Webcam capture software

A local pub landlord has offered to setup a webcam for us, as he has great views of the villages and we don’t! So I’m trying to find some good webcam software to set them up with. Am I right in thinking that the WD webcam system is made up from a 3rd party webcam software? Is there a standalone version? Can anyone recommend any good webcam software that can upload images to my server, and create timelapse videos etc?

Hi,

I have been using “Easy Web Cam” now for a couple of years and never had a problem with it, it is a freebie but for a couple of pounds you can have their trade mane removed and put in what ever text you like, it is a stand alone program, you can find it in Google, “Easy Web Cam”

Geoff

Thanks Geoff, I was trying Easy Web Cam this morning, but it doesn’t create the timelapse video that the WD system can create. Also there are no image overlay options.

Fwink is a good free program, it does allow for overlay but not time lapse that I am aware of…
http://lundie.ca/fwink/

-Bob

Yea I tried that one this morning too :slight_smile: Couldn’t get it to run. It kept crashing when ever I selected my camera as the device.

What Kind and model of webcam?

I have used it with Microsoft VX-6000, Logitech Pro 4000, Pro 5000 and Pro 9000

-Bob

webcamxp, never used it myself.

An IP camera would be the best for that pub situation, then all the image handling could be done on a remote PC just accessing the cam’s own server. I mean you don’t want to be going to the pub all the time to mess with the PC, oh wait, hmmmm, maybe this isn’t such a good suggestion :lol:

Yes exactly. Any excuse to nip out to the pub! I want to keep the costs down, so it won’t be an IP cam. I’m using a cheap usb cam which actually generates a good imagewith great light handling, and excellent low light handling. It’s made by Advent - probably rebranded.

I was thinking also that maybe I could get away with giving the pup some basic free software which will ftp the image to the server every minute, then I can use WD’s HTTP Download feature to download the image, process it in WD’s webcam system, add overlays, build an all day timelapse video, and upload the final result to the server. Can you see any problems with that? The reduced costs would leave me with more beer money, so that I can go and adjust the webcam more often! :wink:

That sounds good, or you could use mchallis’ php webcam script.

I use this one for some in house applications:

http://www.yawcam.com/

Works well with USB cameras and has lots of features including its own built in webserver.

Hi!

I have today tested 3 different webcamsoftwares to try to find out a low-resourse one what works well, here are the results:

YawCam: Works good, quite resoursehungry
Fwink: Lightwieght, but outputimage pixelated in all dimensions
Dorgem: Lightweight, good image

I choosed Dorgem to use for now.

In use: XP SP2 and Logitech QuickCam Fusion

:smiley:

Henkka

It seems Dorgem has been discontinued (http://dorgem.sourceforge.net/) although I think it can still be downloaded. I haven’t been able to get Yewcam and most of the others to work on my system with my webcam for some reason. Easy Web Cam seems to be the best so far, and I think the free version may be all that’s needed. I’ll give that a go for now any way.

WD’s web cam software program can be used with out a weather station…

Brian, can it be used with out WD, and on another persons computer that does not have a license for WD? Although I think we might now be sorted out with some other cam software which will upload the images to the site, I’ll use WD to download the images, and WD webcam capture to process the image file, add overlays/text, create an all day video etc, and upload it all again. I hope that will work, but it does add more points of failure! Maybe you should release a stand alone version of the WD webcam software - it’s got some great features (although I’ve yet to figure them all out)!

yes it can be used without WD having been registered (just start it manualy), (install WD normaly)

Thanks for all your help. I’ve just about got it all setup and working now bar a few issues - corrupt images being generated by WD webcam capture which screws up the daily video. I think we may need a better webcam though!
http://www.newton-noss.co.uk/weather/webcams/alldayvid.php