How should I integrate a live video feed onto a website?

Question

I have a client who wants to display live 24 hour footage on their website, to show off the progress of a number of big refurbishment jobs they are carrying out.

I've looked at IP cameras and to be honest this looks like the most logical technology to use, but not sure if I'm missing something. Would it be possible to put the live feed straight from the camera onto their website (via an iFrame maybe)?

The website will be getting quite a few hits but nothing massive, so I think a regular broadband connection at each site should give them enough upload capacity to pull this off.

Am I approaching this from the right direction? Is there anything I should take into consideration before recommending a solution to the client?

Answer 1

Yes, that will work fine. Most IP cameras will provide a motion JPEG stream which is really just a collection of JPEG images. This allows you to decide on what framerate you want to send up to the site.

Providing an iframe with some javascript to refresh the JPEG at your desired framerate would be an easy solution.

Answer 2

Hello,

I've never worked with video streams before but I'd like to do, I guess, exactly the same thing. A friend of mine wants to put a camera in an enclosed pasture.

I kind of fail connecting the dots though. Could someone please help with a little bit more information or point me in the right direction, books or forums.

IP camera sends jpeg stream, collection of JPEGs. IFrame is updated with these JPEGs.

How does the stream work? How do I get it? Are they dumped in a folder..? Is there an application inbetween?

Br, Isak