Setting up a webcam at the Natural History Museum
Discussion
At the Earth From The Air exhibition outside the Natural History Museum in London, we've decided to set up a webcam, so we need a computer whizz to sort it out for us. We have a PC and a Mac, but only a dialup connection at the moment. Can any of you chaps help? We'll make it worth your while, naturally.
Is dialup the only connection you can get? You'll need braodband to do decent streaming... Dialup would probably be ok if you were to just upload a static pic at regular intervals, say every 5-10mins...
Not sure if you'll be able to do it using the Mac, PC's seem the norm for this kind of thing. :waitstobeprovedwrong:
Not sure if you'll be able to do it using the Mac, PC's seem the norm for this kind of thing. :waitstobeprovedwrong:
Get some webcam software that takes a pic every few minutes and uploads to a server via FTP. That image is then called from a web page. That's a webcam in it's simplest form. As xsaratvr said, you really need an always-on connection such as a leased line or DSL, don't try to stream from your PC unless you're expectivg very little traffic as it'll be brought to it's knees in no time. Your ISP might get a bit pissed too if you satrt maxing your DSL out 100% of the time.
Use the Macintosh as a footstool. You can stand on it in order to attach the cam higher up to get a better view. If you already have a footstool, a doorstop is always a handy implement as is something to kick very hard when things don't go your way. :ducksandrunsforcover:
Use the Macintosh as a footstool. You can stand on it in order to attach the cam higher up to get a better view. If you already have a footstool, a doorstop is always a handy implement as is something to kick very hard when things don't go your way. :ducksandrunsforcover:
roop said:
Use the Macintosh as a footstool. You can stand on it in order to attach the cam higher up to get a better view. If you already have a footstool, a doorstop is always a handy implement as is something to kick very hard when things don't go your way. :ducksandrunsforcover:
Hey, someone else who really appreciates the REAL use for a Mac...
Ever noticed that "MacHeads" are all luvvies who think that the Mac is soooo cool... Tell em that a PC is cool and they go off in a huff...
Tell 'em Photoshop is the same on a PC and they will argue till they are blue in the face that it isn't...
>> Edited by xsaravtr on Tuesday 28th October 19:37
Rob - don't even get me started on the Mac...! There was a time when they were all NuBus, SCSI hard drives and paint better than a BMW - lovely, but now they are just poor x86 wannabes. They even have IBM processors FFS...! Adobe products - Aaargh! Bain of my life. Always work like the crap Mac ports they are. The only decent one is Acrobat - forget the rest.
Ah, but macs are faster - Bollocks. Any decent P4 or Athlon will blow the top spec Macs out of the water for half the price in any like-for-like operation (excluding crap mac ports like Adobe stuff).
Ah, but they have better graphics - Bollocks. They use 12 month old PC graphics cards and aren't as fast as when they are slotted in a PC. OpenGL support...? Give me a break...!
Ah, but Macs are easier to use - Bollocks. How many computer training facilities use Macs. About 1% of
all I think you'll find...!
Ah, but Macs don't crash - Bollocks. My XP machine is infinitely more reliable than the G4 'Power' Mac (notice the apostophes - the term power is used very loosely) we have in the office. It currently has some wierd boot error to do with PCI which a full reinstall did not fix.
Anyways, rant over - I hate Macs apart from the Quadra 940 which is a sweet box.
Ah, but macs are faster - Bollocks. Any decent P4 or Athlon will blow the top spec Macs out of the water for half the price in any like-for-like operation (excluding crap mac ports like Adobe stuff).
Ah, but they have better graphics - Bollocks. They use 12 month old PC graphics cards and aren't as fast as when they are slotted in a PC. OpenGL support...? Give me a break...!
Ah, but Macs are easier to use - Bollocks. How many computer training facilities use Macs. About 1% of
all I think you'll find...! Ah, but Macs don't crash - Bollocks. My XP machine is infinitely more reliable than the G4 'Power' Mac (notice the apostophes - the term power is used very loosely) we have in the office. It currently has some wierd boot error to do with PCI which a full reinstall did not fix.
Anyways, rant over - I hate Macs apart from the Quadra 940 which is a sweet box.
My Amiga used to have two and most PC's have 2 AND a scroll wheel!!!... The Ideal solution would be to use a network camera to send a live image periodically via FTP.
Network cameras can be accessed via the web but many only allow a few simultaneous connections (say 10).
Check with local laws regarding use of cctv cameras in public places.
This exhibit is amazing ! I saw it a few months ago and was very impressed. All the photos are brill !
A remarkable addition is tactile images for blind and partially sighted people with a very high level of detail. The images are very large as well !
The website for the exhibit is:
<a href="http://www.earthfromtheair.com">www.earthfromtheair.com</a>
Click on gallery to view from various locations across the globe .
Open 10am to 10pm daily !
>> Edited by robertuk on Wednesday 29th October 19:15
>> Edited by robertuk on Wednesday 29th October 19:16
Network cameras can be accessed via the web but many only allow a few simultaneous connections (say 10).
Check with local laws regarding use of cctv cameras in public places.
This exhibit is amazing ! I saw it a few months ago and was very impressed. All the photos are brill !
A remarkable addition is tactile images for blind and partially sighted people with a very high level of detail. The images are very large as well !
The website for the exhibit is:
<a href="http://www.earthfromtheair.com">www.earthfromtheair.com</a>
Click on gallery to view from various locations across the globe .
Open 10am to 10pm daily !
>> Edited by robertuk on Wednesday 29th October 19:15
>> Edited by robertuk on Wednesday 29th October 19:16
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