Setting up a Webcam Feed

[Rathji]

So I am sitting at school and my 18 mo. old daughter is doing things that make all working parents wish they could be witnessing. I want to be able watch her via webcam. Never having used a webcam for anything I really don't know how they work in terms of setting up a permanent type feed.

I know you can talk on some IM clients, or Netmeeting type deal, but does the basic included software allow for a permanant stream situation? If it doesn't is there more advanced software available (free is best) that allows it? I assume I will need to forward ports etc, and that is not a big deal, just need to know if the basic software you get with a typical webcam supports this or if there is something that someone has used in the past that they would suggest.

[dobbles]

several years ago i was experimenting with a live web feed from home. i just used windows media encoder to stream the video, and then made a simple html page to display the feed. it was very rudimentary but worked well.

i am sure you can do it much easier these days but i never really had a reason to keep it running so i never kept up with it.

[Swayze11]

It depends how you want it set up. You can sign up on logmein and just have the webcam open on your desktop to view it. Basically you just log into your computer remotely and have the webcam viewer open.

[Rathji]

I would like it setup so I could just open my browser, or another client, click a button and be able to watch whatever the webcam is viewing. I would have the camera set up somewhere at home.

Also, and this might be stretching it for low cost alternatives, are there wireless (802.11 or bluetooth) webcams out there?

[Russic]

Originally Posted by Swayze11

It depends how you want it set up. You can sign up on logmein and just have the webcam open on your desktop to view it. Basically you just log into your computer remotely and have the webcam viewer open.

I suppose it would depend on the quality of the original feed, but this option may make for very choppy video. I use logmein religiously, but it does send the frame rate of video through the floor.

[octothorp]

This is going to probably be unhelpful to you, but for Mac users, there's a great a little-known Apple program called Quicktime Broadcaster that will do this.

[Barnes]

http://www.ustream.tv/

This is the easiest. I set up a feed of our summer students desk because he slept 75% of the day away. It was the Sleepy Office Guy Channel.