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-   -   New Cam - Need website help (https://www.winnipesaukee.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17302)

depasseg 03-31-2014 01:51 PM

New Cam - Need website help
 
I just got a Stardot NetCam. I'm in the process of setting it up.

I'm looking at all the great cams around the lake and wonder what people use to create the galleries and time lapse videos.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

webmaster 04-02-2014 01:48 PM

The Stardot Netcam is a good choice. I've been running them for years at several locations without a problem.

Stardot has a (paid) time-lapse system. If you look at the WeirsCAM time-lapse page the first time-lapse is from Stardot.

The second one is from Weather Underground (free). Once you sign up they'll start archiving your images and making time-lapses.

The third one is from Lookr (free). They create a nice smooth time-lapse BUT don't provide embed code to insert the time-lapse in a webpage. If they ever do that I'll drop the Stardot service and just use Lookr.

Many of the webcams at the lake are on both Lookr and Weather Underground. Since they're free why not sign-up for both?

Whatever you do don't give visitors direct access to your camera. Your home internet service is not intended to support a public web server, which is what the camera becomes if you allow direct access. Instead upload the image every 5 or 10 minutes to a web site out on the internet.

If your Netcam model supports h.264 video you can use a service like Streamby to grab video from your camera and redistribute it. I've used Steamby before and it is a great way to distribute live video from your camera without giving the public direct access.

Hope that helps some. Good luck and be sure to let us know when your camera is ready for public viewing!

depasseg 04-02-2014 02:04 PM

Hi webmaster!

Thanks for the info. I looked into the stardot time lapse service, but I saw that it was ~$175/month. Is that what folks are paying? That is crazy expensive!

Next I looked at the weather underground but saw that the max image size is 150K (my images are 650K). So I don't think this will work. I got a 10MP camera for a reason. :-)

Lookr seems like a feasible solution (except for the embedding issue). I also read about http://www.sebectec.com/ but it's windows only, and I'm running a linux server. Might end up scripting something.

As for the web pages and gallery archives, is there a template or program that you suggest? For now, I just followed the example of the Echo Shores cam and edited the necessary links. It works, but isn't fancy.

Thanks again! I'll let you know when it gets installed. It will be at Trexler's Marina/Quayside Yacht Club and should have a pretty decent view.

Edited:
I forgot to thank you for the tip on not sharing the direct link to the camera. I'm testing a service provided by http://www.click2stream.com/. I've seen some nice results and will check out your suggestion as well. It's an h.264 camera and seems to be well supported.

webmaster 04-02-2014 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by depasseg (Post 222038)
I looked into the stardot time lapse service, but I saw that it was ~$175/month.

I also gasped at that price but then they offered me a much reduced price. I don't recall what it was since they never charged me (please don't tell them!).

The quality of the time-lapse on Weather Underground isn't very good but I really like their archive organized in a calendar. Some cameras, like erika's cam (http://www.wunderground.com/webcams/erikas/2/show.html), just use their WU page as their website.

The quality on Lookr is much better, but with no embed code it has limited use for website operators. I wrote to them about the embed code (no reply). Maybe if a few of us do that they'll get with it.

Island Girl 04-02-2014 06:45 PM

We love new WebCams
 
Please post the url when you have a site up and running. We love new webcams, especially during ice-out and ice-in.

IG


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