Brand new to Blue Iris - Brand new to IP cameras

[rpedersen]

I am brand new to all of this but I have 20 years of experience in the software development industry building various software products. I am a reasonably technical person.

The task at hand is a video system for a woodturning club in Redmond, WA http://seattlewoodturners.org/. Once a month we have a club meeting with a demonstration. We are currently running two old video cameras that go through a splitter and then out to two old projectors. My job is to research a more modern approach involving cameras connected to a computer that is connected to projectors. It would be nice if we could stream the event live or at least record it for later viewing. Any and all suggestions and questions are welcome. I am hoping to have a discussion here and learn what you would do if you were tasked to do the same.

Thanks,
RP

 

[deenski]

What would I do? Good question! I have about two years experience, so take that as you will. I do find it funny that your wood-turning club wants more technological advancement... but irony is the meaning of life, so here goes!

I would implement one or two ip cameras. (if you implement two, you'll have to get a little fancier with your footwork than I will describe here) You don't need anything too fancy, but plan on spending at least $350 per cam to get anything worth a crap, if you can afford higher end, go with it. Next, if the cameras have audio, you can use the blue iris web server to stream out to a live audience via a little port forwarding, if not get a microphone and port that into bi, the audio will be better with an external mic anyway. Many ip cameras will allow you to plug the mic directly into the camera as well. (i am sure i am using the word "port" wrong, I don't mean the port number, I apologize, I think you know what I mean.)

then just display bi in fullscreen mode on the camera of your choosing using the projector as your display. Easy as pie.

If you have any questions about the specifics, feel free to ask. You don't need a security camera either, these days you could use a go-pro, turn your cell phone into an ip-camera, etc... the possibilities are endless.