Webcam & video question

[Crewdog00]

Some people I see on YouTube will place a camera or webcam into the tank to view the reptile while at work away from home. I wanted to know if any of you do this and how did you do your setup. What app or software do you use. I was thinking of setting up my MacBook Air which has a built in webcam. Place it on a chair in front of the enclosure and then watch from my phone. The only software I found to stream was Ustream. Look forward to hearing from you guys. Thanks in advance.

 

[BabySkales]

I'm curios too

 

[CooperDragon]

I use a webcam (Foscam brand, but brand isn't important really) that is hooked up to the network in the house. I put it just outside the tank on a table before I leave. Open a port in the firewall (port forwarding) to the camera's IP address and then just enter the IP address of the modem (external IP) along with the port I have forwarded to the camera in an app called netcamviewer. It brings the image up wherever I have a cell signal. I'm sure there are much more straightforward setups for nanny cams or home surveillance packages and the like.

 

[CooperDragon]

I just set it up for you to check out. <taken down for now> It's a live shot of Dundee sleeping (the camera has infrared lighting for night vision)

 

[Crewdog00]

I got Ustream to work have my laptop setup on a chair right now. I'm gonna look I to the app you talked about. I think I rather use your method so I don't have to have other viewers. Plus I don't know if my laptop will end up ****ting down after a few hours. And if the wifi drops I won't be able to reconnect until I get home from work.

 

[BabySkales]

@cooperdragon you never seize to amaze me. Lol

 

[Crewdog00]

Awesome! I'm pretty tech savy but never knew you could do what you did. If I want to look up a how to step by step guide do I just good IP forwarding?

 

[Crewdog00]

@cooperdragon you never seize to amaze me. Lol

Amen to that!

 

[CooperDragon]

It really is a lot more straightforward than it sounds. If you get a camera that is specific to home surveillance, it probably comes with instructions and apps to handle everything you need to do. I just used a webcam that I had on hand and kind of hacked it together. Here's some more detail about what I did.

The camera picks up an IP address when you plug it into the network. I logged into the router's web interface (usually 192.168.1.1) and looked at the list of connected devices. Found the camera in the list and noted it's IP (if you have software that comes with the camera, it can probably find it for you). Logged into the web interface of the camera and configured it to always take the same IP (static IP). Once I know where the camera will always be, I went back to the router and went into port forwarding (it's a little different on every router, but is always there if the router is worth anything). I set port 2222 from the WAN(outside IP for the modem -173.19.90.242 in my case) to forward to port 80 (default) on the IP address of the camera. That allows any request to the outside IP for my modem at port 2222 to forward to the camera on port 80 automatically. If you google your modem/router model and port forwarding you can probably find specific instructions for what you have, but that's essentially what you need to do if you configure it by hand. Like I said though, if you pick up a home surveillance camera package it probably has more automated ways of handling things.

 

[Taterbug]

It really is a lot more straightforward than it sounds. If you get a camera that is specific to home surveillance, it probably comes with instructions and apps to handle everything you need to do. I just used a webcam that I had on hand and kind of hacked it together. Here's some more detail about what I did.

The camera picks up an IP address when you plug it into the network. I logged into the router's web interface (usually 192.168.1.1) and looked at the list of connected devices. Found the camera in the list and noted it's IP (if you have software that comes with the camera, it can probably find it for you). Logged into the web interface of the camera and configured it to always take the same IP (static IP). Once I know where the camera will always be, I went back to the router and went into port forwarding (it's a little different on every router, but is always there if the router is worth anything). I set port 2222 from the WAN(outside IP for the modem -173.19.90.242 in my case) to forward to port 80 (default) on the IP address of the camera. That allows any request to the outside IP for my modem at port 2222 to forward to the camera on port 80 automatically. If you google your modem/router model and port forwarding you can probably find specific instructions for what you have, but that's essentially what you need to do if you configure it by hand. Like I said though, if you pick up a home surveillance camera package it probably has more automated ways of handling things.

Unless you need more cameras, a single IP camera or webcam would probably work out easiest. You'll probably be able to get a nicer plug/play single camera than a home security system for your money. The security systems work the same way but IMO it is a pain to set up the the DVR, at least on the entry level kits. Not sure about single camera monitors but the DVR/security system (zmodo) have onboard software that is really clunky and very particular about how things are set in order to work. It's not plug and play. Get what you pay for I guess.

 

[CooperDragon]

I wasn't thinking of one of the whole systems, just a webcam that is designed for home surveillance that may have a software package with it that would be able to broadcast the signal to an app without having to muck around with the firewall/router. Something along these lines http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006ZP8UOW/

 

[Taterbug]

I wasn't thinking of one of the whole systems, just a webcam that is designed for home surveillance that may have a software package with it that would be able to broadcast the signal to an app without having to muck around with the firewall/router. Something along these lines http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006ZP8UOW/

Ahh, my bad. I think they all need router configuration since they broadcast from your home network, don't they?

 

[KendraA]

Following. What a great idea!

 

[CooperDragon]

Ahh, my bad. I think they all need router configuration since they broadcast from your home network, don't they?

It probably depends on the router and the software. If the router has UPnP the software may be able to open a hole as needed. There may be some software that is outbound initiated (I'm thinking of remote assistance software like GoToAssist and GoToMyPC) that can reach out and connect to it's client app without router configuration. I haven't messed much with that home level software though so I'm not sure what the current options are. As far as hardware goes, a standalone webcam/IPCam is definitely a better option than a built in camera on a laptop etc as those are designed more for web conferencing and two way communication (not saying it can't be used, it's just not the best option for this application). If anyone wants to put something into practice let me know. I'll be glad to go through specific hardware specs and try to help out as much as I can. There are just too many options/variables to put together a good universal instruction set.

 

[BabySkales]

Are you IT?