Beehive Webcam

kontech

kontech

Young grasshopper
Jan 8, 2017
34
12
Hi,
Looking for recommendation for webcam solution (hardware and software) to continually observe to the bee hive installation and tending on the top of 15 story building. . The camera will need to be weather-proof, not sure about PTZ but open to variable focal length. We have a Cat6 drop and bandwidth (static IP) dedicated to it. Budget is less than 1K.
I'm not sure what software/services are available to provide public access to the camera.
Any tips are appreciated.
 
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kontech said:
Hi,
Looking for recommendation for webcam solution (hardware and software) to continually observe to the bee hive installation and tending on the top of 15 story building. . The camera will need to be weather-proof, not sure about PTZ but open to variable focal length. We have a Cat6 drop and bandwidth (static IP) dedicated to it. Budget is less than 1K.
I'm not sure what software/services are available to provide public access to the camera.
Any tips are appreciated.
Click to expand...
I'll let you decide the HW but things like this are cool (I believe). I really like it when people put them on youtube as live streams. Often in my office, I'll turn on the tv and stream something like this, or a street in Tokyo for example (btw, I don't live in Tokyo). I think its just neat to see.
 
It looks like this post isn't getting much traction.
Irrespective of beehives, can you experts point me to a right direction as for the brand and type of weatherproof cameras that would work in this use case?
 
You should give more details in what you want to do. Are you looking to record (NVR or Computer+Blue Iris+POE switch) or just watch live? You should mention the distance of your cat6 run. Depending on distance, you may need a POE or POE+ switch to power the cam or power injector with the PTZ (POE switch may not be powerful enough for PTZ cam).

If you haven't already, please read the cliff notes:

IP Cam Talk Cliff Notes

Information in this section was contributed by [URL='https://ipcamtalk.com/members/mat200.29441/'][COLOR=#0000b3]@matt200[/COLOR][/URL] and [URL='https://ipcamtalk.com/members/giomania.36271/'][COLOR=#0000b3]@giomania [/COLOR][/URL] [/LIST] Any dedicated manufacturer NVR should match...
ipcamtalk.com ipcamtalk.com
 
kontech said:
It looks like this post isn't getting much traction.
Irrespective of beehives, can you experts point me to a right direction as for the brand and type of weatherproof cameras that would work in this use case?
Click to expand...
Hi
sounds like a good idea.. you say webcam do you really mean a cctv camera. not webcamera. if you give a bit more info about your requirments ..ie like the distance from the bee's. how high it will be will it be fixed to a wall or undernath a soffit of some discriptsion. do you want to view them at night. do you have power near the hive . any info you can think of.. to help with suggetions for a camera,
 
From the first post, it looks like the camera needs to observe the hive from the exterior as well as the tending (like, people going to tend the hive, right?), so my guess is the camera will be positioned a few meters away from the hive.

A variable focus camera makes sense so that you have the ability to dial in the zoom/focus to meet your needs. Check the wiki for popular ones, probably Dahua HDW 5321R-Z or higher resolution/longer zoom 5631R-ZE as examples.

As a typical member of this forum, I'd like to suggest more than one camera. One from a few meters away to watch people interacting with the hive(s), another right close up focused on bees going in and out, and maybe some sort of macro camera inside the hive...

Camera projects rarely end in just one camera, especially here at IPCAMTALK.

Most of us use Blue Iris software to control out cameras and offer a feed. I'm unfamiliar with the mechanisms of distributing the view more broadly as a general purpose webcam but I'm sure others can chime in.
 
Could do this a number of ways such as RTSP stream into YouTube etc but multiple cams (wide shot + close/zoom shot) could be used particularly well for this. All depends on how much production value and time you want to out into this as well. Could have this cycle between streams and use things like a streamcaster deck to live switch if you wanted. Certainly a number of options and cams exist, just down to what you want to achieve as the end production, and if you want this as an isolated set and forget stream, automated switching or hands on control etc.
 
All good tips. Much appreciated.
Will schedule a site walk-trough to determine the optimal camera placement, mount/stand, etc. this week. Now, the project evolved to include more than one camera.
Someone who's already done similar project also suggested streamcaster streaming g solution and Axis Communications M-2025 LE Camera.
 
kontech said:
Axis Communications M-2025 LE
Click to expand...
That is not a very good cam. It is a 2MP cam on a 1/2.8" sensor with a 2.8mm F2.0 lens which is very wide angle. Are you expecting good resolution at night? Not with that cam.

How about looking at the Dahua IPC-HFW5442E-ZE. It is a 4MP cam on a 1/1.8" sensor with a varifocal lens 2.7-12mm which allows you to get the exact FOV you desire. It will give excellent color in daylight and low light night time color performance is good.
 
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We ended up going with Dahua IPC-HFW7842H-Z installation. Picture looks very good and we have a spectacular view of the skyline.
The problem is that YouTube stream keeps going offline every few days or so.
When we log on to YouTube Studio, connection status is excellent but we get a blank preview.
2020-08-21_7-52-17.jpg
Camera stays online the whole time as we monitor it using SNMP tools. Onboard logs don't show anything meaningful.
The only workaround that we found is to re-save custom RTMP address in camera settings. Consequently the links used for embedding in different sites break.
Even if it went offline for a few seconds would that break the stream?
Any suggestions are appreciated.
Here's the current link to stream:
 
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Start a new thread. I think you will get better exposure than having it inside your original thread.

Make sure you post the RTSP URL you are using to connect to your camera (without the usernam/password of course). If I had to guess, it probably has to do with the encoder you are using to broadcast to YouTube but I've never done it so don't know much about it.
 
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