How to set up website/webcam?

rrtanton

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Oct 1, 2002
Messages
102
Location
Springfield, IL, USA
Okay...treat me like Grandma. I know a decent amount of techie/computer stuff but I know nothing of programming or web publishing, and I've had a hard time finding useful, "entry-level" information on all this. I think I mainly don't know where to look. My situation:

My Insight broadband service allows me a tiny webspace allocation. This got me thinking...I have a saltwater aquarium, and I would really like to have a webcam so friends and family can view it on the web (I would like to show off my octopus...
grin.gif
)

How do I do this? Are there some good tutorials and "turnkey" systems in books/on the web/on storeshelves? I explored Insight's information on setting up a website and I even felt a little lost there...
bluesigh.gif
Information on webcams was similarly confusing and always seemed to mention things way over my head, such as writing code. Basically, I just want to know how to build a simple website with a functional webcam, and I'll worry about teaching myself more advanced things later.

Advice?

rusty
 

binky

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Dec 1, 2002
Messages
1,036
Location
Taxachusetts, USA
Originally posted by rrtanton:
have a webcam so friends and family can view it on the web (I would like to show off my octopus...
grin.gif
)
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">(I'll just not comment on the pet octopus. That's just too obvious. Besides, 007 woulda beat me to it.
grin.gif
)

HTML, Dynamic HTML, JavaScript, Quicktime, AVI...

I can't do what you're looking for, but I do know enough to perhaps give you a clue regarding some more things to think about or follow.

Maybe we should start from here: Do you know how to build any kind of web page? If no then try a tutorial listed in this topic.

There are at least 3 ways to allow friends to see your little friend. They don't yield equivalent results.

1. On your home page, put a link to a movie file you've uploaded to your web site that lets users download the movie file to their computer. This isn't live, but at least it's the easiest.

2. On your home page, build a script that shows the movie dynamically (Dynamic HTML? JavaScript?) to users, just as Tigerlight does on their nicely involving site.

3. Show a live webcam. This ain't usually very practical because the IP address of your computer probably changes sometimes and your web page on Insight's server would need to have that hardcoded in there. If it's just for family & friends then who cares if it doesn't link correctly all the time. In this case you'd might have a JavaScript on your web page that links to a "port" number on your pc that was set up by some webcam software you've purchased.
Technical question: Is your computer directly attached to your cable modem or is there a box in between that's named something like "broadband/dsl router with 4-port switch" in which case the whole connection thing gets one more layer of technicality added to it that's beyond this post.

I'm tapped out. I hope some of this drivel helps. It could all be wrong. I could be full of it. In any case, you'll probably find out from further posts from others.

Good luck!!!
smile.gif
 

rrtanton

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Oct 1, 2002
Messages
102
Location
Springfield, IL, USA
No, not drivel...this is helpful, thank you. Naturally I'm interested in what other folks have to say, but this seems to reinforce what I've been hearing...that I simply must take the time to do some self-education.

To provide a bit more information:

--No, I have no experience with building webpages, so I will check out the link you reference.

--Somehow I am irrationally attached to the notion of having a live webcam on the tank. I doubt the web needs one more person pointing a camera at a fish tank...well, at least this one doesn't have FISH. He'd eat 'em (or they'd eat him...)!

--My cablemodem connects directly to my ethernet card. As far as I know, my IP address does not change, but I don't know if Insight sometimes changes them.

--I understand that, depending on the site, it's often more practical to rent space from a service. Are there any services you would recommend? What might be a typical fee for a small homepage such as this?

--(Trivia time!) No, my octopus is not one of the species of blue-ringed octopuses, as encountered by 007. I personally will never have one of those. It is true that some people keep those animals, but their reputation is not movie fakery. All octopuses are venomous, but very, very few of their venoms have any effect on humans--they're designed for crustaceans and fish. Blue-rings, however, deliver tetrodotoxin (TTX) in their bite, one of the worst poisons of the natural world, the same one found in pufferfish that kills many people every year when they eat an improperly prepared morsel of the delicacy. Blue-ring bites are usually painless, and indeed most victims do not notice them...but they can cause voluntary muscle paralysis and subsequent death by suffocation in just a few minutes. TTX is not actually made by the animal, but by symbiotic bacteria inhabiting its poison glands. Fun, huh?

rusty
 

binky

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Dec 1, 2002
Messages
1,036
Location
Taxachusetts, USA
Okay, if doing the webcam is the goal...

