[sclug] Webcams

[Jonathan H N Chin]

n.a.haughton wrote:
> I was toying with the idea of a webcam in the garden - but was put off 
> by the apparent restriction of 5m from a USB device to the host PC.  
> Even if I network up a spare PC located in the garden shed, the ideal 
> position for a webcam (birds, badgers, foxes etc) is much more than 5m 
> away from it. Has anyone any experience with 'long-distance' remote 
> webcams (without spending a fortune on the latest NASA or ESA 
> technology) who would be willing to educate me?

One can run video over coax quite happily for quite long distances.

I have a couple of cheap Swann minicams pointing out of windows here
at the Institute. One of them is halfway around the building from my
office and connected by about a 20m run. Both connect to the same
Hauppauge tv card in an old Cyrix 6x86 box sitting under my desk:

   http://pfaff.newton.cam.ac.uk/CMS/qcam/Readme.html
   http://www.swann.com.au/reseller/security/diy_mini.pdf

The system has been in service since 1998, although the cameras have
had to be replaced a few times (oddly enough, they don't seem to like
pointing directly into the sun for extended periods, even when behind
ND4 filters).

Yes, I know. The cameras are really badly focussed.


I should have thought that the only addition one would need in order
to set up a similar system in a garden would be to run power down a
suitably protected conduit (I get my power off mains sockets and
keyboard passthrough connectors...).


-jonathan

-- 
Jonathan H N Chin, 1 dan | deputy computer | Newton Institute, Cambridge, UK
<jc254 at newton.cam.ac.uk> | systems mangler | tel/fax: +44 1223 767091/330508

                "respondeo etsi mutabor" --Rosenstock-Huessy