N/A Wireless Camera Question

[Graueradler]

I've been asked to set up a camera at the airport that could be accessed via the internet. I'm thinking wireless-g because the computer on the setup doesn't fulfill the system requirements of any of the "wired" cameras I've seen on the shelf (too slow and win98se). We have a cable modem feeding a Belkin wireless router to which the computer is connected via ethernet. The wireless cameras appear to function through the router and should be independent of the computer.

Any recommendaations on specific cameras that are good to get or good to stay away from?

 

[mikea]

I've been asked to set up a camera at the airport that could be accessed via the internet. I'm thinking wireless-g because the computer on the setup doesn't fulfill the system requirements of any of the "wired" cameras I've seen on the shelf (too slow and win98se). We have a cable modem feeding a Belkin wireless router to which the computer is connected via ethernet. The wireless cameras appear to function through the router and should be independent of the computer.

Any recommendaations on specific cameras that are good to get or good to stay away from?

Wifi web cams are commercially made. I like TrendNets KVM, so...
http://www.trendnet.com/products/f_internetcameras.htm
http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=342

http://products.wi-fiplanet.com/wifi/camera/recent1.html

 

[flykelley]

Hi Mike
I would like to do the same thing but at our house in Northern Mi. All camera's would be inside the house and I would like to have acess to them via the internet to montior temps inside the house and just to check on things. We as a rule don't use the house in the winter. Any suggestions, I have a windows based window 98 computer up north.

Thanks Mike

 

[gismo]

Hi Mike
I would like to do the same thing but at our house in Northern Mi. All camera's would be inside the house and I would like to have acess to them via the internet to montior temps inside the house and just to check on things. We as a rule don't use the house in the winter. Any suggestions, I have a windows based window 98 computer up north.

Thanks Mike

I think the important question is do you have a dedicated internet connection at that house. The best situation is being able to host so you can check your cam's directly via website, but baring that I think you could set up the home computer to forward the images to a remote host from which you could view them.

 

[TangoWhiskey]

Wifi web cams are commercially made. I like TrendNets KVM, so...
http://www.trendnet.com/products/f_internetcameras.htm
http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=342

http://products.wi-fiplanet.com/wifi/camera/recent1.html

You're going to have fun... I bought and used cameras from Axis Communications after much research, and they worked very well.

There are lots of good articles on that site, too. If you're running through a router, you have a private ip address on the host (lan) side; to access the camera directly from the internet, you'll need a fixed IP (or a router (or, camera) that supports notification of some central server when your IP address changes), and you'll likely need to put the camera in the router's DMZ (or at least forward specific ports).

Send us the URL when it's up!! I always wanted to tie a live-atc.net radio scanner to a streaming video link so you can watch takeoffs and landings and listen, too.

 

[Graueradler]

Send us the URL when it's up!! I always wanted to tie a live-atc.net radio scanner to a streaming video link so you can watch takeoffs and landings and listen, too.

We are a non-towered field so there wouldn't be any live ATC audio. At best, the camera's audio might pick up the CTAF ramp loud speaker.

The internet service we have includes a static IP address but I haven't requested it yet.

 

[gismo]

We are a non-towered field so there wouldn't be any live ATC audio. At best, the camera's audio might pick up the CTAF ramp loud speaker.

The internet service we have includes a static IP address but I haven't requested it yet.

For audio, get either a scanner with VHF-AM or a retired aircraft comm (like a KX-170 that has freq selector issues) set to the CTAF and feed the output from that directly to the camera.

 

[mikea]

We are a non-towered field so there wouldn't be any live ATC audio. At best, the camera's audio might pick up the CTAF ramp loud speaker.

The internet service we have includes a static IP address but I haven't requested it yet.

It'll work even if you don't have a fixed IP address if you use http://dyndns.org

You need to run one of the update programs somewhere on your network to keep them updated.

 

[TangoWhiskey]

It'll work even if you don't have a fixed IP address if you use http://dyndns.org

You need to run one of the update programs somewhere on your network to keep them updated.

My DLink router/firewall has a new screen in the firmware to automatically update ddns sites such as dyndyns.org.

The Axis cameras I posted earlier can also do this directly, themselves. They can also upload to an IP address or send an email whenever it detects an ip address change at the WAN.

In other words, where there's a will, there's a way!!!

 

[SCCutler]

Hey, guys; are these webcams set up such that they can be told when to turn on? I'd like to set up one (or more) at my new log house in the hill country, but as I expect to have satellite internet, I don't want something that is gobbling up allowable bandwidth all the time.

Or (now that I think of it) do they only send data out when somethiong is "listening," i.e., if I am not connected up to watch it, it is not sending any packets anyway?

 

[mikea]

Hey, guys; are these webcams set up such that they can be told when to turn on? I'd like to set up one (or more) at my new log house in the hill country, but as I expect to have satellite internet, I don't want something that is gobbling up allowable bandwidth all the time.

Or (now that I think of it) do they only send data out when somethiong is "listening," i.e., if I am not connected up to watch it, it is not sending any packets anyway?

You could rig it up so the power for the camera (or a hub and/or switch that connects it) only comes on when it detects motion from a motion detector. Even one of those floodlight sentries at Home Depot would work. NB: A real alarm motion detector would work even if the power is off. You can get a close approximation of those from Radio Shack and in some kits even at Target.

If you did it this way, you'd have a lag of minute or so while all of the TCP/IP stuff configures itself and you start seeing packets. If you put a relay off the power going to the light socket and had that switching something else in the loop, you might be able to cut down the "warm up" time.

 

[jesse]

Spike. It depends on how you set it up. Most solutions that I have seen simply act as a video server. Once you connect it starts streaming video to you.

The video wouldn't be send anywhere if you weren't connected. Therefore bandwidth wouldn't really be an issue as you would not be in the home when you connected anyways.

On other note. I'd really want to get the recorded video OUT of the location and have it stored offsite. This could be a bit tricky since your bandwidth is so limited. You could have the video dumped over the network to a very small pc placed strategically in the cabin. I highly doubt any intruder is going to be smart enough, nor have the time to be tracing down cat5 to deteremine where video may be stored.

I would have it be motion sensitive. If the camera is triggered it starts recording and dumps the video to a strategic location on the local network. At which point I may even go as far as to write something to compress this video and have it automatically upload it offsite and send you an e-mail to inform you that you just got owned by an intruder.