Wireless Network Camera and WebCam Solution?

Im looking to buy a webcam and network camera, ideally a device that
does both. I'd like to connect the device to my home (wireless)
network through my wireless router (netgear). I'd use the camera as
- a 'surveillance' device (either remote web access or email video/
phot snapshots triggered from motion sense)
- a traditional webcam (for Windows Live Messenger and Skype)

Is there such a beast?

M wrote:
> Im looking to buy a webcam and network camera, ideally a device that
> does both. I'd like to connect the device to my home (wireless)
> network through my wireless router (netgear). I'd use the camera as
> - a 'surveillance' device (either remote web access or email video/
> phot snapshots triggered from motion sense)
> - a traditional webcam (for Windows Live Messenger and Skype)
>
> Is there such a beast?
>
most of the brands have one
dlink does for sure .

atec 77 > wrote:
> M wrote:
>> Im looking to buy a webcam and network camera, ideally a device that
>> does both. I'd like to connect the device to my home (wireless)
>> network through my wireless router (netgear). I'd use the camera as
>> - a 'surveillance' device (either remote web access or email video/
>> phot snapshots triggered from motion sense)
>> - a traditional webcam (for Windows Live Messenger and Skype)
>>
>> Is there such a beast?
>>
> most of the brands have one
> dlink does for sure .

Unless I'm missing something during my pre-third cup of coffee mode, it
looks like he's looking for an IP cam for surveillance and one that will
also integrate with an instant messaging application.

As far as I know, all the instant messaging apps require a USB cam and
won't work with an IP cam, unless there is a new IP cam on the market that
I haven't come across yet. The closet thing I've seen so far is an
application that will let you use a digital camera or video recorder camera
(one of those cameras that has an LCD screen on it for home movies).

If anyone knows of an application that will let me use my IP cams with an
IM app, that would be great to have.

M <mspencer_home@hotmail.com> hath wroth:

>Im looking to buy a webcam and network camera, ideally a device that
>does both. I'd like to connect the device to my home (wireless)
>network through my wireless router (netgear). I'd use the camera as
>- a 'surveillance' device (either remote web access or email video/
>phot snapshots triggered from motion sense)
>- a traditional webcam (for Windows Live Messenger and Skype)

I don't do Windoze Mess, or whatever it's now called. Skype will work
with any video or audio device that can be seen by the device manager.
If it shows up under:
Control Panel -> Scanners and Camera
it will work.

>Is there such a beast?

<http://www.networkcamerareviews.com>
They have a feature search, which should help.

Motion sensing can also be done in the surveilance software running on
the PC. It doesn't have to be a camera feature.

I don't know if picture quality is an issue, but my opinion of most
cheap wecams is rather dismal. I find it much better to use a broken
digital camera (plenty with broken LCD screens on eBay) and a camera
server, running NTSC video.

I'm using IP Video 9100A+ 4 camera server.
<http://www.aviosys.com>
<http://www.aviosys.com/ip9100aplus.htm>
Make sure you get v2.39 firmware. The manual says:
"Work with MSN& Yahoo Messenger, AMCAP, and WMCAP & VIDCAP program."
<http://www.aviosys.com/images/9100(A)%20Plus%20Manual-NB%20-V2.37.pdf>
Found on eBay or other vendors for about $100.

The video server has an ethernet port, so for wireless connectivity, I
just buy an external "wireless ethernet client bridge". See:
<http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi#Wireless_Ethernet_Bridges>
Not all listed will work. Make sure it has a "client mode".


--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

DTC <no_spam@move_along_folks.foob> hath wroth:

>As far as I know, all the instant messaging apps require a USB cam and
>won't work with an IP cam, unless there is a new IP cam on the market that
>I haven't come across yet. The closet thing I've seen so far is an
>application that will let you use a digital camera or video recorder camera
>(one of those cameras that has an LCD screen on it for home movies).
>
>If anyone knows of an application that will let me use my IP cams with an
>IM app, that would be great to have.

Sure. Yahoo even has it built in. Where you define the camera
location, it can be set to an external IP address.

See the instructions for the 9100A at:
<http://www.aviosys.com/images/9100(A)%20Plus%20Manual-NB%20-V2.37.pdf>
starting at page 8.

