Page 1 of 1

web cam stream

Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 7:58 pm
by s.dot
For one of my sites I want to have the ability to do a live webcam feed one hour once per week. There will be a chat so audio isn't important. Scheduling isn't important either.. but I need the ability to turn it on and off (naturally).

I've found software that uploads a webcam snapshot to my ftp server every x seconds but this doesn't seem good enough.

Anybody know of any streaming software?
Streams from my pc to my designated URL?

I don't know much about this kind of stuff but I imagine I'll have to set up some kind of server on my well, server?

EDIT| I should note I don't want to attempt to program this :P no time.. a preconfigured software will work for me

Re: web cam stream

Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 8:46 pm
by Chris Corbyn
ffmpeg can do streaming over HTTP with compression etc. Try that. It's a bit clunky and fiddly though.

Re: web cam stream

Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 10:28 pm
by s.dot
I've tried my hand at ffmpeg before :|
Very complicated, imo

Ideally I'd like some software with a GUI - point and click type stuff.

Re: web cam stream

Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 12:09 am
by josh
Beggars can't be choosers. FFmpeg is pretty easy to use IMO once its compiled. Then you can write your own GUI in PHP.

Re: web cam stream

Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 12:27 am
by Weirdan
Basically you need streaming server (you need live video, right?). Last time I checked, the only viable free solution was Red5 server. Some experience with Java recommended.

Re: web cam stream

Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 3:00 pm
by s.dot
http://www.softservice.org/products_flashcam.html

This seems to do the trick. Runs on my computer, so my computer's acting like the server. I can get about 400kbps up and I expect about 10 or so viewers.. so me thinks it will work.

Re: web cam stream

Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 3:39 pm
by VladSun
Search for video-4-linux (if it's Linux OS ofcourse)
A lot of resources.

EDIT: http://linuxtv.org/v4lwiki/index.php/Main_Page

Re: web cam stream

Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 7:41 pm
by s.dot
josh wrote:Beggars can't be choosers.
Who's begging? ;)
I am not against paying for the software, which means diving into the market for it - which means I should have tons of choices! :P
jost wrote:FFmpeg is pretty easy to use IMO once its compiled. Then you can write your own GUI in PHP.
That does sound intriguing.
I'll have to give it a play with again.
I have always tried to build it under windows.. so perhaps I should do it on my linux box.
Weirdan wrote:Basically you need streaming server (you need live video, right?). Last time I checked, the only viable free solution was Red5 server. Some experience with Java recommended.
Thanks for that link! Prior to that I had only seen Adobe FSM.
Looks like a bit of a task.. the site is mostly empty? :P

Re: web cam stream

Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 1:10 am
by josh
Yeah my point is I've looked into the commercial options, for instance Adobe starts at 12k. ( licensing fees for .wmv, etc.. )

Re: web cam stream

Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 5:08 am
by VladSun
scottayy wrote:
Looks like a bit of a task.. the site is mostly empty? :P
Yeah, I couldn't find the page I was referring to, but did find this Wiki page which looked like the page I was searching for.

Re: web cam stream

Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 6:05 am
by papa
Not sure they have an API and this is similar to what you are looking for, but it's a cool site:
http://bambuser.com/

Re: web cam stream

Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 8:46 am
by s.dot
papa wrote:Not sure they have an API and this is similar to what you are looking for, but it's a cool site:
http://bambuser.com/
LOL I viewed the web site and some guy was giving me the finger. LOL
FlashCam worked perfectly for my needs!
I may look into buying their rebroadcasting server for $395