IP camera frame rates?

[Wilt]

Hi

When viewing a IP camera from certain locations around the world you only seem to get one frame per second. I'm thinking of getting one for home security.

If i'm miles away from home and want to check the cam via internet, is that the sort of thing to expect?

Most ip cameras can do 25fps but is that only when using your home network and not via the internet?

Thanks

[Gadgetcity]

You seem to be lumping a lot of stuff together here.
First of all, when you look at webcams on websites they are not always IP cameras. Secondly, there are several methods for feeding the 'video' to the webpage. Some systems simply capture a static jpeg image once a second and serve that, others run varies plugins (eg java) to serve the video.

The frame rate is limited by the available bandwidth, video window size and compression scheme.

Some camera systems serve the video as a raw stream and need an application to receive the video.

IP cameras normally have the web server built in which gives you less control than a camera connected to a server PC but the IP camera is really simple to set up in the first place and doesn't require a PC to be left on all the time. They can serve varies formats including MPEG4 but MJPEG seems more common.

Now to your question....

You can get anything from 1 frame every few seconds to 'you tube' like video depending on your camera selection and available bandwidth.

BUT!

If you are wanting to use the camera for home monitoring then you may want to consider a movement detection type approach. I've used programs like Supervisioncam and Gotcha! in the past. It only records images if movement is detected but you can also get live images if you want. These of course require a PC running.
The point is, if something interesting happens at your house, it is unlikely that you'll be watching at that moment in time to see it! I caught several youths on camera using the movement system who where up to no good!

Happy camera hunting

[rmansfield]

If you decide to go down the computer rather than pure IP camera route, I can recommend Blue Iris as the server for the PC.

This takes webcams, capture cards, or other IP cameras and puts them all on an accessible web page. It uses either a Java Applet or ActiveX control (in ie) to update video much faster than a normal jpeg push style app.

Cheers,
Rich