Webcam/laptop questions. (Hey Matcat!)
 

I was thinking about hooking up a webcam in the truck so the kids can kinda see what I'm doing while I'm gone, and can talk and stuff too.

Can someone suggest what type of equipment to use? I dont want to spend a ton of money but also dont want to send/recieve a 5 second delayed blurbed out video.

Is this whole process as simple as getting a laptop, plugging a webcam into it and setting it on the dash?

As far as a laptop, will a cheap ($500-$600) one work fine just for this and random surfing of the net? What about a stand?

Any info is appreciated guys.
Thanks.
Jim

I would not think that matcat would provide the best advice on this subject, since he/she plowed into another vehicle whilst playing with the webcam..... :lol: :lol: :lol:

no evidence suggests he was "playing with the technology" when he crashed

In fact matcat has successfully made the connections for this to wrk so he would in fact be a valuable scource for the information.

Stop being so ignorrant so as to continue to make yourself look like an ass.

:roll: :roll: :roll:

You might try the RIF site it may help you....

Re: Webcam/laptop questions. (Hey Matcat!)
 

I can tell you what not to use. Don't use Verizon's internet access. They will cancel you in a heartbeat for going over your bandwidth limit. I've heard of people using Sprint for this. Personally, I would never go with Sprint, because their customer service sucks.

I have Sprint haven't had any problems with them. When I bought my first aircard, well, it was incompatible with my laptop. I'd picked it up in a local store, but the local store didn't carry the Sierra card that I needed. I called Sprint and they overnighted me the card I needed and I return mailed my other one. It didn't cost me anything extra.

As far as transmitting the video, the only issue would be the outgoing bandwidth. On a slow connection you'll only have about 5k/sec upload speed. Of course, if you're near a city with a high speed connection, that shouldn't be much of an issue.

There are many ways but here is one suggestion. You will need a web page so you have a permanent address that you can store the picture and other people can bring up your web page that will display and update the image.

Next you will need a simple video capture program that will run on your PC and will take a picture once every second and store it on your web page storage area.

When your wife is at home she would access your simple web page that will display the current picture and will update itself once a second.

There is no way you can have real time video at TV type speed. Doing an update once a second will not offend your internet provider like Verizon or others.

Doing this is very very simple for a junior computer person but very difficult for someone without any experience.

Re: Webcam/laptop questions. (Hey Matcat!)
 

as for verizon thay have never said anything about my use of bandwith..
i myself wouldn't use a webcam the video is just not that good this is what i use (panasonic handy-cam w/usb out)
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b...w/DSCF0235.jpg
now as to numbers
hp laptop $550
laptop stand $200
handy-cam $200 you could use a $30 web cam
power inverter to run it all $30
aircard $100
$1080

This is how I am going to do it.
 

This is your best solution. I am currently looking into better solutions and will post them. I would recomend, as I have my own website, I will be able to have a live cam situation and my kids will be able to pan and tilt the camera from home to see what I am doing, as well as my wife to make sure there are no Lot Lizards in the truck. It really is a simple soulution, I would aslo suggest just a simple web cam and use Yahoo Messenger, if you have the web cam at both ends, you will not have to have your own website.

As I check out these toys I will post a full detailed report for your review. I am also working on some very interesting technology for truckers that may help us with bandwith issues that seem to plague us. There is a very simple solution, but will have to test it. It may require some investment for truckers who want to be apart of it, but no further cost after the hardware has been furnished! I have a software budy who is a programing genious and he will write the software to make it work. Think of it this way, how many trucks are on the road at any one time? Think deep and hard and you may know the solution. If there is anybody interested in this, please P.M Me

The link below is for a system I am ivestigating!

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...660&CatId=1322

That's an overly complex way of doing it. There are plenty of free websites that allow you to post webcams. Just search free webcam hosting to find them.

One camera, DVR, color monitor and cables: $1,400
Three cameras, DVR, color monitor and cables $1,900

Would be interesting to know the specs on the camera, and how well any stabalization might work.

http://www.windshieldcam.com/

i like using the handy-can better than a web cam. you can do alot more with it than you can with a any web cam. i can at anytime hit the buttom and take a pic that i can save. i can stop at a rest area and get out and take pic's to send later. shoot video that i can send later or hook it to my vcr and use it as a dash cam and the video is better than any WEB-CAM can ever hope to be.

I suggest software such as Ivisit if you just want to pass stuff back to the home gang...It will allow you to chat back and forth with family, too

I'd argue against a web cam. They are typically low res and require much more in the way of ambient light than a true video cam.