The installed software on the PC registers the camera(s) with DirectX.
That means Yahoo, MSN, Skype, and others will work using the local
DirectX driver. For older software, they include a VFM driver, which
I've never tried. From what little I've played with (i.e. Axis), most
software that comes with a camera server is similar. This is not the
case with stand alone network cameras, which seem to insist on fishing
out JPG's from the camera. I vaguely recall seeing some IM software
plug-in for Skype that will simulate a camera by throwing JPG's at it,
but I couldn't find it with Google.



--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

Jeff Liebermann wrote:
>> If anyone knows of an application that will let me use my IP cams with an
>> IM app, that would be great to have.
>
> Sure. Yahoo even has it built in. Where you define the camera
> location, it can be set to an external IP address.

But thats using the 9100 unit as an interface.

Jeff Liebermann wrote:
> If it shows up under:
> Control Panel -> Scanners and Camera
> it will work.

And that's the problem, IP cams by themselves won't show up as a Scanner or
Camera.

Jeff Liebermann wrote:
> DTC <no_spam@move_along_folks.foob> hath wroth:
>> If anyone knows of an application that will let me use my IP cams with an
>> IM app, that would be great to have.
>
> Sure. Yahoo even has it built in. Where you define the camera
> location, it can be set to an external IP address.

I looked at that unit last summer, and it still isn't what I'm looking for.
All it does it convert an NTSC video camera to a networked camera.

I'm looking to convert an IP camera to run in an IM client.

DTC <no_spam@move_along_folks.foob> hath wroth:
>I looked at that unit last summer, and it still isn't what I'm looking for.
>All it does it convert an NTSC video camera to a networked camera.
>
>I'm looking to convert an IP camera to run in an IM client.

Well, I just bought two 9100A boxes on eBay for $90/ea including
shipping. One goes to a customer. The other is all mine. I'll set
it up at home and try Skype and whatever else looks interesting.

However, unless I'm reading your last line incorrectly, you want the
IM client to reside inside the IP camera. No external computer.
That's called a "video phone" and is available from numerous vendors.
<http://www.ojophone.com/products>
<http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=302>
etc... Sorry, but I haven't had the opertunity to destroy any of
these and can't offer any selection advice.

Yeah, I know it's not a "real" IM client because it doesn't run
various proprietary IM protocols, or have a keyboard and monitor. Add
those to a video phone and you're back to plugging everything into a
computer. You could therefore build your own by mounting a camera on
the smallest computer you can find that will run Windoze or Linux, and
configuring it to play video phone.

Another possibility is to use a PDA running Windoze Mobile 2005 and
Skype. I do that on my XV6700 cell phone and PDA conglomeration.
Connectivity is usually by Wi-Fi, but I can also do it with some kind
of ethernet card (which I don't have).
<http://www.skype.com/download/skype/mobile/>
<http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/xv6700/XV6700.htm>
My cell phone can supposidly do video conferencing, expect the camera
is on the back, and I've never bothered to try it. However, there are
plenty of other smart phones with cameras on the front.

Ok, so what features do you really need?
1. Voice
2. Chat (keyboard to display)
3. Video
It looks like I can do any two of these in a stand alone device, but
all three seem to require a computah. (not sure).

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

Jeff Liebermann wrote:
> However, unless I'm reading your last line incorrectly, you want the
> IM client to reside inside the IP camera.

Umm...no, what I would like to try is to replace a USB cam used with an IM
client with an IP cam because you can't view an IP cam when connecting to
the internet with a cellular connection card, but you can use an IM client
cam.

Currently the only way I can share out video from my IP cams out in the
outback is to FTP the imagery back to one of my servers and have a client
view the server imagery.

Closer in, I can make a 10 to 12 mile WiFi hop and let the client view my
IP cams directly (using a full-duplex repeater setup to make the hop).

