webcams & internet

[teddybear]

have just got a logitech webcam, using XP home edition, dial-up internet, what is the easiest way to connect to another pc, without having to use messenger services. Or is there no other choice with limited funding. Want to watch the grandson playing etc.

[Spacemannz]

?? where's your grandson?? In the same house? down the road? in another country??

[Pete O\'Neil]

Dont expect stellar performance with only dailup, it will be very jerky id be surprised if you could even recognise your grandson.

[teddybear]

sorry about that, i'm taranaki & grandson is tauranga, they are also on dial-up, thanks

[Desperado]

Maybe a better idea for them to record small movies with the camera and email them to you.

Back to the streaming issue,You would be lucky to get 1 frame every 10-20 seconds over dial up,and while i have pointed this out to people they seem wrapped at what i would call poor results,I imagine the novelty wears off quite quickly as you miss all expression and movement......

[Rob99]

I take it they also have a web cam, dont know too much about it but have you looked into Net meeting

[Spacemannz]

Well I would say you would have to use some kind of messenger service.

Like Yahoo, MSN or Windows Messenger, or other. (Well any program that can use a webcam/ and sound).

I think with Windows messenger, BOTH u and them, have to have the same version, and you have to add each other to it, before u can use the cam/s.

And u also need a hotmail email, or an email address so u can add the other person.

BUT yup dont expect to see things moving fast on dialup. BUT it'll still work.

[Desperado]

You can feed the streaming video to a website,and those that want to view it do so by going to the URL,This gets around the issue of both needing an IM client and webcam,but its a bit of work to set up,has assiciated costs and adds another server into the mix....


I do believe some webcams come with the required templates,and some even provide webspace and a wizard.......

[Mike]

> will be very jerky id be surprised if you could even
> recognise your grandson.

Quite the contrary - my sister in Oz and my parents in NZ talk to each other using Yahoo Messenger... my sister with a webcam so my folks can see the family in Oz. Both sister and parents have dial-up - my dad's connection is rather poor. However the results (although fairly small) are quite acceptable. Sure its a frame every couple of seconds, but its fast enough not to be more like a slideshow than video.

Mike.

[Mike]

> Quite the contrary - my sister in Oz and my parents
> in NZ talk to each other using Yahoo Messenger... my
> sister with a webcam so my folks can see the family
> in Oz. Both sister and parents have dial-up - my
> dad's connection is rather poor. However the results
> (although fairly small) are quite acceptable. Sure
> its a frame every couple of seconds, but its fast
> enough not to be more like a slideshow than video.

That said, however, the video is only streaming one way (no video from my parents' PC), and no audio to go with it.

Mike.