So... for those using webcams, do you do anything other than publish snapshots, or stream video for weather websites? And how many do you have at your house, connected to one or more computers?
What software is used to process images?
Do you have a solution for remote live viewing--that doesn't involve going to your own website? Say for a camera that's not pointing outside?
Probably much like Jiles, I use my net cams primarily for exterior home surveillance, so direct access is a nice feature--if I want I can create a webpage with all cams streaming--which I suppose you could do just as easily with a number of webcams?
The infrastructure of multiple cams is also made easier with net cams, they can all feed to a central network point, like a router or switch, and from there of course can be accessed by any other computer on the LAN--or even WAN. Webcams, although I suppose you could also feed them all to a USB hub, primarily need to be attached to one or more computers that are in proximity to the USB hub... you know, all that USB distance limitation stuff... (in the above scenario, I'm assuming a USB->LAN converter, so you'll be running Cat5 cable)...
If your computer develops a problem, images from all cams attached to would be lost. If any one of my network cams goes down, I still have the others...
Using only one or two webcams, I can see that direct connection to a weather computer is fairly inexpensive and easy.
I suppose I keep thinking in the mode of scalability, and the issues of adding multiple cameras--which I think gets tough with USB webcams...
And what about the limitations of the actual number of USB ports on a computer? I suppose you could add extra USB cards?
Got me thinking about dedicating a computer just for USB webcam support... Walmart has been selling (quite successfully) a *nix based PC for $200... Hmmmm...
Definitely thinking outloud here...
I guess I want something completely different out of my cams, and net cams are the easiest way to get it...