Talk:Webcam

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Orphaned article that could...[edit]

Either be linked or merged to and from this one (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use_of_webcams). But I'm half unsure and half to lazy to go through and make a stylistically correct process of either Undead Herle King (talk) 03:33, 21 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Software & How-to's[edit]

This article could seriously use some clues to help people who want to put their own webcam on the web, everyone can already get their hands on the cameras, but nobody knows how to set up a live, real time, full motion video feed. Certainly not easily. And then nobody knows how to make mulitple cameras give feeds from the same site. And then there's no mention of how to let users take command of Pan / Tilt / Zoom functions, if a camera even has that.

Maybe a techie from the webcam pr0n industry could write us a how-to and place a link to it here?

I wouldn't really write how-to's. That will be to specific for each piece of hardware and platform and there's other sites for that, like howtoforge (not to be treated as an endorsement, just search google for more). Howtos are not encyclopedic enough if you ask me. What I would like to see though is a list of chat and/or voip programs that support webcams and videoconferencing, their license, on which operating systems they run and whether or not they support encryption. Mykeyspace 22:56, 4 August 2007 (UTC)

Requested move[edit]

This article has been renamed as the result of a move request. From web cam to webcam. Enjoy. –Hajor 19:19, 13 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

"Webcam" yields about 41,200,000 Google hits. "Web cam" yields about 6,570,000 Google hits (less than 1/6 as many) and a suggestion that the user might have meant "webcam" (which is the far more common spelling). —Lifeisunfair 23:57, 4 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Add *Support or *Oppose followed by an optional brief explanation, and sign your vote with: ~~~~
  • Support, for the reason cited above. —Lifeisunfair 23:57, 4 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support, "webcam" is the more common usage. -- Curps 06:51, 5 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]
  • Suppport I've never come across the spelling "web cam". Borisblue 23:15, 11 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Since the vote&move is over&done, is it appropriate to remove this section? Is there a guideline on deleting stuff like this from talk pages?

Perhaps we can put a section on the page of "Notable events captured (intentionally or not) on webcam". I have one that deserves mention:

You'd consider that notable? I doubt you'll get more than 3, and even then they'll be questionable. Troubleshooter 20:58, 22 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]


Please, if we can come up with one or two more, let's make this a section on the article.

Anthropos 01:12, 16 Dec 2003 (UTC)

The first webcam was pointed at this trojan room since when? 3 years ago? 50 years ago? thanks, Yonidebest 17:45, 22 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Popularity[edit]

Comments/changes before I add this section? Several factors are leading the explosion in webcam popularity. Network effects (each person who has a webcam makes other webcams more useful; similarly, a phone is not useful if no one else has one), low costs and adult video are primary. Software enhancements that have made them easier to use:

  1. Features that link to Instant Messaging systems, or community websites, make it easier to find and establish links with other webcam users.
  2. Integrated image manipulation software can make webcams more pleasant to use, providing features such as wrinkle reduction, and aspect ratio change (look thinner), encouraging adoption. Elvey 18:22, 9 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Have webcams really be utilized to their full potiental? The use of webcams to drive traffic to websites appears to have crested in the early 2000s. I, personally, am still shock at the lack of webcams on the net. One would have thought that webcam use would have taken off. --Jason Gaudet (talk) 22:35, 23 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

External link[edit]

it has been suggested that the external link I removed should be replaced under the "fansite" terms of Wikipedia:External links. Please discuss. - brenneman{T}{L} 23:56, 13 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

My rationale was, pretty much: Though these links *do* attaract vandalism, and most of them *could* probably do with being removed, a single link to a directory of webcams seems reasonable - and, indeed, in line with section 3 of 'occasionally acceptable links' from Wikipedia:External links. - Mike1024 (t/c) 00:31, 14 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Actually, I've just noticed the page List of live webcams of places around the world. No external links would probably be a good idea. - Mike1024 (t/c) 22:25, 26 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I've been working on an open webcam directory [WeatherBonk http://weatherbonk.com/weather/webcams.jsp]. It's a personal project (not a corportation trying to make money) that allows users to add and modify and geocode webcams and is now over 8000 cams. I spent sometime looking for a comprehensive cam directory and couldn't find anything nearly as comprehensive or useful. I'm not sure if this is something you would permit in the links section. Thanks david

