Intel Core Processor (1.83 GHz) pointed at me while I sleep so I can get me on a video conference-- or imovie-- or just record the sound somehow...
Ideally--- if something can just record me for 7 hours in semi darkness-- and then I can run it on fast forward to see when I have the cessation of breath-- that I can email to my MD.
Or-- do you folks have any other ideas of how it can be cheaply done?
Thanks!

Noddin Nancy

[EricNau]

Not sure if they're maximum time limits (there probably are), but have you tried the video recording features in Photo Booth or iMovie?

[TEG]

Just use QuickTime (you may need to spring for pro) and create a new video recording. Although, an audio recording may be just as helpful. I do it every once in a while with my iPod as I sometimes talk in my sleep, and sometimes I come up with great ideas while doing so.

TEG

[ICEBreaker]

Sorry. This is probably too late. But I've done it using an open source program called Gawker which can take a photo at intervals of your choosing. It cannot record sound though. It's amazing what you find out about your sleep. I advice you to get an infra-red lamp so that you can stay in the dark, but all cameras are sensitive to IR wave length. I haven't done this myself, but I don't see why it wouldn't work. It says it only works on Tiger, but I've used it on Leopard.

http://gawker.sourceforge.net/Download.html