Embedded Livestream
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Thoughts
Thoughts includes all blog posts regarding the FarmCam Project, video, time-lapse, software, and instructional materials. Occasionally, some personal stuff too. Skip past the red-pinned items for the most-recent entries.
Amcrest Addition Abandoned
Last December I ordered a new 4k camera with a plan to swap it for the Hikvision camera which has been in place since January 2016. When the Amcrest UltraHD 4K arrived I connected it in my office and ran some tests for streaming, and time-lapse. Satisfied, I still waited until June to mount and connect the new Amcrest camera, swapping out the Hikvision.
Read More »Amcrest Addition AbandonedLive Streaming Update
I am still tweaking things behind the scenes, and trying to map out the best way to switch the daylight-only videos to 1280×720 with as little interruption as possible. But being restless means I am always looking for ways to break improve things.
Size the Day
Behind the scenes I am testing upping the resolution from 640 pixels x 360 to 1280×720. The image has been the same size since 2015, when the last camera upgrade occurred. Prior to that, the image was a paltry 320×240, but I didn’t have digital equipment, and had metered satellite Internet as well.
Read More »Size the Day📌 Greetings from Tunbridge, Vermont
This project is more of an obsessive hobby than anything. I have played with an online webcam of some sort or another since at least… Read More »📌 Greetings from Tunbridge, Vermont
Noon All Year
Ten years ago I made a video titled One Year, which showed the founding of our farm; from the building of the barn, the digging of the well that provides water to the barn, the erecting of the fencing, and the arrival of the llamas and the sheep. However, that film was with the old analog camera pointing out a window, and — while I love it — entirely too long at over 16 minutes.
I have been looking for a similar project since.
Read More »Noon All YearThe SecuritySpy That Doesn’t Love Me
Almost immediately after I posted my last entry on the trials and tribulations of an EvoCam on life support, the software crashed again. Fresh start, minimal other applications running, and poof. I cleaned up the mess, and then instructed my iMac to restart itself every Sunday at 1am.
If all goes as planned (stop laughing!), this will be enough to help keep EvoCam running between restarts. If not? Then the next step is increase the frequency of the reboots until I can set up the Mac Mini, and start all over on that machine.
Because, I am all out of options as far as out-of-the-box software after giving SecuritySpy a close look this weekend. The results, as always, were mixed.
Don’t (Kernel) Panic! 🤪
As you may recall there has been a lot of effort (by me) put into trying to make EvoCam as efficient as it can be in regard to its resources usage. I figured if the software has been abandoned I have two choices: learn to program and roll my own EvoCam clone or do what I can to keep it alive, and hope that I find a replacement. Long time readers (LOL) know that I chose the latter, because the former would take too long, and probably drive me mad.Read More »Don’t (Kernel) Panic! 🤪
Pros and Cons of Wide Dynamic Range
Recently I wrote about night vision and green screen, and I assumed that it was a trade off. It kind of is, but maybe not in the way I thought.
Every time I make a change to EvoCam or to the Hikvision settings, something new occurs. Not necessarily good or bad, just new. And times like this I am simply baffled.
Again, it’s time to look under the hood.
My Own Worst Enemy
When I woke this morning, I was pleased to see that all systems were go, and things appeared to be behaving themselves. Then I got to work, opened my Air, connected to the iMac via screen share, and … grey screen?
Sigh.