Cited book[edit]

Has anyone actually read the book which is cited? Just citing a random book with 'webcam' in the title seems pointless from a verifiability standpoint IMHO 193.131.176.54 16:30, 20 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

NECESITO INFORMACION DE LOS TIPOS DE WEBCAM QUE EXISTEN

Sexual activity[edit]

Seriously, there's no mention of people using webcams for sexual acts. It's pretty common (erm isn't it?). Mglovesfun 23:41, 18 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

There's a bit saying "As with many new technologies, webcams and webcam chat found early commercial adoption and aggressive technology advancement through use by the pornography industry. The adult industry required 'live' images and requested a Dutch developer [...]" - were you thinking of more information than that? If so, go ahead and edit it in! Mike1024 (t/c) 07:50, 19 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Pornography seems to imply commercial. But a lot of webcam sex is hobby stuff. I know I get a lot of hits on my webcam site which, from the search strings, clearly show that people are associating "webcam" with "pictures of naked girls". 219.77.184.86 (talk) —Preceding comment was added at 02:38, 11 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Webcams have had a huge sexual following from the earliest days. From ca. 1997 on there have been both many amateur webcams in college dorm rooms to commercial entrepreneurs that hosted sites where an amateur could connect and broadcast more and more revealing scenes for gifts of money or clothing. In fact on some of these a person would send an object of clothing that the person would then wear on cam. These were both heterosexual men and women and would tease viewing. One such site in the late 1990s was KEYHOLE CAMS - often these were Reality or BigBrother style. One of the Keyhole Cams sites was called BachelorCam, which was a house with three bachelors living in it and one or more of these guys would go on cam at different times. Many were also gay sites, but many heterosexual males on cam would also offer homoerotic material that also drew the gay audience. This could probably become even a separate page, but for starters, there should at least be a section here. Doc ♬ talk 03:01, 5 June 2015 (UTC)[reply]


Someone has vandalized the page adding the text, "As webcam see my dick" and screwing up everything else in the section.. I'll revert to the most recent. 05:57, 11 May 2007 (UTC)

Built-in Webcams?[edit]

Almost every laptop offers a built-in webcam these days - A trend no doubt started by Apple after it started including built-in iSight cameras with every single iMac, Macbook Pro, and Macbook. But was Apple the first? They were probably the first to offer it unilaterally and popularize it, but can anyone confirm which laptops were the first to include a built-in webcam? --Zippo 19:53, 3 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The first I can remember was the VAIO PictureBook / PCG-C1 - but I don't have a cite for that, so I might be wrong. Mike1024 (t/c) 23:25, 3 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Ede6772 (talk) 01:13, 5 April 2011 (UTC)Webcams are a popular 'built-in' option for laptops, however its not considered a 'universal' feature yet. More soon, more than likely all webcams will have built in webcams. If computers are not equipped with a webcam, to install one is farely easy and low cost. More details at http://www.consumersearch.com/webcam-reviews/laptop-webcams Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page without content in them (see the help page). --Ede6772 (talk) 01:13, 5 April 2011 (UTC) (Ede6772)[reply]

Faked photo[edit]

The Army image under Videoconferencing is nice and touching but as the discussion at Image talk:TSgt Goodman inspects newest member of family.jpg notes it is obviously faked. The image of the baby was clearly photoshopped onto it and the list of rules above computer forbids use of webcams so this artistic picture is just a bit of propaganda/false advertising. It would be desirable to replace this image with a real one. DoubleBlue (Talk) 16:28, 23 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Merge of Use of webcams into this article[edit]

I personally feel the article Use of webcams merely covers an aspect of the technology itself, and with this article not too long, I don't really see why that article shouldn't just belong to a section called "Applications" or something like that? — Northgrove 14:49, 11 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

done[edit]

--62.251.21.22 (talk) 17:05, 11 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Wiring diagram[edit]

Perhaps a electrical wiring diagram schematics of a webcam with hardwired LED for the privacy section. That I would like to see. -- Frap (talk) 23:19, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Advertisment[edit]

This seems like an ad

Most webcams feature built in microphones to make video conferencing more convenient. Creative Technology has introduced a webcam featuring built in noise cancellation to focus the audio to the speaker who is directly in front of the camera, excluding ambient noise.

