Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with webcams

Finding a Remote-Controlled Pan and Tilt Webcam

tocts — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 10:58:18 -0800

I need a recommendation for a webcam with remotely controlled pan and tilt capabilities that isn't going to break the bank. Recently, my gaming group has decided to investigate the possibility of making it possible for remote players to join in on our weekly gaming sessions. In order to accomodate this, we're looking at the possibility of adding one or more webcams to the mix. It'd be relatively straightforward to use a fixed camera, but it'd be really cool to be able to allow the remote player or players the ability to pan and tilt a camera to look around.

I've done some googling, and one of the problems I'm running into is that the items I'm finding tend to fall into two categories:

Category 1: a self-contained consumer solution that has pan and tilt capabilities, but doesn't appear to have any way of allowing remote control. Some 3rd party software appears available, but costs many times the cost of the camera itself.

Category 2: DIY solutions that involve a lot more soldering than I am comfortable with, and more circuitry than my fading EE minor skills from college are likely to be able to handle.

Category 2 tends to be a lot closer to the price point I want, but involves an awful lot of cases where you are exhorted to buy 5 or so components and wire them together -- not my strong point. Category 1 seems unlikely to work -- I don't want this to be $400 or more for a single setup, and the manufacturer-supplied software is not likely to meet my needs.

The ideal solution would be an off the shelf component with a USB connection and a published API. I have no problem writing custom software to control this -- and in fact, would probably prefer to do so, given that my own needs are likely to be different than anything built into an existing application.

How do I set my mom up with a webcam for chats with the grandkids?

The corpse in the library — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 07:03:09 -0800

How do I set my mom up with a webcam for chats with the grandkids? My mom has an HP Pavilion zd8000 laptop. I want to buy a webcam and mail it to her for her birthday. She likes new gadgets, but neither of us knows anything about video chats and I want to keep it simple. How should I do this?

We both have decent Internet connections, and we're both in the US. I have an iMac with a built-in camera. My only experience with video chats is using iChat and my .mac account.

Is there a company I should sign her up with ahead of time? Do I need to have an account with the same company?

What application would we use?

Any recommendations for specific webcams for her?

Any other advice? I want to make this as close to "Open box, plug in camera, talk to grandkids" as possible.

This is what I get for shopping at Best Buy

bethm — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 12:24:58 -0800

I just left the States with a rocketfish webcam I'm intending to use with my iBook G4 on Skype. The webcam monitor is working fine, but Skype isn't recognizing any camera as connected. Google reveals bad things. Does anyone have a better answer? Or is it off to a foreign Apple Store with me?

chat between a Mac and a PC

PenguinBukkake — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 16:45:19 -0800

I have a Logitech Messenger webcam and a Mac (10.3.9) and I downloaded the macam software. How do I chat with a friend who has a PC and another Logitech webcam? Should we use AIM? Yahoo? Excuse me if the question's too easy but I'm a total webcam n00b and what I found on Google is quite contradictory. Thanks!

LarvaeCam

sotalia — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 13:12:00 -0800

Webcams for shooting tiny critters: Any recommendations? I'd like to set up an underwater webcam to observe how tiny (about 1 mm-long) marine larvae settle onto surfaces such as rocks or pier pilings. It is not crucial that the camera have good streaming quality. What is most important is for it to take a good, high-res picture of the animals at a nearby surface every few minutes. Any recommendations for a camera that might be a good candidate? I would also have to build or obtain some sort of underwater housing for it. Bonus points for suggestions on that.

Why can't our computers get along?

slimslowslider — Tue, 11 Oct 2005 20:23:00 -0800

My husband has a Mac in Rhode island. I have a PC in California. We would like to talk to each with webcams. Why won't our computers be friends? The Mac is a I-Mac G5 with OS Tiger and an I Sight camera. PC has Windows XP and Creative Web Cam.

Boring Webcams

Lebowski — Tue, 12 Jul 2005 11:10:26 -0800

A friend is looking for a list of boring webcams.

Freeware Online Meeting Tool

NekulturnY — Wed, 11 Aug 2004 06:44:22 -0800

Can anyone recommend a good webmeeting software for webcam-conferencing? There's tons of them out there, but I'd like a freeware one that's capable of handling more than two users at the same time, point-to-point (not via some server, due to lagging issues). iVisit is great, but will only accept two users in freeware version. As an extra challenge, it needs to be compatible with Linux and XP. Go geeks, go!

Need <$75 CCD-Based Webcam with Good Color & White Balance

delfuego — Tue, 10 Aug 2004 10:53:38 -0800

I have a friend who's developing an application that solves a board game via visual recognition of the current state of the board. The image is captured via a webcam, and he's currently in the midst of discovering that the quality of the image (or specifically, the color and white balance) acquired by CMOS-based webcams is just subpar. Can anyone recommend a decent, inexpensive (less than $75, perhaps?) CCD-based webcam?

VideoChat with WebCam

zia — Mon, 19 Jul 2004 08:48:12 -0800

I have a webcam and want to do video chat... Is MSN my only alternative? I've been VERY impressed with the quality of the VOIP calls I can make using Skype; is there something similiar for video conferencing with a webcam?

User/Password Error Keeps Cropping Up with WebCam NX Pro FTP Settings

dg — Tue, 06 Jul 2004 20:16:06 -0800

Web Cam ftp problem - I have a Creative WebCam NX Pro and, when setting up the ftp settings to upload images to a web page, get an message saying "Error in username, password". I have double and triple checked that the settings are correct and have tried using a different ftp account, but the error still comes up. I can log into the server using either account via Smart FTP, Cute FTP or via a command prompt without problems. Creative's on-line support does not help at all and my searches on Google have yielded nothing.

I am using Win XP Pro and accessing the 'net via a dial-up connection. In trying to resolve this issue, I have disabled the standard Internet Connection Firewall and Zone Alarm, but this has not changed anything.

Multiple Webcams

Orange Goblin — Wed, 09 Jun 2004 12:43:49 -0800

I'm trying to get a bunch of webcams running on the same page. I found a Javascript refresh script, and tried to adapt it to work for more than one cam. Of course, if I had any knowledge of Javascript, I might have succeded, but I don't, so take a look inside and lend me a hand, if you please. Here's what I have:







var refreshrate1=5;             //SECONDS BETWEEN REFRESH

var image1="http://82.35.18.32:8080/gobcam.jpg";       //IMAGE NAME

var imgheight1=240;             //IMAGE HEIGHT

var imgwidth1=320;             //IMAGE WIDTH



function refresh(){

document.images["pic1"].src=image1+"?"+new Date();

setTimeout('refresh()', refreshrate1*1000);

}



document.write('');



if(document.images.pic1)window.onload=refresh;

            



var refreshrate2=5;             //SECONDS BETWEEN REFRESH

var image2="http://82.35.21.220:8080/smurgcurmpurp.jpg";       //IMAGE NAME

var imgheight2=240;             //IMAGE HEIGHT

var imgwidth2=320;             //IMAGE WIDTH



function refresh(){

document.images["pic2"].src=image2+"?"+new Date();

setTimeout('refresh()', refreshrate2*1000);

}



document.write('');



if(document.images.pic2)window.onload=refresh;

The second cam works fine, but the first cam doesn't work at all. Any suggestions?