Sunday, April 1, 2007

A web camera is a real-time camera (usually, though not always, a video camera) whose images can be accessed using the World Wide Web, instant messaging, or a PC video calling application.
Web-accessible cameras; typically involve a digital camera which uploads images to a web server, either continuously or at regular intervals. This may be achieved by a camera attached to a PC, or by dedicated hardware. Videoconferencing cameras typically take the form of a small camera connected directly to a PC. Analog cameras are also sometimes used (often of the sort used for closed-circuit television), connected to an video capture card and then directly or indirectly to the internet


One reason it's popular is that digital camera shots don't take much time to download on 14.4 or 28.8-speed modems. Anderson explains that digital technology uses slow-frame video compression. "It uses the essence of analog video and reconstitutes it on the other end, thus cutting the number of bits that are broadcast -- only five to 10 frames a second compared with hundreds." With digital technology, you can program the camera to repeat bits of redundant information, like the Flatirons, in the video stream without actually filming it live until something different comes along.