[Coco] Re: Help - There that got your attention.

Sat Aug 13 18:43:10 EDT 2005

> 
> 
> Dave, have you thought about doing an analog capture to AVI or similar 
> format (with audio), then converting that to whatever you want (mpeg, 
> mpeg2, divx, etc)? No, it won't be "digital", but once you get 
> everything compressed, remixed, and resized - it probably won't look 
> much different for the end result anyhow.
> 
> You don't tell us what camera you are using, what interface you are 
> using, nor what software you are using. You seem to be using some form 
> of Linux, but you don't tell us what distribution and version, etc.
> 
> I agree with Gene's response that real time upload with compression is 
> not going to be possible without a hefty machine and firewire. Just to 
> upload raw will still require firewire, as USB is too slow. Strangely, I 
> would think you would get better than 1 frame per second even at 640x480 
> resolution capture (anything larger and it goes downhill quickly, which 
> is why you see USB webcams that only capture in QVGA res that fast).
> 
> Personally, I would go with an analog real-time capture with a Hauppage 
> card to AVI or similar format. Do your editing, mixing, and effects (you 
> will still need a hefty machine - moving around tons of data here) on 
> the raw format, then once you have your master, compress that down to 
> the codec format of your choice (and go have some lunch while it 
> churns). Then burn it to VCD/DVD...

After I went to bed last night, I thought about how much I had left out.
So this reply is to you, Gene and Dennis.

I have 2 computers I can devote to this project. Both were bought at 
Frys and have the Linspire Linux distribution. One is version 5.0 and 
the other is version 4.5.  Each  has 1 gig of  memory. Both are hooked 
into a Belkin 802.11g router that is behind an Earthlink DSL modem. 
Router firewall and iptables in the OS. Both computers are running
Apache listening on port 80. The computer with the version of Linspire 
4.5 installed also has a Hauppage TV capture card.

When we get to Chicago, we will have wifi and broadband available at the 
hotel.

The camera I   have is the same one Gene has. A Sony Hi 8 Camcorder.
I will also be using a Behring UB802 audio mixer and 4 Shure 
microphones.  I   havent tested any sound yet.

I don't have a dual boot system so not windows stuff. I have been able 
to get the camera to work so far with the following linux applications;
Camstream;  will only let me ftp an image every 1 second.
TVTime   :  same timing as above.
webcam :  running right now. you have to  write your own configure file 
and it looks like you can set the uploading timing to  your specs. I 
have it set to .2 sec. (two tenths) and its been running since 11 this 
am. 6 hours. CPU usage is only running about 25 %.

My 5.0 has its browser pointed to the address of the 4.5 computer   and 
is  picking up the index.htm file (posted next)

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" 
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<html>
<head>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="pragma" CONTENT="no-cache">
<META HTTP-EQUIV="refresh" CONTENT="0">
<title></title>
</head>
<body>
<center>
<img src="webcam.jpg" width="480" height="360">
</center>
</body>
</html>
This seems to also be keeping up with the fast upload rate of 10 frames 
a second.

The big problem I am having now is I can not get through my router 
firewall OR my OS firewall to test all this with a load on it. My IP is 
dynamic and I have seen text alluding to getting around this problem by 
nothing telling me how.

Its time to go eat. I'll type more later tonight.
Dave