Live Webcam Photography Shack Guide
Live Webcam With Video Streaming
By Richard Harrison
Web cameras can be found almost everywhere in this
day and age. Your friends have one, your office has
one for teleconferencing and the college or university
you attend has several as well. You have made the decision
to go along with the crowd and get a network camera
for yourself; now what? How do you make that tiny gadget
become a live webcam online? Take it home and connect
it to your computer, then read on.
The biggest decision you need to make before making
your camera live is if you will show still images or
streaming video. Visit a webcam directory like www.onlinecamera.com
and take a look at a few webcams. You may notice that
some of them show a video feed that is a continuous
stream of live video, while others simply refresh the
page of the browser and show a succession of still pictures
at intervals.
Streaming Video Is Most Appealing
Streaming video is, without a doubt, more appealing
to a viewer. The question is though; can you support
a network camera such as that? If you can afford setting
aside a tremendous amount of bandwidth for your live
webcam to stream and you also have a broadband internet
connection, then your answer is yes.
If your answer is no, then you need to stick with a
still image camera. They make the process easier for
both you and your camera’s viewers. This type of connection
can work without any problems, whether you access the
internet through a dial-up connection or a high speed
broadband connection.
Higher Picture Quality With A Still Camera
A still image camera allows you to display images with
a much higher picture quality that are larger and not
grainy. The big difference is that a video web cam shows
a moving and fluid stream of images, whereas still images
do not flow the same way.
If you have a friend or a relative living away from
you, who has internet access, then it would be a good
idea to ask them to test your live webcam. Remember
that the larger the image, the lower the refresh rate.
Testing Your Web Camera
Ask them to look at your web cam video and tell you
how it looks while you set it to different combinations
of image size and refresh rates. That way you get to
have fun with your camera even before you show images
to the public.
In case you don’t have friends or family to help you
experiment, keep the following tips in mind. The larger
the image is, the slower the refresh rate will be. An
image with a pixel size of 320 x 240 can be refreshed
about every 20-30 seconds without any glitches.
If you would prefer your images to refresh at a faster
rate, then try an image size of 160 x 120 pixels. That
smaller size allows for a 10 second refresh rate. If
you are going to stream live video, it is recommended
that you keep your image size at 160 x 120 pixels so
that users with slow internet connections can view your
live webcam without any problems.
About the Author:
Richard Harrison is writing a number of articles on
digital and web cameras and photography including Web
Cameras.
Lookout for more articles on this website.
More Web Cam Facts....
Web cams have become very popular. It seems as if every
internet user has a web cam. Some cams come built into
new laptops and monitors. People want to know who it
is they are chatting with.
But it is more than just a tool to use while instant
messaging. It can be used to keep in touch with relatives
and friends that live far, far away. You can even utilize
a web cam when working. This is a great tool to use
if you telecommute from home or your base office is
located in another area.
RECOMMENDED READING
|
|
|
|
| Copyright
© 2007 - 2010 The Photography Shack, All
Rights Reserved |
|
