Peterhead Webcam View Explained
Tech:
The camera is a standard security camera mounted 35 ft high on a south facing wall in the casing of a 500watt security light with all the bits ripped out. The reasons behind this mounting are a; it's cheaper than a professional CCTV mount b; it's totally weatherproof, and c; nobody knows it's there 'cos floodlights are everywhere!
The AV feed from the camera is processed by a standard tv card. The reason for ditching an ordinary USB webcam in favour of this method was due largely to the problems encountered by having a very long USB cable. Even with regenerative cables the signal degradation was unacceptable and frequent crashes of the computer were attributable to the camera logistics.
Software used is 'Tincam' for the actual webcam and stream.
Returning visitors may remember the streaming webcam from last year, this proved to be a lot more trouble than expected and, although excellent when working, was ditched in favour of the more common 'update' webcam when I finally ran out of patience and bandwidth. However, the streaming webcam is now back on line as a test and I'm hoping the new way of doing things will make the project more reliable. It has to be said that the current camera lacks the resolution of the previous one, and is susceptible to flaring in direct sunlight ... but as it looks due South there's not a lot I can do about the sun, it's sort of a permanent feature.
Occasionally the camera will be offline, usually if I need the tv card for another application, although this is usually at night when there's not a lot to see anyway.