[StormHD]

I'm want to set up a small home camera network. The basic idea is to have one unit monitoring the baby's room, one monitoring downstairs, one covering the front of the house and a final one covering the rear of the property.

That all seems simple enough, however here is where it gets complicated. What I'd *really* like to is transmit those streams in a common format (such as mpeg4 or divx). The reason I'd like this is because I would then be able to view the output on a PDA, mobile phone and most importantly Xbox Media Centre.

The problem I've found is that all the cameras I've seen, used and read about seem to require that an ActiveX control or Java Applet be installed in order to view the video stream. This is crippling as it prevents me from streaming live video to any device other than a desktop computer or laptop.

So my question (I got there eventually) is this:
-Does anyone know of an IP camera which will allow me to stream the video in a common format (and not require any sort of java or active x viewer)?
-Does anyone know there are any software or hardware options available to input video from an IP camera and then rebroadcast it as a compatible video stream

I know it must be possible because I can see streaming video on the internet without requiring special views, I just have no idea how to do it.

If anyone could help or at least point me in the right direction of help then I would *really* appreciate it.

[charris cy]

Axis make the 292 video encoder which decodes digital video and audio streams into analog video signals. This allows analog devices such as monitors and video switches to be connected to an Axis IP-based video system.

This makes it easy to watch the ip camera feeds on any tv. For PDA viewing I am sure one of Axis partners or even Axis will have compatible software. For Xbox Media Center and mobile it will be quite hard but again look at the Axis software partners or try to design a solution around the 292. This solution might be like this: The 292 decodes the signal and you input that by composite or s-video into a pc using a tv card. Will the Xbox media center be able to view this?

Of course the above solution is very expensive.

You can possbly do the same using analog camera and a web based network DVR.

Why do you want to use IP cameras?

[StormHD]

Well my reason for IP cameras was because they are relatively cheap, easy to set up and can easily be accessed via the web.

I don't know a great deal about cctv (which is probably evident) but I've always assumed the 'traditional' cameras are expensive, tricky to set up, require an expensive input card on a PC which needs to be switched on all the time and that it's complicated to transmist the singal over the net and over a local network.

I'll take a look into the Axis solution you mentioned. It'd be great if there was an easy way to just tap into the video stream produced by an ip camera rather than being forced to view it in a browser with an applet.

[RichardBoult]

Bit of a hijack this one so apologies to OP:

to extend this further is there any product or setup that could result in an ip camera wirelessly transmitting an image only when there is movement and having a PC on idle which wakes up and records movement as and when the camera tansmits.....sorry if thats garbage!

[hornydragon]

Originally Posted by RichardBoult

Bit of a hijack this one so apologies to OP:

to extend this further is there any product or setup that could result in an ip camera wirelessly transmitting an image only when there is movement and having a PC on idle which wakes up and records movement as and when the camera tansmits.....sorry if thats garbage!

Motion trippered recording and wireless cameras can all be done look at Panasonic IP cameras and DVR software


Storm I have used Panasonic IP cameras and they are viewable on any network device with a browser that support normal streamed video over a TCP/IP network not sur eof the min specs but if you can view html i recon it will work you just go to cam IP addy to view

[charris cy]

to extend this further is there any product or setup that could result in an ip camera wirelessly transmitting an image only when there is movement and having a PC on idle which wakes up and records movement as and when the camera tansmits.....sorry if thats garbage!

Some wireless ip cameras have alarm inputs which can be used to connect to motion sensors, voltage triggers e.t.c and are able to start recording when an event happens e.g motion sensed or door opened. The Axis 207W and 207MW can do that.

[charris cy]

Originally Posted by StormHD

Well my reason for IP cameras was because they are relatively cheap, easy to set up and can easily be accessed via the web.

I don't know a great deal about cctv (which is probably evident) but I've always assumed the 'traditional' cameras are expensive, tricky to set up, require an expensive input card on a PC which needs to be switched on all the time and that it's complicated to transmist the singal over the net and over a local network.

I'll take a look into the Axis solution you mentioned. It'd be great if there was an easy way to just tap into the video stream produced by an ip camera rather than being forced to view it in a browser with an applet.

That's what I thought also, but it is not that easy. It seems that the good quality ip cameras are very expensive.

If you go for an analog system you can make it web baseb in 2 ways:

A CCTV DVR, which is basically a tivo-type unit with camera inputs and specialized software. This runs anywhere from $700-$2000, based on # of cameras you want to record, quality, internet/PDA viewing.
You do NOT need both the computer and the DVR, it’s one or the other

A CCTV card for computer. This could run $150->$1000

You do NOT need both the computer and the DVR, it’s one or the other

See this thread for an analogue system: http://www.cocoontech.com/index.php?showtopic=7512

[StormHD]

Originally Posted by RichardBoult

Bit of a hijack this one so apologies to OP:

to extend this further is there any product or setup that could result in an ip camera wirelessly transmitting an image only when there is movement and having a PC on idle which wakes up and records movement as and when the camera tansmits.....sorry if thats garbage!

Every IP camera I've seen acts as a mini webserver and can automagically ftp or email images without the need for a PC being switched on at all.

[StormHD]

hornydragon - Which model(s) in particular have you used? It sounds like they could possibly solve my problem.

I guess what I'm looking for is a camera that just chucks the stream to the web page and basically uses windows media player to play it. If the camera does this then it's highly likely that XBMC will be able to tap into the same stream.

[hornydragon]

you can just access it by going to the IP of the camera if you can do this in XBMC then you can veiw the camera i have used BL-C10 for indoor stuff anf 331 for outdoor but all the pannies use the same front end and software

[Mad Monk]

Originally Posted by StormHD

I guess what I'm looking for is a camera that just chucks the stream to the web page and basically uses windows media player to play it. If the camera does this then it's highly likely that XBMC will be able to tap into the same stream.

If you're on a tight budget you can use any basic web cam to do this. You'll need to setup a stream server. Win 2003 has one built in or you can use other cheap software to achieve this. Connect you cam to cheap streaming card such as a Osprey 100 which is around £20. Use the windows encoder to create a RTP broadcast which can be accessed by typing a url into any web browser. Most broadcasts are in 3GPP (but you can choose what to format to stream in inc birates etc) Whatever the default player is in the client browser you'll be able to view the live stream.

If you're interested in the above idea I can explain in more detail the software and hardware configurations that you may need.

Oh and check out Darwin Streaming Server. Its freeware and pretty good from what I remember.