Windows Media Server

[Squintz]

Ok i might be beating a dead horse here since i know this has been talked about for some time but... Its time for me to pick some software to host my web cams. I really like the sound of the windows media sever which comes with windows media 2003 sp1. But I don't own windows 2003 nor do I have the money right now to buy another PC or software. So I need something really cheap or free to hold me over for a while.

Is it possible to get the media server to run on a xp pro machine?

I have used webCamXP and did not really like the quality. And I have used windows media encoder which i really like but as far as i can tell you can only host one cam at a time with it unless you have windows media server. So what is the best way to go.

I probably should have waited to write this because the DVR card that im picking up today comes with software.

 

[electron]

If you want these cameras to act as security devices (i.e. record when motion is detected etc), I highly recommend Active Webcam. It is what I have been using for a few months now, both at home and at work, and it works great, especially with multiple cameras, and the software is VERY flexible.

 

[Squintz]

Thanks for that note electron.

I just picked up my package and I was expecting to open the book and find out who makes the product and be able to go directly to their site and browse around. But here is the strangest thing. Nowhere on the DVR card, Package, or video cameras, Nor on the little cd that came with the software is there a company name. Now the box is a professionally looking box with nice graphics and all the contents are nicely pcaked so Im sure this package was put together by some professional company and not just some ebayer. But I cant figure out who makes it for the life of me. The only info i have is a Video Decoder Chip Part number which turned up this site

http://www.techwellinc.com/brochures/TW6800_Brochure.pdf

The thing is ul certified and all that other good stuff so who the heck makes this nice little package. Its called the "Digital Video Surveillance System" I got it from ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...AMEWN%3AIT&rd=1

The version of software that comes with it is 3.18.2 but the software doesnt have a name. It seems to be proprietary.

Has anyone ever owned a DVR card the used a Techwell chip?

 

[JohnWPB]

Have you toyed around with the software a bit more? From reading that Ebay listing, it looks like the software that it comes with is pretty powerful. Ea: Built in web server, motition based recoeding, will jump to other partitions automatically if one fills up and so on.

I am interested in how well the camera's are working for you. That seems like a pretty good deal. Will the camera's work with typical lighting in a room, or are they really dark?

 

[Squintz]

Actually I have not because when i try to run the software i get a popup that says "Card Not Found" and the software never loads. The cards drivers are installed and the card shows up as working in the device manager so I am not sure what going wrong. I am going to try and play with it more on friday to see if I cant get the card working with some other software.

As of right now I would not recommend anyone buying from this guy because he has not returned any of my 3 e-mails asking him for more information. I did find one other company that sells the kits but i don't have the address for them right now. I may have to contact them to try and figure out where i can get tech support. The other company was selling them for $99

 

[JohnWPB]

Sorry to hear about the difficulties. Keep us posted, as $99 for 2 cameras and the capture hardware still is not a bad price. I am just very currious as to if the camera's are acceptable. I know they are not going to be perfect, by any means. But decent quality for survelance is all I am looking for.

 

[Squintz]

I did hook the camera up to my ATI card and got an image. 1 X 60watt bulb in my basement with a fairly dark paint color on the walls was enough to produce a nice image. The cameras would not be very practicle for use outside unless the area is well lit but for inside use such as monitoring a hall way they would be just fine. If i cant get the card working I will probably buy some of those USB video devices or buy another "NAME BRAND" card. I should have known better than to buy the stuff without more information.

Those cameras are for sale individually on e-bay for $15.95

The guy has a few up for auction but if you hold off until tomorrow I can get you a screen shot from the cam so you have something to compare it to.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...5773488803&rd=1