What's wrong with WebCamXP at http://www.webcamxp.com/?page=down.html

Chris


"M" <mspencer_home@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1181989331.796776.171950@k79g2000hse.googlegr oups.com...
> Im looking to buy a webcam and network camera, ideally a device that
> does both. I'd like to connect the device to my home (wireless)
> network through my wireless router (netgear). I'd use the camera as
> - a 'surveillance' device (either remote web access or email video/
> phot snapshots triggered from motion sense)
> - a traditional webcam (for Windows Live Messenger and Skype)
>
> Is there such a beast?
>
>

Jeff Liebermann wrote:
> DTC <no_spam@move_along_folks.foob> hath wroth:
>> I looked at that unit last summer, and it still isn't what I'm looking for.
>> All it does it convert an NTSC video camera to a networked camera.
>>
>> I'm looking to convert an IP camera to run in an IM client.
>
> Well, I just bought two 9100A boxes on eBay for $90/ea including
> shipping. One goes to a customer. The other is all mine. I'll set
> it up at home and try Skype and whatever else looks interesting.

Hey Jeff...question for ya on the ipVideo 9100A.

I bought one last week, brand new...something like $80. I've seen them
as high as $119.

I works great when connected to both of my laptops, but when I use it
on Yahoo (both viewing my cam in local mode and with another user),
the images flashes for a fraction of a second and then black screen
for a second and then another image.

Have you experienced this?

Otherwise the 9100A works great. Of course there is some jpeg
compression artifacts.

One other thing, it appears you can only change the IP address via
the web app, not the viewer software. Aslo I can only get port 80
or port 8080 to save...however, port 8080 won't work when.

For example you go to say, 192.168.0.50 (with the port set to 80),
but you can't to to 192.168.0.50:80 or or 192.168.0.50:8080.

Any clues?

DTC <no_spam@move_along_folks.foob> hath wroth:

>Hey Jeff...question for ya on the ipVideo 9100A.

<http://www.aviosys.com/ip9100aplus.htm>

>I bought one last week, brand new...something like $80. I've seen them
>as high as $119.
>
>I works great when connected to both of my laptops, but when I use it
>on Yahoo (both viewing my cam in local mode and with another user),
>the images flashes for a fraction of a second and then black screen
>for a second and then another image.
>
>Have you experienced this?

Nope. I delivered one camera server to a customer and kept the 2nd
one for myself. It's fairly disgusting. Long list of grievances and
glitches. For example, the default viewer controls are ActiveX, so if
you use anything except IE6/IE7, you get a very limited screen.

I don't have a Yahoo account, so haven't seen any such problem. Works
fine with Skype, which was all I wanted. I also setup MSN Messenger,
and iVisit but haven't actually talked to anyone with them. I'm also
using an ancient camcorder for video, which seems to be dying. I'll
post some JPG's when I get a better camera. The customer is using 4ea
350 line security cameras with autofocus and autoiris, which are
adequate.

>Otherwise the 9100A works great. Of course there is some jpeg
>compression artifacts.

Ummm... yep. I'm not thrilled with the 9100A. However, it's 1/4th
the price of anything comparable so I can't really complain (much).
Works fine over wireless (using Buffalo WLI-TX4-G54HP) even with high
packet loss due to interfernce.

>One other thing, it appears you can only change the IP address via
>the web app, not the viewer software. Aslo I can only get port 80
>or port 8080 to save...however, port 8080 won't work when.

Hmmm... Works for me. I use IPEXIT.EXE. There's a slightly newer
version on Aviosys web pile. I couldn't see any difference. However,
that will only change the web port, not the viewer. I had to use the
web config to change both. Make sure you use IE, not Firefox or
Opera.

Also, there's a bug. HTTP1 has to be a smaller port number than HTTP2
or thing stop working. I had to reset the box a few times before I
figured that out.

Another bug is that in order to set the update rate, you need to set
it first to "continuous", change the rate, and then select the
"periodic" button. Yech.

>For example you go to say, 192.168.0.50 (with the port set to 80),
>but you can't to to 192.168.0.50:80 or or 192.168.0.50:8080.
>Any clues?

Works for me on ports 9000 and 9010 respectively. Firmware 2.39A.
I've played with other port numbers and found some oddities in what
numbers can be selected. Apparently, they also can't be too far
apart, but I don't know the limit.

Yahoo 9100A reverse engineering group:
<http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/9100/>

Misc:
<http://www.sunspot.co.uk/Projects/IP_KAM_9000and9100_notes.htm>
<http://www.irrelevant.com/cam/>

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558