I bet if you phoned Insight's helpdesk you might get a sympathetic person to help you do it if it's possible. Not in one call, mind you, but eventually if it's possible to do.

I can tell you that my days working at a helpdesk were very fun, but I sure got tired of getting so many of the same calls and it was like trying to catch a fish with a spoon just to get the caller to tell me what they really were doing at the moment the computer crashed or trying to convince them that just because a floppy disk is no longer floppy but made with a harder plastic case it's still called a floppy and not a hard disk so let's stick with the same vocabulary...
SO MY POINT IS that you have a very good shot of getting help with such an amusing problem. Just trust me on that. If it's possible to do, I bet you'll get at least an outline of help from them and probably a lot more than that.

I hope.
 

binky

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Dec 1, 2002
Messages
1,036
Location
Taxachusetts, USA
Oh yes, and I always thought that 007 octopus was totally made up. Wow, now I have yet another reason along up there with sharks that keeps me out of the ocean.

[edit] I think I remember seeing on a edu channel that the monitor lizard has a bacterium poison as well. Different toxin I bet, but likewise not made by the host. Yick!
 

Anarchocap

Enlightened
Joined
Dec 23, 2002
Messages
452
Location
Arizona, USA
There are a few issues you're going to have to find out first.
</font><ul type="square">[*]<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Will your ISP allow you to broadcast as a webcam server? Most basic ISPs will not allow this, either by specifically stating such in their service agreements or by physically blocking ports.</font>[*]<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Do you have the proper software to allow you to broadcast? Usually this means a combination of software that allows your web server to also stream media.</font>[*]<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Do you have a static or dynamic IP address? Most ISPs provide a dynamic, not static address using your cable modem's or NIC's MAC address for authentication. Most likely your IP address is dynamic unless you are specifically paying for a static one, and if that is the case you will have to purchase a subscription to a service (like TZO) that will automatically update your changing IP address to a permanent DNS name.</font>[/list]<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Most likely this is going to be too expensive for you to want to pursue. You may want to just write a script that FTPs a file to your ISP's allocated web site every X amount of time. That is usually the cheapest and easiest way for the average person to have as close to a real-time webcast as possible. There is software out there that does this, and it may have even come with your cam, but I don't know the name 'cuz I've never really been interested. You might want to try searching Google or something.
One thing I did notice is that you have stated your computer is directly connected to your cable modem. I really hope you have some sort of either software or hardware firewall between your computer and your cable modem. There are too many nasty things out there that can ruin your day if you don't. If you have no idea what I am talking about, you really should check out http://www.smallnetbuilder.com before someone hacks your system or you get a trojan and the FBI knocks on your door because they traced your system syn flooding someones website.
 

rrtanton

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Oct 1, 2002
Messages
102
Location
Springfield, IL, USA
Thank you guys, this is further helpful advice. I'm now getting the impression that I might be able to do this for sure...I've heard something about this FTPing photos to a site before. So, theoretically, I could run a small inexpensive site independent of my own PC (possibly using the space Insight grants me) and have my camera use my always-on connection to call up that site (possibly using some sort of password?) and upload photos?

I should point out I know video and photos are very different things...I'm not trying to stream video here...just a photo every X seconds or minutes, depending on what's practical.

I think I do recall some limitations from my reading of Insight's terms. Gun Nut, you mention "expensive." Does that include just having a small page, very lightly visited, with a camera periodically (and automatically) updating it?

I do actually have a software firewall...per recommendations, I installed Zone Alarm. It was easy enough to understand, and it certainly seems to work...it's always asking me about whether I want this or that to use the internet. I also own a hardware cable/dsl router ('twas part of the WinXP bundle/rebate combos that were everywhere when it rolled out) but I have not yet used it as I had heard the software firewall was a more manageable solution, and I don't have anything at home to network.

