Setting Up a Webcam Part I: Getting Started

By Maria Langer One of the coolest features you can add to any Web site is a webcam. A webcam uses a digital camera to display live images on a Web site. The images can be saved periodically, used to create QuickTime movies, or sent out as streaming video. Figures 1 and 2 show the two webcams I built while researching this article.

Figure 1: Saguaro Cam takes a picture out my office window every five minutes 24 hours a day. You can visit it live at http://www.wickenburg-az.com/./

Figure 2: MariaCam snaps a photo of my desk area every two minutes while my production computer is turned on. Sometimes I’m in the picture, sometimes I’m not. Visit this webcam at http://www.marialanger.com/mariacam.html. (Note: Since this article appeared, this camera has been taken offline. Sorry!)

In the first part of this two part article, I’ll explain the hardware and Internet connection requirements for setting up a webcam. In the second part, I’ll tell you about three different software packages and how you can use them to get your webcam images online.

Hardware Requirements

The most obvious piece of equipment you need for setting up a webcam is a digital camera. These days, there are many options. Because the image will be broadcast on the Web, however, you don’t need any fancy gigapixel model. In fact less pixels is better; images should be small so they load quickly. A 352 x 250 picture size is enough for most webcam applications.

In researching this article, I worked with three different cameras. The first was an old Connectix (now Logitech) Color QuickCam with a serial connection. I plugged this baby into my G3/300 minitower (the model before USB) and soon found that I had a serious software conflict; the camera’s driver would not work with Mac OS 9. I found a temporary fix with a freeware System hack called Nine 11 (or 911); although this works, I never recommend hacking the System! The folks at Logitech tell me they’ve come up with their own fix for the problem, but as of March month-end, it was still not on the Logitech Web site.

I also tried a Logitech QuickCam VC camera (see Figure 3), which has a USB connection. This camera is designed for video conferencing and retails for $80. This is the only Mac camera Logitech offers as I write this, but they claim to be working on their Macintosh strategy and may be offering more cameras by the time you read this. Check their Web site at http://www.logitech.com/.

Kensington offers a number of Mac-compatible USB digital video cameras, from the low-end VideoCAM for $50 to the high-end VideoCAM VGA for $80. I experimented with the VideoCAM Mac VGA (also $80) and was very pleased with the results. Learn more about Kensington’s cameras at its web site, http://www.kensington.com/.

If you have an older Mac, you’ll find it tough to find a new camera that’ll work with it. All the cameras made these days have USB connections. Fortunately, Macally makes a PCI card that costs less than $50 and adds two USB ports to any Mac with an open PCI slot. I successfully installed this card in two machines: my production G3/300 and the 8500/180 I use as a Web server.

As far as computers go, any computer capable of running the camera’s driver software should be able handle webcam duties. If you have more than one computer, the one you select may be influenced by how you want to use webcam images, as I discuss next.

Web Server Connection

Your webcam’s images must travel from the camera to the computer to which the camera is connected to your Web server. There are a number of ways to handle this, depending on what you want to display with your webcam:

- For the simplest webcam, any computer that has a network or FTP connection to the Web server will do. For example, MariaCam (see Figure 2) is set up on my production G3/300. It sends pictures to the Web server via FTP. This is also useful if the view you want to display with the webcam isn’t anywhere near the web server. For example, my server can display a webcam image from anyone anywhere in the world—as long as that person’s computer can connect to my server via FTP.

- For a 7/24 webcam (one that’s up and running 7 days a week, 24 hours a day), the computer must be up and running all the time. Again, this can be any computer with a connection to the Web server, but since the Web server is up and running all the time, why not connect the webcam to it? That’s how Saguaro Cam works (see Figure 1), although I admit that the pictures taken in the middle of the night can be pretty boring.

- If you’re interested in streaming video, the camera must be connected to the computer that will serve the video stream. A simple network or FTP connection isn’t enough.