SolarGal Posted June 25, 2006 Posted June 25, 2006 I know that some caches consist of finding the webcam that's doing streaming video. How hard & expensive is it to set up a streaming video cache. If it's not too hard, does anyone know of a "how to" website that will get me started? Thanks so much.
+IV_Warrior Posted June 25, 2006 Posted June 25, 2006 New webcam caches aren't being listed. You might be able to find a category to list a webcam over at Waymarking.com.
SolarGal Posted June 25, 2006 Author Posted June 25, 2006 Thanks for the URL. I still need to know how to do live video streaming. Do you know how to do it?
+Vinny & Sue Team Posted June 26, 2006 Posted June 26, 2006 Well, briefly, for starters, if you wish to have a webcam live on the web pretty much 24 hours per day, it will need to be hooked up to a PC configured as a server, with, of course, the appropriate operating system and other supporting server-side software applications, and with a 24-hour continuous broadband connection to the web, and you will need to own a domain name; that domain name may be mapped to your local online server if it has a dedicated IP address (and excelelnt firewalls) and if your ISP allows it, or your PC may send the feed to a website hosted by a third party vendor for a few bucks per month. The PC which you choose to configure as your on-site local server may be an older machine which is now dedicated to that webcam application only, or you may choose to use a very fast PC with sufficient memory and HD space - configured as a server -- simultaneously as your local webcam server and simultaneously as your PC for accesing the web. However, if you were to choose the latter configuration, you will need to be sure to avoid running processes on your PC which might cannbialize most of the CPU usage or most of the memory, as some reserve will be needed at all times for the webcam server process. I have avoided giving you any OS-specific or webcam-specific details, since they will vary across OS and across webcam chosen, and such information is readily available on websites dedicated to setting up webcams. Have fun!
+The 4 F's Posted June 26, 2006 Posted June 26, 2006 Well, briefly, for starters, if you wish to have a webcam live on the web pretty much 24 hours per day, it will need to be hooked up to a PC configured as a server, with, of course, the appropriate operating system and other supporting server-side software applications, and with a 24-hour continuous broadband connection to the web, and you will need to own a domain name; that domain name may be mapped to your local online server if it has a dedicated IP address (and excelelnt firewalls) and if your ISP allows it, or your PC may send the feed to a website hosted by a third party vendor for a few bucks per month. The PC which you choose to configure as your on-site local server may be an older machine which is now dedicated to that webcam application only, or you may choose to use a very fast PC with sufficient memory and HD space - configured as a server -- simultaneously as your local webcam server and simultaneously as your PC for accesing the web. However, if you were to choose the latter configuration, you will need to be sure to avoid running processes on your PC which might cannbialize most of the CPU usage or most of the memory, as some reserve will be needed at all times for the webcam server process. Huh
+bwmick Posted June 26, 2006 Posted June 26, 2006 my logitech web cam has a setting in the program for broadcasting check their website out. or the website of whatever camera you have. bwmick
+Prime Suspect Posted June 26, 2006 Posted June 26, 2006 I know that some caches consist of finding the webcam that's doing streaming video. How hard & expensive is it to set up a streaming video cache. If it's not too hard, does anyone know of a "how to" website that will get me started? Thanks so much. The majority of the web cam caches didn't use streaming video. Most were still images that refreshed every minute or so.
SolarGal Posted June 26, 2006 Author Posted June 26, 2006 I think to begin with, it would be easier for me to use a website hosted by someone else. The only thing I've found is quite expensive. Vinny, you say there are some for a few bucks a month. Do you have details? Also, you say "such information is readily available on websites dedicated to setting up webcams". That's exactly what I'm looking for. All I've found are expensive corporate things. I don't need to put on a business meeting. Do you have any URL's that explain how to do a simple streaming video (& who hosts them cheaply)? I just did a search of the Logitech website & the only thing I found was info on how to do a video conversation (1-on-1), but nothing on live streaming video (when an unlimited number of people can watch). Did I miss something?
+bwmick Posted June 26, 2006 Posted June 26, 2006 inside the logitech software there are several options Create pics and vids, Create a web cam, broadcast live video and look at my gallery. when choosing any of the options they provide walkthroughs to get it going. hope this is more useful. bwmick
+Vinny & Sue Team Posted June 26, 2006 Posted June 26, 2006 (edited) I think to begin with, it would be easier for me to use a website hosted by someone else. The only thing I've found is quite expensive. Vinny, you say there are some for a few bucks a month. Do you have details? Also, you say "such information is readily available on websites dedicated to setting up webcams". That's exactly what I'm looking for. All I've found are expensive corporate things. I don't need to put on a business meeting. Do you have any URL's that explain how to do a simple streaming video (& who hosts them cheaply)? Briefly, there are many websites which tell you in some detail how to set up a webcam so that you may display its images (usually with periodic update, perhaps once per 10, 20 or 30 seconds, or even once per minute; the latter is a bit slow...). A few Google searches will help you find far more info on this topic. Again, as you already know, you will need a web server with a valid domain name mapped to it, in order to be able to display the webacm picture and any of your acccompanying notes and descriptive text for the world to see. While it is possible -- if you have a 24-hour-uptime broadband connection to the web and if your ISP will allow it, to use a PC at your home or business office -- configured as a web server -- to host your webcam webpage, this option, to me, is a major pain in the butt unless you enjoy wearing an IS/IT troubleshooting hat 24 hours per day, and unless you are a computer geek. At least to me, from my particular unique pespective, it seems like it would be far easier to purchase website hosting for your website (you will need a domain name, of course) from a provider of inexpensive hosting services, perhaps on a shared hosting server. There are many such services which offer quality 24 hour webhosting with 99.99% or better uptime, for a few bucks per month, usually ranging from $3 per month to $8 per month. I can personally recommend any of the following: Your-site hosting at <a href="http://www.your-site.com" target="_blank">http://www.your-site.com</a> Godaddy website hosting at <a href="http://www.godaddy.com" target="_blank">http://www.godaddy.com</a> Simonweb hosting, at <a href="http://www.simonweb.com" target="_blank">http://www.simonweb.com</a> Of course, pricing and bandwidth options aside, it will still be up to you to pick the appropriate hosting provider for your needs, i.e., one which offers you the choice of OS, server-side software applications and options which meet your needs for your unique live webcam setup. Even with this setup, you will still need a PC (perhaps an older spare PC which you may own) located physically near to the webcam; this server PC will be running 24 hours per day and will likely need to be largely configured as a server (not necessarily as a webserver, but rather just as a server) which will be dedicated to sending the pics from the webcam (i.e., at your home or office) via your broadband connection to your website. Oh, and make sure that any such PC has a good hardware firewall (i.e., at your router) and a good software firewall, such as Zone Alarm Pro, as it will be hooked up to the web 24 hours per day via a broadband connection, and viruses, worms, trojans and "backdoor" attacks are very commonplace nowadays on the web. And yes, as you have discovered, there are some vendors offering "dedicated" webcam hosting, largely for real estate companies and online conferencing (and, of course for the burgeoning sex webcam trade), where they do pretty much all the setup work (hardware and software) for you, but since you are purchasing a bundled A-to-Z handholding package from them, those vendors -- as you already know -- tend to charge a pretty hefty price for their services, and often want to lock you into a yearly contract as well. Oh, and your last question was: I just did a search of the Logitech website & the only thing I found was info on how to do a video conversation (1-on-1), but nothing on live streaming video (when an unlimited number of people can watch). Did I miss something? No, you did not miss anything. Rather, and briefly, as you have already guessed, yes, it can be quite easy and simple and quick-and-dirty for anyone with a PC and a web connection to offer a bit of webcam video during a short-term 1-on-1 conversation, even using webcam chat services such as those freely offered at Yahoo, etc. (or offered by some sex websites), and it is also easy to record a few seconds or even a few minutes of webcam content at your home or office and save it as a file (perhaps a .wmv file) and then e-mail it to a friend. However, as you are discovering, if you wish to make your regularly-updated (i.e., reguarly refreshed) webcam images available 24-hours per day to any and all comers via a website on the Internet, then you need to put a bit more work into it, and it is the mechanics of that latter process that my discourse immediately above (as well as my earlier reply, to which some some pusillanimous polecat lumpen proletariat petit burgeois heathen had responded with a reply somewhat along the lines of "Huh?") have been intended to address. And, I would love to give you even more details here, but the alien grays (from Zeta Reticuli) and their heartless reptoid reptilian shapeshifter lackeys have demanded -- via their hyperspace webcam linkage to my bunker and laboratory ensconced here in my secret remote mountain enclave -- that I reveal no more on this topic, lest someone use this information to place a clandestine webcam on the deck of their alien mothership. Actually, the truth is more mundane: I need to go have a bite of breakfast and get outside to feed my hens! They are squaking at me! Edited June 26, 2006 by Vinny & Sue Team
+Vinny & Sue Team Posted June 26, 2006 Posted June 26, 2006 BTW, a quick addendum to my notes above. The cheap hosting services which I have mentioned above -- which typically offer you about 4 GB to 8 GB of bandwidth per month (and so there is a cap on monthly bandwidth usage) -- should be just find so long as only a few dozen to a few hundred folks access your webcam per month and look at the webcam for only two or three minutes, or less, on average. On the other hand, if your webcam were to attract hundreds of viewers per day or hundreds per week, and each were to spend more than a few minutes looking at the webcam images, then your monthly bandwidth usage would likely quickly spiral well beyond the 4 to 8 GB per month lmit, and you would need to purchase a more expensive webhosting package, one with greater bandwidth.
