• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

Remote camera help

El Greco

Summer worshipper
El Greco
Joined
Nov 11, 2003
Messages
17,604
I would like to install a surveillance camera. It would be better if I could move the camera from the PC. I'd also want to be able to operate it and check it from a remote computer (the two PCs are both on 1Mbit ADSL connections). I suppose any remote connection program could do that, but those tend to be a little slow and I suspect the picture won't be smooth. Are there any better programs for this job ? Any particular cameras I might consider ? I'm not interested in very good quality, a color camera of 640x480 at most would be ok.
 
El G,
There are many wireless cameras available that are servers as well, so you can access them through your browser. When you say you want to remove the camera from the PC, do you mean you just don't want them tied together with a cable? You'd need, for instance, a wireless-capable laptop within the transmission range of the wireless camera.
Go to buy.com and search for "wireless camera" - they have quite a few.
 
Blackwell said:
When you say you want to remove the camera from the PC, do you mean you just don't want them tied together with a cable?
Click to expand...

Thanks. I meant "move" like rotate or turn around. That would mean a camera with a motor.
 
Almost. That one apparently swivels when it detects movement which is ok, but I'd also like user-controlled movement.
 
How about this then?

000439.jpg


The entire web page is here

PLANET ICA-550W provides an advanced digital solution of Internet Camera with pan / tilt capability and 802.11g wireless compliant device to meet more application demands. The ICA-550W supports either Ethernet or 802.11g WLAN network access, it can be placed anywhere for various surveillance demands. Besides the benefit above, via DDNS / UPnP supports, the ICA-550W can be accessed any time, any place via standard web browser at your fingertips.

With a CMOS type image sensor, and cutting-edge dual video encoder MPEG4 and MJPEG technology, the ICA-550W delivers high quality audio and video. Plus the powerful camera utility, up to 9 cameras, the system administrator can manage and perform recording, monitoring task via existing network connection. The ICA-550W can be integrated with web pages with live voice and voice stream.
Click to expand...
Webfusion, I think the one you have linked in your previous post is just a mock up camera to make people think they are being watched
 
Yep, that looks perfect. Anyone's been using something like this ?
 
El Greco said:
Yep, that looks perfect. Anyone's been using something like this ?
Click to expand...

I have used something like this, but right now I can't give you an address to go to to see a live demo.

You can try a D-Link product demo here Only thing is the demo is popular so you might have to wait to see it. Sorry, but it is not a pan and tilt demo.

IP cameras are not perfect. The biggest problem I have is the speed of ADSL. Remember, asynchronous speed meaning (usually) the download spped is faster than the upload speed. The camera will be uploading the video stream, which leads to very slow refreshes. Should be okay if on the same wired network though. This delay also causes problems when you try to control the camera's pan and tilt. Very often I overshoot because I think the camera has not responded when it has.

The other problem is DDNS. The cameras sometimes have problems updating the IP information with the DNS provider. I get past this by loading the software DDNS client onto a computer that is always ON on the network. Of course no need for DDNS if your ADSL has a static IP, althought I would still register the static IP with a DDNS provider to make it "people readable"
 
I have Dynamic IP so I'll use no-ip.com. I'm also going to have 256Kbits upload which will be exclusively used for the camera. What's the upload speed that's giving you problems ?

Also, do you have any experience with the image quality in low-lighting conditions ?
 
Last edited:
You will need to know if the camera that you choose directly supports no-ip.com, not all do. Alternately, if you already have support to no-ip.com in your ADSL router, you can open a port to the internal IP of the camera.

As for the 256kbps, it would be enough, but not for 30 fps.

If the camera is mostly being used in low light, I'd get an infra red sensitive one so I can use IR LEDs to light up the area. Note this will result in monochrome video only.

A normal camera being used in really low light will give grainy pictures. I'd choose the camera based on the f number of the lens (lower is better) and this will be specified by the manufacturer. The sensitivity to light will also be specified.

See here for a review of an IP camera to get a further feel of what you are getting into.

I can't specifically tell you to get a camera "f1.4, 0.5 lux sensitivity, 100 degrees pan, etc, etc" because I don't know what you want to use it for. Hope this helps.
 
Last edited:
Sorry to bring this post up again, but the coincidence is, someone here wants the same thing you do.

So I am trying this. There is a demo on the website if you are interested.
 
Thanks! Some very interesting cameras over there, and in good prices too. Perhaps I'll be getting one of these :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom