I start off with running XP Pro on a mediocre machine with a video input card.
WINNOV VO Frame
Grabber http://www.winnov.com/products/capture/videumvopci.htm
This card is fed the Video from the following 'WebCam'. I chose this
combination of camera for the 450 lines of resolution and the lens for the
auto-iris feature, a must have for when the sun is in the view, bright snow
scenes, and still being able to see moon shadows at night and it has a vari-focal
feature. This is placed in a heated weather enclosure that they sell. I
seriously doubt that the 24vdc heater that is comes with makes a beans
difference as it sits out on a tree in these, often below 0F temperatures
and through the arctic storms. I am astounded that this camera has not
blinked once since 2001 (knock on wood) because of weather affecting it.
(Only loss of power, and once a vole chewed through the wires)
PC33C Color C-Mount
Security Camera
CML3-8MMVA3.5
mm-8 mm Auto Iris Varifocal
http://www.supercircuits.com
So, now any software that recognizes VFW (Video For Windows) will 'see'
the live video from the camera, through the composite input of the video
input card.
The primary piece is Willing Webcam, from http://www.willingsoftware.com The codec that they use in producing the jpg capture, far exceeded the one in WebCam32 http://www.surveyor.com in both quality and compression. And true to it's advertisement, the updates have been free and frequent. This alone, produces the image every 10 minutes and ftp's it to the website. It also produces an image every hour and begins the Time Lapse movie.
It begins with using the feature in Willing Webcam appropriately enough called Time Lapse. I put the settings at, an image every 30 seconds from 3AM till 2AM and to produce an AVI at 30 frames a second. This AVI is appended every 30 seconds till 2AM till it goes through it's metamorphoses into a WMV file. This is done by using the free encoder from Microsoft. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/forpros/encoder/default.mspx You simply have to install the files, and run a batch file from Scheduled Tasks, a feature included in XP. My batch file is this...
cd\
cd c:\program files\windows media components\encoder
cscript.exe wmcmd.vbs -input c:\sheridan.avi -output c:\yesterday\sheridan.wmv
cd\
del c:\sheridan.avi
Set this to run every night at 2:10AM. Ten minutes later, I move the file from the Hard Drive to the website, and for this I use another command line program that can be run from another scheduled batch file. This is a great tool for anyone who routinely FTP's data to another location. It's called FSYNC from Eternity Software http://www.eternitysoftware.com and you can't beat the price or support that Alex gives for his product. My batch file is this...
cd\
cd yesterday
fsync upload sheridan.wmv -u ftp://username:pw@000.000.000.000/www/sheridan/yesterday
Nothing fancy here... I use the 1-wire technology. Simple transistor like devices are placed, one outside and one is immersed in epoxy in a small jar and floated in the lake at about 3' down. The data is sensed by a serial interface and I wrote a VB application to store the data in a database, write a htm and then upload it to the website. Midon Design is an excellent source for these materials.
I have the pleasure of being able to use a broadband service from BCInternet . Of course it's not a static IP so I use a service from dns2go . You can find free services eg. dyndns. Then I use the VNC server/client solution to access the pc from at home.
The number one problem is power interruption. Throughout the years, I've tried many plans to restore normalcy to the webcam computer, as it sits by itself weathering out the storms. At this time, I use an X-10 system, where I can call in on the phone line, press some buttons and I can reset the radio-transmitter (used for a wireless internet connection), the router and finally the pc. The part that needs personal attention is when it's waiting for input to a change, eg after an upload that effects security....