[Klug-general] Webcams and remote controls

[Karl Lattimer]

On Thu, 2009-05-28 at 13:11 +0100, J D Freeman wrote:
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> I am looking for a webcam, ideally I am after an IP one, but would settle
> for a usb one if I can't find a suitable IP one. However, I have a few
> slightly unusual requirements for it. It needs to be able to focus
> properly close to the camera, something in the region of 4-6inches,
> closer is better. It needs to work with IR light. Needs to be as high a
> res as possible, minimum is about 1024x768. Oh, and of course, it needs to
> work with linux. 

interesting requirements.... 

building a BYO 3D scanner? If I had that kit, that's probably what I'd
be doing ;)

Most of the cameras out there which are promoted as "Vista compatible"
will work with the uvcvideo driver, as does any usb apple isight. 

As for IR, you can go one of two ways, use a filter which you can get
from a photographic shop, or try to do the filtering in software, which
is doable, but difficult. You see the thing is, all of these cameras
will pick up some IR light, but the visible spectrum produces a vastly
stronger signal. In a similar way to the way the wiimote camera works,
you can simply filter out the visible spectrum and concentrate on the
IR. Cheap, and cheerful :)

You may also need a separate source of infrared to get an image through.
This could be done with a couple infrared LEDs at 4-6 inches.

> I am also looking for a remote for use with mythtv, what do people
> recommend?

hate to say it but microsoft's mceusb remote is awesome :/ never mind,
it's only a couple of dollars to the man.

BR,
 K
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