Webcam upload to internet

[Mark H]

I'm banging my head against a wall trying to find out if an off the shelf webcam (attach to laptop, usually used for "conferencing", probably about £75) can automatically upload images, say every 30s, to one of our websites which we can view from anywhere.

I would have thought this was a most basic function, but the manufacturer's websites I have looked at don't seem to mention it. Is third party software needed?

[grantglendinnin]

Definitely possible because FETA have done it here - always a very useful tool I must admit

Though unfortunately I don't know how. lol

[Darren B]

When you say upload images every 30secs, are you meaning some form of cctv type scenario? or single shot images from points in time captured from cctv/webcams

http://www.icode.co.uk/icatcher/impl.../singlecam.htm

[Mark H]

Thanks Grant, I'll let you know how when I find out.....

Darren - I want to buy a standard webcam from say PC World (ie not a security or other sort of CCTV or camera), the sort you use to chat to Granny in Australia via Skype. Then I want to point it at say the garden, have it upload an image every 30 seconds to one of our websites which I can then access via the internet anywhere in the world.

Everyone will be familiar with webcams on the internet where you can see pictures of say Bondi Beach which are updated every minute. I just want to use a PC's webcam to create a personal internet webcam (confusingly both are called webcams). I can't help feeling that this should be a fairly standard feature of the software which comes with these webcams (just enter FTP details etc) but so far I can find no reference to it.

[RuralWeb]

I bought a Logitech webcam years ago that could do what you want

[Darren B]

there are loads of bits of software tha do this, your looking for a camera that uploads image files via ftp (the common way this is achieved) to your server, then you would have a webpage with the image on it, a refresh of the browser shows you the latest image

The one Mal suggested probably had exactly the ftp upload i mention

[Mark H]

Yes, but the wierd thing is that there is nothing I can find on Logitech's website to suggest that their current range do this. I don't want to buy one and find it doesn't work, because I don't want it for anything else (haven't got a Granny in Australia), and some of the third party software looks a bit scary/dodgy $19.95 in used notes to a basement room in Guatemala etc.

[NormanRouxel]

It's not really manufacturer specific.

Google for something like "internet webcam ftp" and you'll see lots of software that can do this sort of thing.

You could also try manufacturer specfic searches like "ftp webcam inurl:logitech" and swap a few manufacturer names for logitech.

[gabrielcrowe]

i have previously used this: http://www.webcamxp.com/home.aspx

- input agnostic
- uploads ftp and http post/push
- streams
- pwns

excellent.

[Mark H]

Thanks everyone.

Gabe - thanks for the link, a recommendation is really helpful - I'll have a look (plus it's free......).

For the record, the only webcam manufacturer's website I have found which specifically refers to the automatic FTP upload facility is Creative.