Setting Up Your Own Webcam

Hardware & Software

Obviously, to set up a WebCam you'll need the right WebCam hardware which will suit your needs.

A computer needs to communicate with the camera via a hardware port. Current computers do have several communication ports:

  • On a PC: Serial port, Parallel port, USB port, Firewire/IEEE-1394, Card based (ISA,PCI,AGP).
  • On a Mac: USB port, Firewire/IEEE-1394, Card based.
  • Without computer: Network Cameras, Wireless Cameras.

Serial and parallel port WebCams are now old and obsolete (you may still be able to find products using those ports though). USB seems to be one of the most standard solutions for novice and advanced users, while Firewire and certain card based systems can get you in trouble (harder to set up, often carry conflicts with software and/or drivers), so they're recommended for advanced users only.

Network cameras are a type of camera where a computer is not needed at all. While Wireless cameras are a reality today, the future will bring much needed improvements to these devices.

PnP Cameras

The PnP (Plug and Play) camera devices have the advantage of being cheap and easy to install, but often offer lower frame rates than regular cameras connected to a VideoCapture Card, since the connection with the computer is made thru a Serial/Parallel/USB port. They provide high qualitty images, though.

Usually, these cameras drain power from the keyboard plug or USB connector, so you don't need an external power supply and don't have to mess with extra cables on your computer area.

Before buying one of these, be sure you have a free port available and if the camera you want to buy will be supported by your system. Our advice is to buy USB cameras, since it is a new way to connect up to 127 devices in the same port (chained) even without turning off your computer. Just be sure your Operative System supports USB ports.

All of these cameras can be put many feet away from your computer if you need to... just try to find one of those cable extender kits or some sort of device that will amplify the data signal.

So, PnP cameras are good for novice level users, users who actually just want to post live pics (no video or limited video) on a Web and users that don't want to spend too much money on this but begin to do something WebCam related.

Video Capture Devices & Cameras

Generally, cameras that require a video capture device are expensive, but they offer the highest frame rate available (24fps - 30 fps). You just need to acquire a videocamera (or use the one you have to film your family and friends on holidays, for example ;) and a Video Capture Device which will fit in your system. Just keep in mind that the Capture Device must match the video system used in the videocamera: NTSC for US/Japan, SECAM in France, PAL in Europe and so. Contact your hardware dealer if you have doubts on this.

Power supply will vary on each camera and country, so be sure the camera will fit your country's need. Video Capture Card drains power from your computer's slot, so you don't have to actually worry about it.

Just be sure to choose an ISA, PCI or AGP Video Capture Card depending on the free slots you have available in your computer. There are some alternatives: capture devices that are connected directly to a Parallel/USB port of the computer and then the videocamera connected to it (Snappy, QuickClip). They're an alternative when you don't have enough free slots inside your computer.

So, VCC cameras are good for advanced level users, users who actually want to broadcast live video (you can obviously upload images only) thru the Web and users that don't actually care about money to spend to set up a video conferencing system (thru the appropiate software).

Network & Wireless Cameras

This is a small group of cameras which have the ability to connect directly either to a Network or deliver the images thru a modem without needing to set up a computer to connect them to.

They're usually expensive, but cheaper if you think that you don't need to buy a computer to host the camera. Usually they offer good qualitty and frame rates and just need either a LAN connection or a phone line to retrieve the images from.

It is an alternative that is being used for security/surveillance purposes or just to put a camera where a computer can't be mantained (top of a mountain, for example!).

Digital Cameras

Digital cameras are becoming quite popular lately. The easiness of snapping shots everywhere and don't having to buy and process a photo film makes people get these kind of cameras. A small portion of them allows you to use them as true video cameras to use them in videoconference programs, or, why not? as a WebCam.

If you already have one of this kind of cameras, check with the manual or with your hardware dealer to see if the camera has a video-compatible driver for your Operating System. If you're planning to buy one, take the WebCam/video support in consideration :-)

Snapshot software

The most easy, cheap and efficient way to start putting some life in your static web page and converting it to a true WebCam page.

The snapshot software usually uses your Internet connection (even with a dial up account!) to upload via FTP (File Transfer Protocol) a single snapshot captured from the camera set up on your computer. This occurs each xx seconds (often 15, 30, 60,... seconds) and combined with the refreshing techniques we explained before, allows any kind of Internet user (even that ones with a slow Internet connection) to view live images coming from your system at the time you decide to have the camera on.

So, snapshot software is fast and an easy-to-set-up solution for novice users, with few resource consumption, low motion but that allows to put some live in the web page you have.

Streaming video software

If you plan to broadcast live video (with or without audio) through the Internet, you may want to first check your Internet resources: don't plan to put full video and audio support in your WebCam page unless you get a fast and high bandwith connection.

If you plan to broadcast video and audio, you'll probably need a dedicated computer to host the video server (often implies a fixed IP address for that server) which will grab the video streams coming from the WebCam hardware and put them available to the rest of visitors of your page. So pay close attention to this, since putting this kind of broadcasted image also often implies to put available to your users some kind of plugin (third-party program to be downloaded aside from the Web browser) to view the video and listen to the audio simultaneously.

If you just plan to put video (no audio) available in your page, you'll still need some bandwith for it and a fixed IP your users may connect to. Nowadays, there are some java applets that don't require the user to download and install any plugin: they just connect to the page the applet is and the applet gets in contact with the video streams coming from your system.

If you have a dial up account to the Net, you'll probably have a dynamic IP address, that is, a changing IP, an IP address that changes every time you dial up your ISP number. There are some solutions to get a fixed domain with a dynamic IP address (so users can enter a DNS name that will take them to the current IP in your system) but since this would imply a non-24hour broadcast, it will soon bore your visitors.

The last point is obvious: just be sure your WebCam hardware allows to capture video streams: recommended minimum frame rate is 10-12fps. You'll discover that to achieve such frame rate, you'll have to sacrifice image quality and size, so keep this in mind when choosing to broadcast video.

As a summary, broadcasting video (with or without audio) is often used by big companies or individuals that have a good and cost effective connection to the Net (Cable, DSL, Frame Relay connections, for example). Broadcasting video requires a lot of bandwith, so if you don't have all the required resources for it (with a minimum set of quality, of course), you better plan to broadcast snapshots only.