Page history[edit]

I've moved some history that used to be at the title webcam to Talk:Webcam/History. Graham87 12:51, 14 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Night vision[edit]

In an article in Elektor magazine (december 2010), it is noted that any webcam can also modified to include night vision. All that is required is to not have an infrared filter on the webcam (so this needs to be removed if present) and infrared leds (or an infrared led floodlight) needs to be added. 91.182.239.56 (talk) 09:30, 15 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]


Name of the article[edit]

Aren't webcams cameras that you can actually view through the web? I think this is different from videophoning. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.93.102.215 (talk) 22:38, 4 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Sales[edit]

Worldwide sales of PC cameras by year:

  • 2006: market value at 1.2 billion USD [1]
  • 2004: 18 million units [2]
  • 1999: 2.9 million units [3]

. —  Ark25  (talk) 23:49, 14 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Quickcam development -citation sought[edit]

Today, IP editor 69.181.202.42 deleted a paragraph of material regarding the development of the Connectix QuickCam, with the following edit summary comment: " Removed incorrect (and mostly non-sensical) historical development of project — DARPA and college/university collaborations had no part in QuickCam's hardware or software development.)"

Material removed:

"The QuickCam had started as a graduate degree research project in the early 1990's between various California and East Coast universities, and was originally designed with an RS-232 serial port connector color CCD camera. Both the Apple and Windows software versions were sponsored by DARPA and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The Windows software version was compiled under both MS Visual Studios and Borland C/C++ compilers for both Windows 3.11 and Windows 95."

This material was originally added to the QuickCam article on January 3, 2011 by I.P. 174.65.7.88., and then copied into this article by yours truly (mea culpa). I'm parking the deleted material here to see if anyone can provide a reliable citation for it. Note that many blogs and mirrors have copied the material from Wikipedia, so they obviously don't count. Best: HarryZilber (talk) 00:01, 31 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Technology: format?[edit]

A suggestion for an addition to the technology section: in which format do webcams transmit video to the computer? Is each frame separately compressed (jpeg?), or is each frame transmitted in some standard non-compressed format (which?), or does every camera use its own proprietary raw format for each frame (with the device driver on the computer dealing with conversion)? Thanks, AxelBoldt (talk) 18:46, 8 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Is this correct definition..??[edit]

i feel this article encompasses to much of "web cameras". A "web camera" is not a "webcam". A webcam is a camera connected to your computer via USB or fire-wire. So this "webcam" is only accessible if connected to a computer. A "web camera" is accessible with OR without a computer. Web cameras are usually connected either by IP address or a direct coax cable connection. A web camera is what you see on the internet showing places across the world and is the only thing used in say a daycare or school. You can not access a webcam without a computer connected to the USB or fire-wire camera. Most web cameras can be accessed without having a computer connected to it. Web cameras have built-in software that allows you to access the camera from smart phone or computer across the net or web. A webcam does not have this software capability and will need special software on the computer it is connected to view the webcam from another location thru the web or net. Web cameras that are used say in daycare or schools have a direct connection to a computer either thru WiFi, Ethernet cable or coax cable. The distances these cameras are installed compared to the computer they are connected to is usually greater than USB or fire-wire can handle. These web cameras or surveillance cameras that are connected with WiFi, Ethernet or coax cables have special software in the computer they are connected to. The software records the happenings that go on in front of the cameras and as an added feature in the software gives web access for someone to view from a smart phone or computer. This software also has high security walls to keep just anyone from viewing them. These type camera systems have been around for years but started out as VCR recording. Once computers became easier to use and cheaper, software was created for these type systems. The software systems have not always had access to internet as bandwidth was always a problem. Bandwidth being to expensive to not good enough. Now that bandwidth is readily available and cheap there are web accessible cameras everywhere. Most web accessible cameras or web cameras now a days have their own software built-in to view directly at the camera and no need for camera to have a computer connection just a internet connection.