Binky...I should point out my dim recollection of Octopussy (haven't seen that one in years) is that the octo is still slightly Hollywood-ified...blue rings don't attack, and it implied a man was killed in seconds, whereas minutes is more realistic, though bite severity varies greatly, and death is by no means assured even without medical attention. Just far too likely. In fact, as it merely causes voluntary muscle paralysis, if you are placed on a respirator you should theoretically recover after some hours. TTX is one theorized component in "voodoo zombie" type rituals.

rusty
 

Chris M.

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 17, 2001
Messages
2,564
Location
South Wales, UK
For a simple Webcam solution, I kind of like Gotcha. It is designed as a motion sensing CCTV software that works with video cameras and capture cards or even genuine USB Webcams, and can be set up to do different things.

One thing it can do is take stillshots at regular timed intervals, and FTP them to a web site. This is how my Christmas Lights Webcam system worked. You can set the time down to seconds, but once per 10 minutes or so would probably be fine and not get in your way too much. With the software running you can get it to upload a new image every so often, automatically over-writing the previous one. It`s then a simple case of setting up a page on your web space that hot-links that photo, and you`re in business! Shut down the software for the night, and the last uploaded picture remains so people can see it whatever time of the day. Shots are time and date stamped too.

http://gotcha.com is their site, you can download a fully functioning "demo version" that is identical to the full version but will only work for a set number of tries, or days, or, I don`t remember. But if you like it you can pay to register it, then it works continuously without having to download a different program. And if you want to do that, e-mail me and I can help you out with that registration process
wink.gif
wink.gif
 

Anarchocap

Enlightened
Joined
Dec 23, 2002
Messages
452
Location
Arizona, USA
Originally posted by rrtanton:
I think I do recall some limitations from my reading of Insight's terms. Gun Nut, you mention "expensive." Does that include just having a small page, very lightly visited, with a camera periodically (and automatically) updating it?
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Rusty,
When I meant expensive, I was considering the solution in which you run your own dedicated web server, and all the hardware, software, technical knowledge, and bandwidth issues that are associated with it.

The FTP solutions mentioned above using your ISP provided web space are more cost effective for the light use you have described by a factor of at least a 100 to 1.

Chris,
FWIW, the URL you posted is incorrect. You will get a surfer site. The proper link for Gotcha is http://www.gotchanow.com/.
 

rrtanton

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Oct 1, 2002
Messages
102
Location
Springfield, IL, USA
This is all very helpful guys...thanks a lot! Probably even this weekend I will be able to start digging into all this. Are there any highly recommended (but affordable!) webcams?

rusty
 

Stingray

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 21, 2002
Messages
1,202
Location
Chicago
There are some websites that will allow you to do this for free, at least there were last year. I did it to catch a psycho who was vandalizing my property in my old house. Webcamnow rings a bell I think. Do a seach on google for webcam sites and you should get some hits.
 

rrtanton

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Oct 1, 2002
Messages
102
Location
Springfield, IL, USA
Well, everyone...thanks to your advice and Insight's useful DIY tools, I have a site! It is so primitive and amateur it would make any self-respecting web designer cry, but it does what I want!

I got a decent price on a webcam, and I am (at the moment) using a trial version of Webcam32. It's set up to regularly ftp a snapshot to my web directory, and it overwrites the existing photo there. It seems to work well (it certainly was very simple to use) though it also seems to occasionally lock up.

Are there other recommendations for webcam software? Anything that might be better/more reliable than mine? I really don't need complicated software. This stuff is supposed to cost $40 to register...I only need this ftp feature, it'd be nice if there was some tiny program that was almost free that did this!

One question...sometimes the image the camera provides gets...well, I can only describe it as corrupted. About the bottom half of the image becomes a garbled mass of color and static. A bit of noodling proved it was the camera (or its drivers) causing this and not whatever software I'm using. I suspect the contrast of the very bright aquarium and dark background are confusing it. Even more interesting...if I pass my hand in front of the camera when it's doing this, it goes away.

rusty
 

budlight

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Sep 14, 2002
Messages
123
Location
Austin, KY
You need to install the javacam applet onto your website and modify your page. See the instructions on the surveyor website.

Mike-
 
Top