+alexrudd Posted June 26, 2006 Posted June 26, 2006 (use instead of <a href=></a> next time, Vinny) Do you know anything about what a server is and how you would set one up? If not, it may take quite a bit of experimenting and learning to set up your own server (not bad experience to have, though)
SolarGal Posted June 28, 2006 Author Posted June 28, 2006 Everyone has been very helpful. I found that for web hosting, your-site & simonweb offer cheap services, but do not support live video streaming. Godaddy offers cheap web hosting, & also live video streaming, but that costs more ($35/mo.). Also, if you run over your alloted bandwidth, you can't stop it, you're just charged a pretty penny. You also have to know what you're doing with regards to setting up a server. So instead of a fun little project, it's a fun big project, which means I won't be doing it at this time. Maybe in the future when the costs go down, things are more plug-n-play & I have more time. At least now I know what's involved. Thanks to everyone who offered info.
+Vinny & Sue Team Posted June 28, 2006 Posted June 28, 2006 Everyone has been very helpful. I found that for web hosting, your-site & simonweb offer cheap services, but do not support live video streaming. Godaddy offers cheap web hosting, & also live video streaming, but that costs more ($35/mo.). Also, if you run over your alloted bandwidth, you can't stop it, you're just charged a pretty penny. You also have to know what you're doing with regards to setting up a server. So instead of a fun little project, it's a fun big project, which means I won't be doing it at this time. Maybe in the future when the costs go down, things are more plug-n-play & I have more time. At least now I know what's involved. Thanks to everyone who offered info. Are you sure it is that difficult? I suspect that some or all of the webhosting services may be giving you a slightly incorrect answer if your question has been prhased using the term "streaming video". As several posters have pointed out, what is likely best for you to do is not to offer true "streaming video" (which consumes amazing bandwidth and also uses lots of CPU time/power on the server end and on the viewer'sPC, but rather to do what most services, such as the Santa Monica Pier webcam, offer, which is a cam shot which is refreshed once or twice per minute. I suspect that if you were to review hosting service providers using this criteria, then you might get somewhat appealing answers as to feasibility and pricing.
SolarGal Posted June 30, 2006 Author Posted June 30, 2006 I really wanted live streaming video to show a live presentation, but that's just too much at this time. But if showing a picture every 10 seconds or so is a lot easier, I could look into that. I do know how to make a simple web page with text & pictures & links. Do I need more than that? Can I use just a normal web hosting service? Do you know of a URL that will explain it all to me? All the help I've found doing a web search either tells me about real live streaming video or how to store a short video file on the web. Nothing on how to present a picture every 10 seconds.
Keystone Posted June 30, 2006 Posted June 30, 2006 Since this thread doesn't appear to relate to geocaching, I am closing it at this time. Webcam submissions are no longer listed on Geocaching.com. If this thread relates to the webcam category at Waymarking, I'd be happy to reopen the thread and move it to the Waymarking forum. I'd move it to the Off Topic forum, but the OP is not a premium member. If there is a reason to reopen and/or move the thread, the OP can send me a PM. Otherwise, the OP should feel free to correspond privately with those who have offered advice.
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