One of our Bouviers is going to be having puppies in another week or so and my wife has gotten the idea to put up a web camera so friends in the dog world can view them while they grow up. Of course with my being the IT person that I am, she asked me if we could do it. Being the IT person that I am, I lied through my teeth and said of course, no problem. :D
Well, ok, I didn't really lie, I am familar with doing video over IP and teleconferencing with some very expensive video gear and I did set up a stand alone Axis 2100 camera that you could access from it's own IP address a few years ago. But I've never set up a web cam where people could click on a URL link from our web page or message forum to access it. I have no problem with capturing images and ftping them up to my hosting site, but we want to put something up that is more real time video.
So I started searching on the internet and looking at different cameras and streaming video software and what was available. I think I found a good choice in camera (unless I can get my work to let me borrow one of our spare $4k cameras for about 6 weeks :D) that isn't to badly priced. It's the Logitech QuickCam Orbit AF Auto Focus System, which can do up to 30 fps. I have a 15mps fiber link, so bandwidth isn't really an issue. I don't have a static IP address, but I do know what my assigned IP address is, which has stayed the same for months at a time as long as I don't reboot my router.
What I am having trouble figuring out, is the software needed to put something like this together. There seems to be a lot of choices out there, but they all fall wtihin a wide range of options and abilities. Although free is nice, I also know you get what you pay for, so I don't mind paying for the software (as long as it's not more expensive than the camera).
I figure there must be any number of people on here that have set up a web cam so others could watch their fish tank, hamster or Chia Pet grow. :D So I thought I'd ask on here and save some time trying to find the right search words on Google. Has anyone gone through setting one up lately and do you have any suggestions and pointers?
Thanks
Mike
Message edited by author 2009-02-01 11:23:59.
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