Posts Tagged webcam

How to Put Camera Images on Your Website

So you think that you want to put web camera images on your website? Husband Don and I made the agreement when we started this project that I would set up the website and he would install cameras in the coop. What we didn’t bargain for was that neither of us had any idea how to get the camera images to work on the static first page of the site. We’ve written the information below to help, should you want to put your camera images on a website.

Outside Camera

The Panasonic BL-C140A network cameras that we installed have built-in web software, and other nice features. They have a proprietary Power over Ethernet (POE) feature. If your camera is 100 feet or less from a power source, you can use the standard Cat 5 cable to power your camera. Unfortunately, our coop was about 200 feet from the nearest power source, so we had to extend a separate power line to the coop. Other cameras can be placed about 300 feet from the power source if they have industry standard POE specifications.

The cameras are wired from the coop with Cat 5 cables through a Trendnet network switch to our Airport Extreme router. Panasonic cameras are packaged with a set-up CD for PCs only. They are compatible with Mac, and the tech folks at the help desk will patiently guide you through the set-up, operation for the cameras, and router configuration.

Panasonic provides a free DDNS website for all of its cameras. By registering on the site, the camera is given a unique name (like having its own website), and can be accessed over the internet by anyone of your choosing. The images are displayed real time and with full motion. We access this site on a regular basis to see how our hens are doing, checking out who is laying, and making sure the local foxes are not harassing the hens. We also use this site as the source for our website images.

Inside Camera Facing Nest Boxes

Our website includes HTML code and Javascript to direct your browser to capture our images from the Panasonic DDNS website. By using the Panasonic website, we avoid having our own server, web and video software, and static IP. The three-second refresh of the images is a compromise because of bandwidth and web hosting cost.

The image capture and display code was the most difficult, frustrating, and a time consuming part of the website construction. However, if you know how to write code, it takes no time at all. We were able to make it work through the efforts of family techies and an expert.

We hope that this explanation will be of help to some of you. If you find it difficult to understand it might be because we find it hard to explain. If you get a website up and running with a similar camera, please let us know, we would love to see it!.

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Panasonic camera for Backyard Hencam

There are two Panasonic cameras on the hens. We’ve been working on moving the outdoor camera the last few days, trying to find the best view. The outside camera has been at one end of the run since we began this project. We mounted it about 4 feet off the ground and put a “hood” over it to protect it from the elements. What we’ve learned in the last four months, is that the hens prefer to hang out at the shady end of the run, which happens to be right under the camera! When you’ve come to Backyard Hencam to visit the chickens and the screen is empty, you’ve probably wondered, “Where are the chickens?” Well, they are, in fact, “chillin” under the camera and out of site!

New Location of Hencam

During the next week, we are going to mount the camera in different locations in the run so that you’ll be able to see the hens where they hang out during mid day. We know you want to see action, not just a blank screen.

There seems to be no place that will show you the entire coop. I told Don we could buy another camera and put one at each end. This didn’t go over too well. We had a hard time getting both cameras working on the website in the beginning so neither of us really can bear to think of adding a third.

We have moved the camera to the opposite side of the run to see how this works for viewing. We’re still experimenting. Let me know what you think!

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