So after all that I feel that webcam is the small camera that is built into the screen of your laptop or one you can buy and connect thru USB. A webcam is NOT a web accessible camera. You cant take a web accessible camera and use it on a web video chatting software like Omegle or Chatrulette. An IP camera also can not be used as a "webcam". Without some crazy special software that I could only find to work on a Linux or Unix system.

http://resource.dlink.com/view/hello-world/ http://www.video-conferencing-guide.org/video-conference-camera.html http://www.g0hwc.com/streaming_webcam.html http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/21247-3-camera-webcam http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,1237,t=Webcam&i=54369,00.asp http://www.experienceproject.com/dictionary/definition-of/Webcam http://www.hudsonhorizons.com/Our-Company/Internet-Glossary/Webcam.htm http://www.techterms.com/definition/webcam Robertguero (talk) 16:48, 30 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You bring up a good point. I think "webcam" is frequently (and widely) used in reference to two separate (albeit, often related concepts): one being a type of computer peripheral (a class of digital motion cameras originally developed for, and still often used for, capturing video on a home PC for live or recorded streaming over the internet), the other being a point source of Web-accessible live video. An IP-addressable or Web-page-hosted camera is generally still called a "Webcan" even if there is no Webcam (in the PC peripheral sense) employed in its production. Furthermore, off-the-shelf Webcams (again, in the hardware peripheral sense) are used for many things besides capturing video for internet distribution, yet are still commonly called "Webcams". (Consider also that a large proportion of the video now recorded for internet dissemination is done with mobile phones, which almost no one would call "Webcams".) Additionally (as evidenced many times in this Wikipedia article), the built-in camera on a laptop is also termed a "Webcam", even though it is not an externally attached peripheral.
In contemporary usage, as I see it, "Webcam" refers both to a particular type of camera hardware (regardless of whether it is usually used to generate content for distribution through the Web) and also to any internet location that streams live video (regardless of hardware). Two separate concepts.
Starling2001 (talk) 05:31, 8 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry Guys - this article didn't help me[edit]

I came here for my vision impaired older friends. I wanted to know what USB camera I can get so they can point it at a magazine and read on a big screen TV. The article doesn't even discuss this use, which lots of old people do apparently. And the artile didn't help me decide what the options are for choosing a webcam. The one we have now is a cheapie for $10 and is not up to the job. So I only gave the article 2 stars. Hopefully some wikipedia person could improve it (I don't have the knowledge). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.61.61.161 (talk) 02:56, 14 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Because that's not a webcam. Maikel (talk) 20:38, 8 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

This just in[edit]

[4] Someone not using his real name (talk) 01:06, 22 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I'm going to use duct tape in future. --Roxy the dog (resonate) 02:21, 22 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Not a portmanteau[edit]

"The term 'webcam' (a portmanteau) may also be used in its original sense. . ."

It is not a portmanteau; there is no blending of two words. The fact that "camera" is abbreviated does not make its concatenation with the whole word "Web" a portmanteau. For example: "defcon" (a double abbreviation and concatenation of "defense condition") is not, "surgical cam" (where "camera" has been abbreviated) is not, but "surgicam" (where the last syllable of "surgical" has been replaced, somewhat punnishly, with "cam") is.

(Okay, I admit that I just made up "surgicam" 'cuz I don't really have time at the moment to come up with any good examples, but I would be pretty surprised if the word doesn't already exist. I suppose I'm not making my point very clearly. But, hey, this isn't a discussion on Facebook; I'm not supposed to be gettin' all extraneous and chatty here. So there!) Starling2001 (talk) 06:05, 8 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Videoconferencing prior to 1994[edit]

Quote: Videoconferencing via computers already existed

Where, how? Thanks, Maikel (talk) 20:38, 8 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Standard[edit]

What's the technical standard for connecting a webcam via USB? Is it related to the OS? Thank you. Maikel (talk) 20:56, 8 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

USB video device class. Maikel (talk) 12:31, 9 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Team-B-Vital Improvement Drive[edit]

Hello all!

This article has been chosen as this fortnight's effort for WP:Discord's #team-b-vital channel, a collaborative effort to bring Vital articles up to a B class if possible, similar to WP:Articles for Improvement. This effort will run for up to a fortnight, ending early if the article is felt to be at B-class or impossible to further improve. Articles are chosen by a quick vote among interested chatters, with the goal of working together on interesting Vital articles that need improving.

Thank you! Remagoxer (talk) 22:07, 19 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]

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