live, ("streaming?"), web cam

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ChrisGreaves
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live, ("streaming?"), web cam

Post by ChrisGreaves »

Forum?
I am unsure of the terminology, but something along the lines of The Blenheim installation would be a good match.

Two weeks ago I had a discussion/enquiry about a publicity webcam looking northwards (long arrow) from the junction of Highway 235 and Coster street here in Bonavista.

(1) A webcam seems to be within my "toy" budget.
(2) I have seen photos (attached) taken from the top of the courthouse northwards along Church street. They appear to be just what we need for the tourist trade.
(3) I have no experience in mounting a web cam.
(4) I assume that Win10 technology can handle a web cam.
(5) I contemplate a trial installation atop my house, either (short arrow) looking up the street towards Matthew Elementary, or just aimed at my back yard.
(6) This raises the interest in a WiFi web cam so I don't have to trail cables all over the place, especially if I relocate the camera to Church Street and use the cafe's WiFi.
(7) This also raises the question of legality. I would in effect be "spying" on innocent passers-by, and have no knowledge of privacy laws pertaining to this issue (although I now have a tame lawyer who has proved his effectiveness)
(8) The discussion prompted suggestions for more locations, a view of the icebergs from the Bonavista lighthouse. If this idea grows I would like to install a working system and then turn the management over to the municipal council (better yet: a local student). I do not see this as a lifetime commitment.

With all those points in mind, I would be interested to hear comments at a high level regarding experience and feasibility of such a project. Many of you know my capabilities. Specific details such as the ideal model of webcam can come later.

Thanks
Chris
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stuck
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Re: live, ("streaming?"), web cam

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Re: live, ("streaming?"), web cam

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:popcorn: :munch:
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ChrisGreaves
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Re: live, ("streaming?"), web cam

Post by ChrisGreaves »

stuck wrote:
15 Jan 2021, 13:22
Why not just ask Google?
Hi Ken.
The short answer is that I value opinions from people I know (residents of Eileen's Lounge), much more than people I don't know (via Google Search)

Google comments have value, but those data arrive from someone who is speaking from their viewpoint. I tend to favour highly comments from people who have some knowledge of my abilities.
Cheers
Chris
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Re: live, ("streaming?"), web cam

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ChrisGreaves wrote:
15 Jan 2021, 12:48
...I would be interested to hear comments at a high level regarding experience and feasibility of such a project...
1) I have no experience of this sort of thing. Having said that, I can't see that the sort of webcams you link to in your point (1) would be suitable for mounting outside in any sort of weather, let alone Bonavista weather. They all looked like the sort of thing you plug into your PC/laptop and mount on top of the monitor. I'd expect a weatherproof webcam to cost $cdn lots and lots. Similarly, erecting a pole on which to mount the camera that's not going to blow down in the first breeze is unlikely to be cheap.

2) This sort of project must be more than feasible because webcams already exist. The first hit on the search I linked to gives an overview of the sort of tech involved:
https://www.epiphan.com/blog/how-to-liv ... beginners/
Mind you, that article is about sitting in front of a camera and streaming to YouTube. Outdoor webcams tend not to stream constantly. Rather, they capture single frames and the webpage they are feeding updates only once every few minutes.

Ken

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HansV
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Re: live, ("streaming?"), web cam

Post by HansV »

By the way,if you search Google for bonavista webcam. you'll find a few...
Best wishes,
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ChrisGreaves
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Re: live, ("streaming?"), web cam

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HansV wrote:
16 Jan 2021, 19:18
By the way,if you search Google for bonavista webcam. you'll find a few...
Thanks Hans. I found only one - the harbour-cam mounted within a hundred yards from where I am sitting. I can see cars heading South down highway 235, and if only the camera showed highway 230 northbound, I could spot Tom and Heather on their way home and see the end of my dog-sitting day.
I was not aware of this web cam. The one proposed would be a hundred metres east of the harbour-cam, and mounted above three storeys.

The weather cam site showed no web cams, but an invitation to install a link should a weather-cam exist.
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Chris
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Re: live, ("streaming?"), web cam

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stuck wrote:
16 Jan 2021, 18:52
... let alone Bonavista weather.
Thanks Ken.
This link to Amazon https://www.amazon.com/weatherproof-web ... oof+webcam shows cameras that fall under Amazon's "weather proof" category, still $20 and up.
I suspect that "weatherproof" is like my "fireproof records box". It is more accurately fire-resistant, and weather-proof at $20 may mean that they applied glue just before they screwed/bolted it shut.
Bonavista weather is brutal for short spells.
I would probably elect to enclose the webcam in a perspex box. Since Covid arrived every store has scraps of perspex lying around!

2) This sort of project must be more than feasible because webcams already exist.
Quite so. Outside web cams have been in my view for about fifteen years, and the set of six? in Dawlish shows that they work.
That still leaves me asking for first-hand experience, first-hand do's-and-dont's from live members. I am always amazed by the interests of Lounge Members outside the world of computers.
The first hit on the search I linked to gives an overview of the sort of tech involved. ... Mind you, that article is about sitting in front of a camera and streaming to YouTube.
And there we have it!
Ideally I would learn from another Bonavista member of Eileen's Lounge (grin), so I shall probably track down the manager of harbour-cam, although they may well have moved to the Alberta oil-fields to earn money.

Cheers
Chris
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Jay Freedman
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Re: live, ("streaming?"), web cam

Post by Jay Freedman »

Like the other responders so far, I don't have personal experience with webcams. I've looked at a few sites that support them, and one of the best is https://www.mountwashington.org/premium ... am-videos/ from Mount Washington in New Hampshire. The top of the mountain has some of the worst weather in the United States. Here's today's view from a webcam that's inside the observation deck:
1.png
Consider that this is a fairly mild day for the location, -4°C with 88 km/hr wind.

If you intend to mount a camera outdoors, think about what it will see if the lens is covered with ice or with salt from wind-blown sea water -- and how you would get to it to clean it. Even if it's mounted indoors, the view could be obstructed more often than you'd like.
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Re: live, ("streaming?"), web cam

Post by ChrisGreaves »

Jay Freedman wrote:
16 Jan 2021, 20:52
Like the other responders so far, I don't have personal experience with webcams. I've looked at a few sites that support them, and one of the best is https://www.mountwashington.org/premium ... am-videos/ from Mount Washington in New Hampshire. The top of the mountain has some of the worst weather in the United States.
According to Bill Bryson, Mount Washington holds the record for the highest wind speed recorded in the USA.

... see if the lens is covered with ice or with salt from wind-blown sea water -- and how you would get to it to clean it. Even if it's mounted indoors, the view could be obstructed more often than you'd like.
This is exactly the kind of experience I would like to discuss with webcam managers in cold climes.
This, my third winter here, is said to be normal in that we have snowfalls, and then rain. My first two winters were solid snow until late April.
My diary for Friday, May 03, 2019 includes "Snow flurries and freezing rain". For Tuesday, May 19, 2020, "Snow on the ground. ... at 7am as the snow begins to fall again". Snowfall started December 2019 and we had no rain until early February. I almost ran out of drinking water. Snowfalls start around the first week of December.
So I think of six months of snow, but this winter the interspersed rain falls would go a long way towards flushing off snow and ice.
For a house or shed mounted web cam enclosed in a perspex cube, a long-poled squeegee should do the trick.
Atop a three-storey courthouse I would be dependent on the rainfalls.
I suspect that a lens placed hard against the interior wall would reduce some blurring.
Cheers
Chris
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Re: live, ("streaming?"), web cam

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:popcorn: :munch:
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Re: live, ("streaming?"), web cam

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stuck wrote:
15 Jan 2021, 13:22
Why not just ask Google?
Hi Ken.
(later). I erred here. I sent my email to Earthcam instead of MyEarthcam. Earthcam's response was entirely appropriate)

A bit more on my approach. I sent an email to Earthcam specifically asking if they could put me in touch with whoever owns or manages the Bonavista camera(1), so that I could discuss local conditions with them. Earthcam replied "Thank you for contacting EarthCam. I'm happy to help get a camera set up for you! We can offer you a number of camera solutions ranging in price. Where are you planning to install the camera(s)? " and more, but nothing at all in response to my specific question (which in the end required only a simple yes/no).

I thought my request to be in contact with someone was reasonable, and would not have been surprised/offended if the response had been "No, on account of privacy laws", but a request emailed to a faceless entity trends to generate this canned response. Note that on the first response we are already discussing the price of a suitable camera!

I feel the same way about many forums ranging from TripAdvisor all the way to EarthCam; A great many respondents seem not to read the question, but instead respond with something that is the closest fact in their head to the topic. I am often guilty of this.

Searching Google for an answer to a specific condition or environment is not always wasteful, but I do that anyway as a matter of course at 3am from either of my two smart phones. In my webcam case, I figured that a forum where people knew something of my capabilities (at times, poor to stupid), and environment might do the trick.
I still believe that there is more experience about the world buried in our collective heads than we dare dream about.

Cheers
Chris

(1)Bonavista is a small town, and since the camera is above the harbour, it is almost certainly mounted facing south atop the courthouse, and so is most likely under the control of Town Council; that means another excuse to drop in and chat with Grace and Faye down at the town hall.
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Re: live, ("streaming?"), web cam

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I am not so sure that it is just the camera itself you need to think about, but how you protect it. Typically, it would be sealed in an IP66 housing, with heaters, blowers, and wipers if appropriate. For example - External Camera Housings Outdoor Weatherproof IP66 Surveillance CCTV

This means that you are going to need additional power. How about you combine this with your off-grid wind-turbine project? I'm sure you will be able to convert an old desk-fan into a generator wired into an reclaimed electric oven element to keep the camera nice and toasty. Add some simple gearing, and a wiper blade nicked from some innocent neighbour's car, and you should be able to include automatic rain/snow/salt/bird poo removal too.



I am also not so sure getting involved in this thread was a good idea... :grin:
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Re: live, ("streaming?"), web cam

Post by StuartR »

Leif wrote:
20 Jan 2021, 14:28
...I am also not so sure getting involved in this thread was a good idea... :grin:
:laugh:
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Re: live, ("streaming?"), web cam

Post by stuck »

ChrisGreaves wrote:
20 Jan 2021, 12:50
Hi Ken.
A bit more on my approach.
A bit more on my approach...

I suggested you use Google so that, as this thread has revealed, you'd realise installing a webcam atop your house to feed images to a web page with a view to getting tourists to be inspired to visit Bonavista was a far cry from plugging a web cam into your laptop so that you can have a Skype [other providers are available] call with someone elsewhere on the planet.

I wish you well in your endeavours but shortness of life prevents me from commenting further in this thread. It also prevent me from embarking on a similar project in my village. Not to mention the fact even if I did have time, I doubt many tourists use webcams as a way of checking out a possible destination. Certainly I've never done it.

Have fun :grin:

Ken

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Re: live, ("streaming?"), web cam

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Surely tourists would flock in their thousands, and hundreds of thousands, to the home of one of the most technically-sophisticated webcams in the known universe, situated near to the end of civilisation as we know it?
You might need to do a song and dance show, on the hour, every hour, within good sight and sound of the camera. With guests, to increase the variety,
You could go viral and become an internet meme, world famous in BV.
(I have many other ideas which, for copyright and intellectual property reasons, I shall not yet reveal... :thumbup: )
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Re: live, ("streaming?"), web cam

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If Chris does a mating dance in front of the webcam, who knows what will happen...?
Best wishes,
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Re: live, ("streaming?"), web cam

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Where's the eye bleach? :shocked:
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Re: live, ("streaming?"), web cam

Post by ChrisGreaves »

Leif wrote:
20 Jan 2021, 14:28
...I'm sure you will be able to convert an old desk-fan into a generator wired into an reclaimed electric oven element to keep the camera nice and toasty.
Been there; Done that!
Bonavista_20210121_092151.JPG
I am now waiting for some serious wind. I must fix the three small strips to the vanes to inhibit flexing on the return stoke.
In practice i will always be drawing current from a car-battery reservoir, which reservoir will be replenished by power from one or more turbines. But you already knew that!

Cheers
Chris
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Re: live, ("streaming?"), web cam

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John Gray wrote:
20 Jan 2021, 17:36
Surely tourists would flock in their thousands, and hundreds of thousands, ...
Hi John. Indeed, my goal is to attract local people to see what can be powered with electricity derived from simple vanes based on site. I have no plans to go off-grid, but to show people that it is easy to make use of the winds which people complain about.
The web cam is on my list of applications, but a web cam powered by "wind" aimed at people who are looking at the webcam mounted near a turbine sounds like a good idea.
Cheers
Chris
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