For those not able to go to Morrison's Grand Reopening...

[GLENFWB]

So Yoda, how was the grand opening? Did you dive? What was the water like?

 

[SeaYoda]

I'm uploading movies and pictures for a report as I type this. I did not dive, still have a cold. The water looked a little better today but not blue. MysteryDiveBuddy was there and was going to freedive after the crowds left.

 

[jviehe]

I wouldn't do "live video". just a snapshot image that refreshes every "X" seconds. (where X is maybe 5 seconds, 15, 30, 60 seconds, etc).

That's really easy code to write and push to a server to host the page.... I wrote the code for another web cam to be used a few years ago this way and it worked great.

now days you can get a camera that has ethernet built "onboard" and set with an IP address. (some of these even allow the user to pan left/right, up/down, and zoom in/out, tyically with java scripting.) Anyway, if you had an IP enabled camera, you could have server in a remote location do a FTP of the image every X seconds, updating it with a cronjob.

The datalink could easily support several cameras also, to get several different views from different locations. (point one at the dock, one at the basin, set one further back, etc).

You could then easily add banner adds to the server each time it was loaded or refreshed.

Yep, thats what I was thinking. You could probably get a cheap data plan then just to accomodate uploading a picture every minute. In which case all you need its power.

 

[frankc420]

Unlimited data plan for $49.99 at Tmobile. Even if you get a network enabled webcam, you have to figure out how to convert the USB or PCMCIA card to ethernet, unless your going to put a small computer out there too. I haven't lookup up solutions for this, but I suppose it's possible the new network cameras have USB ports that would enable a USB for Tmobile or another carrier?

 

[jviehe]

I was thinking you would need an old computer to upload the stuff. Im not aware of any all in one computers.

 

[mike_s]

Unlimited data plan for $49.99 at Tmobile. Even if you get a network enabled webcam, you have to figure out how to convert the USB or PCMCIA card to ethernet, unless your going to put a small computer out there too. I haven't lookup up solutions for this, but I suppose it's possible the new network cameras have USB ports that would enable a USB for Tmobile or another carrier?

I was thinking you would need an old computer to upload the stuff. Im not aware of any all in one computers.

If you get a network enabled webcam, you won't need a computer (at the site) to upload the pic. The webcam will have a TCP/IP address and you just use your web server to "grab" an image from that IP every X seconds via cronjob. Transfer via FTP or rcp.

You just plug the webcam direclty into the outbound router/DSL modem. Only minor setup is required to give it a static IP address.

If you're going to use a cell phone, you might need a computer just to go between the interfaces as cell phones don't have ethernet ports on them. But you can "tether" my cell phone via USB and use it to access the internet for example. This setup could be achieved with an old $50 to $100 laptop with an ethernet port and a USB port. (or just two USB ports if using a USB camera, but I figure that you will want the camera close to the basin and most likely any computer/com gear will need to be in a locked supply room in a building there, like the bathroom, or in a mounted steel cabinet away from the water a little bit)



As for T-Mobile... need to see if they even work at the site. You get off the interstate in rural areas with T-mobile and I'll you've got is a phone with a battery that will go dead quicker. I'm sure that someone has been to Morrison that uses T-mobile for voice at least. Rocketman had t-mobile and it sucks at Vortex though. (of course different cell tower, but you get the idea of distance off interstate).

I know that Verizon works with voice at Morrison. I can try data at Springfest.