Webcam Use?
 

Hey i've never used a webcam before and just had a question for those of you that do and/or have one....

If i wanted to set one up so that my dad could look at it from Kuwait, would i need a site to host it or what? I just want him to be able to see a little bit of home whenever he wants....

Yes, you will need a site to host the images from the cam. If your dad is the only one accessing this info, depending on your internet connection and how computer savvy you are, you could set the site up on your own machine instead of an external host.

Um, what hrdwareguy said.

im running on a 3mb cable, im pretty tech savvy once i've seen or read about something once i can usually figure it out and troubleshoot on my own, think anyone could give a quick explanation of how to use my own computer as the host?

bump =P

just get yahoo instant messenger and have your dad do the same. YIM supports webcams and it's free, so you can't go wrong.

What Operating System are you running?

Windows XP Pro

Set up your website using IIS. Then download a dynamic DNS utility like the one from http://www.no-ip.com

It's free as long as you use one of their domain names. Then your dad just surfs on over to http://myhouse.no-ip.com and there ya have it

IIS?

IIS = Internet Information Server = web server/ftp server

Someone suggested using Yahoo Messenger because of its built-in camera support. You may want to try an easy method like that before you start loading up on other software that you may not be familiar with.

The reason I mentioned doing it yourself is it looks as if your dad is in the military. The military may not like him installing Yahoo instant messanger on the computers he has access to.

word, yahoo messenger is out, i wanted him to just be able to surf over to a web page and see it

Then you are going to have to set up IIS and a web server on your machine and use some dynamic DNS software as well.

I was in iraq, and we didn't get in trouble for using yahoo messenger. In fact, it was one of the few instant messaging programs that were allowed through by our firewalls.

hmm i'll have to ask my dad then.

I'd reccomend using FoxServe instead of IIs. It's open source and more secure.