Just about any laptop will do, since the big choke is going to be bandwidth.

One thing I intend to do with my system is set up a 4-hour buffer file on the laptop. That is, raw video is captured to the laptop for 4 hours. any data that's more than 4 hours old is flushed. If there's a segment I want to keep (say, something that may clear me from getting a ticket) I can easily set it aside for keeps.

I should look into things like Hughs - I wonder if they have a live-tracking satelite antenna that could be used onboard a moving truck...

For the live tracking, I use a combination of programs to allow it:

Franson GPS Gate - this allows the GPS device to be "shared" - it also sends my current location to their tracking site

GooPS - This program runs on the peoples computers who want to track me - they use my login name to retrieve my data.

Google Earth - The data pulled from GooPS is displayed on GooPS in real-time. It also shows the "breadcrumb" for the exact route I've driven.

The trail is VERY sensitive.I zoomed to the closest level and checked it out. You could see where I came into a T/A, fueled, pulled around the building, set myself up and backed in. You could tell to the parking spot that I was in.

I've never been particularly interested in doing any web-cam stuff....but I have been interested in hooking up a video camera to some kind of loop that will record some number of minutes or longer to show the stupid crap that people do in front of me or on the sides....

There was a driver down in FL who got caught in a "Swoop and Squat" down in FL....and the end of the story was in court when he went to fight the tickets, he showed the video to the judge.....his tickets were thrown out, and the two guys pulling the swoop and squat are now in prison for a few years, and their insurance companies paid for the damages to the truck and some other stuff....

I'm thinking of doing it as a "protective device".

Suggestions?

skywalker my setup works for that, i have the cam running to a vcr

Well damn I just noticed this post! OK here is how I do it, I have a $600 laptop from Walmart, you do not need anything particularly special, a cheap laptop will work well for surfing the web, cam, etc. I have a Microsoft Lifecam vx-3000, very descent cam, about $50, and Sprint 959u USB modem, price in this depends on your credit, $60 a month for service. I would also recomend a microphone or headset to plug into the laptop for sound, as the vx-3000s built in one does not pick up voice well over the noise of the vehicle running. Broadcasting over the internet espially on cellular broadband will have a lag anywhere from 5 seconds to a couple of minutes, depending.

Your a bit behind on your understanding of technology, still frame capturing is hardly ever used anymore as even Sprint or Verizons cellular broadband is fast enough to broadcast a fairly good quality stream. Also Verizon has a no streaming video clause in the contract, sprint does not. Also sprint is faster anyway.

Unless you buy a cheap $10 webcam, most webcams today will work in most lighting conditions, my MS Lifecam vx-3000 will clearly show a good image even at night with it pointed towards me in the cab with all lights off. ($50 webcam)

camstreams.com is the one I use, as well as many other drivers.

Matcat,

I'm not terribly worried about the interior of the cab.. is the resolution sufficient to grab the license plate of that idiot that just cut you off? Or the smile on the face of the troopie as you fly by at 115mph? :)

Okay, that made me laugh out loud.

No not really, you will be hard pressed to find a webcam capable of reading a license plate only because of the resolution, most webcams are 640x480 resolution, with higher end ones being 1.3 megapixel. If your more interested in 'security' footage, I would recomend a descent digital camera or camcorder capable of direct input into the PC, but you will have to shop around as although most digital cams are capable of being used as a webcam, they will only do so at the above said 640x480 resolution. And you would need to capture video at a fairly high quality bitrate with a minimum of 1.3 megapixels (preferably 3+) to clearly see a license plate, and at those quality rates would be way to extremely large a video stream for practical live broadcast using current mobile broadband technology.

I know - I've spent the past 30 years in the technology industry, one way or another - I was just handing out rope.

on the other hand, if you want to spend a little money, this system *rocks*, by the specs: http://www.linuxdevices.com/articles/AT4068554495.html

Rofl, troller! j/k, I have been in the IT and technology world myself for 15 years, was a programmer before getting into driving. That is a nice looking setup too, like the idea of being based on linux using open source technology for expansion, tho is a bit pricey for anything other then serious application.

Nice Setup
 

I like the above system and love Linux and the open source movement. That system IS REALLY NICE, but cost is way to high and the cameras probably would not stand up to well on a tractor or trailer, also one would have to worry about powering each camera, furthermore, could they hold up to the xtreme weather a truck would encounter.