What IP Camera can do this? Help!

[neiltimms]

I have zero experience with IP Cameras but have been tasked with setting up a system to stream the Mardi Gras Parades to our clients who can't make it here to watch them in person.

So here is what i want. (i think)

I would like to send the stream (video & audio) to a page on our company website, i'm thinking that by doing this people do not have to connect to the camera directly or have to use the webserver software that comes in the camera.

I'm guessing also that that way they would not need a login and password to view which is what i want.

Plus i'm then not limited to the number of connections to view (except of course by the restrictions of our Hosting Company.)

Is this possible? Any ideas or recommendations on which camera to buy? My budget is about $1000 so i can but something pretty high end.

Thanks in advance

Neil

[Skibum]

Hi Neil

Just hosting a page showing the live video wont help too much.
The bandwidth is still pulled from the camera itself.

You would probably need to find a multicast streaming service provider to use for the duration of the even to be able to stream to a lot of viewers.

[neiltimms]

I was thinking that the camera would be uploading a single stream to the website and then people would view it from there? So the load would be on the website, not the camera. Is this not the case?

If so then what are my options? I would still like to make it available for viewing without needing username and password. Are there any good cameras that can do this.

We are only probably talking about 15-20 people concurrently so my upload may be able to cope even if they all have to connect directly. ( i don't need it to be HD quality)

[Alconnell]

Canon VB-C50i

Should do most of what you want. You can specify 1-50 clients at a time; user/pw protect, and more. www.longlakecam.com if you want to see on in action. I've had it up for over a year and it works great. A bit over your budget if you want it in an outdoor housing though (+/- $1400).

[Knuff]

Hi,

You think one wide angle viewing point and omni sound will be sufficient ?

I think you have to take a step back and ask yourself what does my client want to see ?
Maybe it is even a more better option to see if you can go the vidcast road.

Just streaming an event does not seem to be what you are looking for according to me.

Best Regards,
Boris

[neiltimms]

Hi,

You think one wide angle viewing point and omni sound will be sufficient ?

I think you have to take a step back and ask yourself what does my client want to see ?
Maybe it is even a more better option to see if you can go the vidcast road.

Just streaming an event does not seem to be what you are looking for according to me.

Best Regards,
Boris

Yes i think a single camera will suffice, i'm not looking for crowds and amibience, just the floats and sound and hopefully part of our official viewing stands to show people what they are missing

[neiltimms]

Should do most of what you want. You can specify 1-50 clients at a time; user/pw protect, and more. www.longlakecam.com if you want to see on in action. I've had it up for over a year and it works great. A bit over your budget if you want it in an outdoor housing though (+/- $1400).

That looks great, what camera is that?

Thanks

[Knuff]

I would still add a little bit more CAF factor to it than just one single camera :-D

If you buy 3 average webcam with build in webserver, and then make one webpage on your webpage that gives the overall view, with the direct links you should be fine if you are only talking about 10 to 20 simulatenous users and the overall performance would allow this :-)

So why not have a look at DLINK Product range ( http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=1&pid=350 ). You can get 3 cameras for below 900 dollars so you have a few more bucks left to get some cables, and hook it all up to a local network at the spot.

Writing the webpages and such ... you will have to do for 1$, but here I would surely want to add the creativity of others during the Mardi Grass Parade and provide some links to e.g. YouTube to get the latest stuff.

A 1000 dollars for hardware for an audience of 20 users should get you far with some creativity :-)

[neiltimms]

I would still add a little bit more CAF factor to it than just one single camera :-D

If you buy 3 average webcam with build in webserver, and then make one webpage on your webpage that gives the overall view, with the direct links you should be fine if you are only talking about 10 to 20 simulatenous users and the overall performance would allow this :-)

So why not have a look at DLINK Product range ( http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=1&pid=350 ). You can get 3 cameras for below 900 dollars so you have a few more bucks left to get some cables, and hook it all up to a local network at the spot.

Writing the webpages and such ... you will have to do for 1$, but here I would surely want to add the creativity of others during the Mardi Grass Parade and provide some links to e.g. YouTube to get the latest stuff.

A 1000 dollars for hardware for an audience of 20 users should get you far with some creativity :-)

I had been looking at the D-Link cameras and had asked their sales team the same questions i posted here but got no response. So to heck with them!

I am putting the camera in the middle of our viewing stands facing towards the oncoming parades, there really isn't need to show different angles, but i will think about maybe adding a 2nd for a forward looking view.

I just need one that i can configure with no username / pwd and none of the descriptions i see specify that as an option (in fact they mostly talk about how secure they are!)

[Knuff]

Sorry to hear you had a bad exp with DLINK (not affiliated with them, just like the product).

Adding more cams to the setup is not just about increased CAF, it also adds:

- redundancy, if one breaks, you have a plan B.
- load balancing. it is much easier to have two or three simular looking views available ...

And there are quite a few other competitors in the same price range as DLINK out there that offer the same.

Most of them have a build in guest account which you will provide in the link.
No need for user id and password, but you will need to download the manual for that feature as it is kind of basic :-)

So select the below link:
ftp://ftp.dlink.com/Multimedia/dcs32...manual_110.zip
sit back and relax
read page 51/141
Guest account: This option allows a user to connect to a camera with
view -only privileges. User name is “demo.” No password is required.

If you only have a limited set of named C. it could actually be worth setting up named users and create some buy in.

Greetz,
Boris

[Alconnell]

That looks great, what camera is that?

Thanks

It's a Canon VB-C50i. Great picture, seems to do okay with 3-4 users on a cable connection. I don't know if there have been more than that on it, but it says up to 50.

[neiltimms]

It's a Canon VB-C50i. Great picture, seems to do okay with 3-4 users on a cable connection. I don't know if there have been more than that on it, but it says up to 50.

Thanks, looks rather cold there right now!

[Alconnell]

5 below this AM - looking for -15 or worse tonight! Good thing the camera is heated! AKA, it is a good camera, but will put you over budget unless you find a used one. The PTZ IP webcams (decent ones) are all over $1000 pretty much. Not knocking the DLINK ones, I have used one of those as well. But Canon is the standard.