Video camera for martin watching

[J and J]

We are interested in putting a video camera on our house that will allow us to watch the Martins on a television. Just can't spend all of our time at the window, even though we would like to. At this point we are not looking for a video recorder or camera inside the nests, but just so we can observe the comings and goings, etc. We were wondering if there was something we could hook up through our television cable if possible, much like a security camera. Any suggestions of what has worked for others we would appreciate.

[J and J]

We would buy one at like Best Buy, etc. or where do we begin to look. I am assuming when you say the nest cam would work, that we can hook it up to our cable? Thanks Dave.

[Dale Hrncirik]

J & J,

I recently bought a wireless mini camera that can be hooked up to TV or PC. It is set-up a few feet away from an S&K with gourds underneath. It's color and has audio but not night vision. My plan one day is to link it to a website so I can watch away from home and others can too. Just not sure how to do a live video stream without paying $$$. I bought it on the internet for a total of $70. Send me a private message if interested.

I also have a wired camera like Dave sells set up in the BB box and it is neat too cuz I can watch the goings on 24/7. That camera will work outside as well but you would need an enclosure to cut down on light reflection and to waterproof it(if setting it up outside in the elements). I put my wireless camera in a 'black box' and I can easily move it anywhere by moving the pole it is mounted to. I have the camera running off 110 volts cause the 9 volt battery only gets you maybe 8 hours.

Oh yeah, my wireless has a manual focus that works from ~4" to infinity.

Dale

[RandallRash]

Sounds like you have the same wireless camera I was looking at. It was designed to be put on a remote control car, model rocket, or remote control blimp. I decided that a few hours from a battery wouldn't work so went with the S&K nest cam with all-in-one cable for audio/video/power. I use a Dazzle DVC 80 for getting the video into my computer. Then I tried a couple of FREE software products, Wcapture is very small and easy to use to stream your video to the web. YAWCam is another. But neither have audio which I really wanted since Martins make a lot of cool sounds. I've settled on WebCam Monitor which does audio/video/motion detection for recording movies. It's free to try, $49 to buy. It uses Windows media player to buffer the stream so there is no jerkiness like you can get with some web based video. Check out my nest.

mms://chris.homedns.org:8081

[Dale Hrncirik]

Randall,

I got it from spypirate and it's the mini cam. I have it plugged into 110V so I don't have to worry about batteries. It has great color and adjustable focus. It will do the job for daytime video. I also bought some software that has motion detection to turn on the video and many other features I haven't gotten around to figure out. I hope to have some video clips available soon.

Dale

[J and J]

Thanks everyone for the input.