Webcams

[Hells Bells]

Now I have my wireless internet connection set up, someone has suggested a webcam showing the snow conditions would be a good option. Any suggestions of what equipment I would need? I assume a wireless-g camera that I can fix outside would be a good idea. It would need to be able to focus on something about 200m away to give a good view of the pistes, is that too ambitious?

[Mountain Goat]

Helen, I did a lot of research on this last year, and there's a thread on it somewhere on LMH.

We experimented at the cheap and cheerful end (£30 or so - Veo I think) with a network cam, and it was fine (and direction could be browser controlled) operating on our chalet network and viewing from anywhere on the internet. But if temp. dropped below freezing it was in trouble. It's still up and live but starting to seize up with the weather. Even in good weather it occasionally got jammed at the extremity of a 'sweep'.

The best weatherproof cam was StarDot - great bit of kit at around £300. Think hard about how you power it (some can receive power through network cable). Some live sample sites are here.

There's a load of stuff to take into account, besides temp./snow/ice not the least was positioning and whether itssensor was going to be burned through by the strong light that we/you've got at altitude. Also whether to have it live, or taking images every min. or so.

Then the decision whether to have it live on the website.....and one or two guests found it creepy to have it whirring up and down and remotely controlled.

Good luck.

MG

[Normandy Cow]

I think it would probably be great when the weather and snow conditions are glorious - but what about when they're not? Wouldn't you be shooting yourself in the foot?

[Hells Bells]

I don't really think so, as there isn't any snow yet, and I'm almost fully booked.

[Normandy Cow]

I don't really think so, as there isn't any snow yet, and I'm almost fully booked.

Fair nuffski!!!

Actually, I am a bit of a fan of webcams. I particularly like the Sorrento webcam http://www.sorrentoinfo.com/webcam.asp which I do visit now and then. I like it because it is close enough to the action so that you can see the people - not some far distant scene. I went and had a look at it last summer immediately after Italy won the world cup and it was great just watching the crowds celebrating in real time...

In fact I took a screendump of one particular scene which I think sums up the mood quite well:


P.S. It's raining in Sorrento right now....

[Mountain Goat]

No snow?? What's up over there?

Current punter sent us this at dawn today:



and reminded us to store the sun loungers we were using last week:



and politely asked when the snow-clearer was turning up....

(both from her 'phone)

MG

[Hells Bells]

Goat, an entirely different story this morning.

[Alan Knighting]

Is it true that some people use web-cams to create video telephone calls?

The mind boggles! I can see what they like first thing in the morning? More importantly, they can see what I look like first thing in the morning?

Please tell me it’s not true.

[Martha]

Looks great MG! 30 cm due over the next 2 days, and then a cold clear day forecast! I desperately need some good pics of the chalet in the snow, and am seriously considering calling a photographer friend in Chamonix and paying him to do some outside shots if it happens, despite the lunacy of this when mr firebug is a photographer!

I decided against a webcam in hte end though.

Love that photo NC

[Normandy Cow]

Love that photo NC

It was a split-second decision to hit PrtScr at that particular moment because the webcam refreshes every 10 seconds!

I have no idea though whether I am breaching any copyright issues???

[Wol]

Is it true that some people use web-cams to create video telephone calls?

The mind boggles! I can see what they like first thing in the morning? More importantly, they can see what I look like first thing in the morning?

Please tell me it’s not true.

'Fraid it is Alan - the Wizard does it fairly regularly to keep in touch with family and friends.

[Alan Knighting]

Is it true that some people use web-cams to create video telephone calls?

The mind boggles! I can see what they like first thing in the morning? More importantly, they can see what I look like first thing in the morning?

Please tell me it’s not true.

'Fraid it is Alan - the Wizard does it fairly regularly to keep in touch with family and friends.

Thought so! Apparently two of Joan's sisters do it over Skype, one in Dorridge and the other in New Zealand. If early one morning Joan joined in it might look like a replay of Act I of Macbeth? Only joking, all three of them a hell of a lot better looking than me, at any time of the day.

It’s interesting though. My PC has a Webcam sitting on top of it. It’s looking at me right now because it’s got nothing better to do. Should I get into “live� messaging or should I continue to ignore the little pop-eyed thing?

Alan

[Chianti]

Alan

My pop-eyed thing is looking at me too, the difference is that I love mine and you're not sure about yours. I use it on Skype and FaceBook, where they allow you to make videos lasting up to 15 minutes. That certainly saves a lot of typing.

Go on, give it a try

Chianti

[Alan Knighting]

Alan

My pop-eyed thing is looking at me too, the difference is that I love mine and you're not sure about yours. I use it on Skype and FaceBook, where they allow you to make videos lasting up to 15 minutes. That certainly saves a lot of typing.

Go on, give it a try

Chianti

On my desktop I've got a thing called "VideoMail". Should I give it a try and frighten the pants off my sisters-in-law? That'll be a bright start to their mornings.

Alan

[Elle1971]

We use our webcam on both Skype and Messenger... and love it. It seems to work better on Skype, and of course it's always lovely to chat to friends and family.

I've now sorted out the settings on mine, so that I'm always in low lighting, and looking tanned lol.

So why is it that everyone says "Where's the dog then? We want to see the dog!", and they don't want to see me and Alan?

Elle xx