Birdcam History and Concept

The Birdcam concept stems from several sources. First, I'd have to have the means to present my little friends to the world. This is where x10 came in. I had known about x10 for several years, but hadn't taken the time to consider the possibilities of what it could do, other than imagining how cool it would be to dim my lights with a remote control. It was actually my roommate, Don, who really investigated x10 and got us into the craze. As x10 expanded the products it offered, it became easier to imagine the process of setting up a webcam. I had always wanted to run one, but never had anything useful to webcast (some might say I still don't.) There's just a certain satisfaction in being able to present an aspect of my own life to the world via the internet. It turned out that having a parrot--or two--was a good avenue for this.

At this point, I should give credit to another inspiration, and one that I borrowed more than a few ideas from, The MacCam. By the time all the elements were in place, I had decided I wanted to essentially copy the format of the Mac Cam with my own birdcam. With all the necessary hardware in place and functioning, I started looking at other webcams to see what software people were using. I found The YorkieCam out of Atlanta, whose page looked a lot like something I had imagined, but with the added bonus of (semi) live webcasting. The YorkieCam had a link to the makers of the software used, WebCam32 and I think I played with the demo software for all of an hour before purchasing the full version online.

How BirdCam works

With the history out of the way, let me talk a little bit about the BirdCam itself. BirdCam is webcasting in a fairly simple form. BirdCam, from the source, is my bedroom, which brings you Ybarra the grey or Thibodeaux the macaw, depending on my mood. Currently, I have a Canon ES6000 camera on a tripod pointing at the cage during the day. The image leaves the camera via a composite video cable to an x10 wireless broadcast unit. A receiver is set up downstairs next to my PC running Windows 98. From the receiver, the image moves to my ATI All-In-Wonder Pro video capture card, which is interpreted by the Webcam32 software. Files are saved every second over our LAN to our web server, where they are presented on Birdcam.DevinBrown.com.  I added a second birdcam, this one being the Sony TR517, which runs from my room directly to the server, where it is input via a Hauppage Win-TV video capture card.  This camera features the cool, but not altogether practical feature of night vision.

I have decided to dedicate the rest of this page to any awards or webring invitations I have received. I am proud of each of these, so feel free to check them out.

On Setpember 15th, Ybarra and Thibodeaux's site received Earthcam's Top Ten Sites award. This was a happy day and we got a lot of hits.

	The I can talk can you fly SiteRing This site owned by Ybarra and Thibodeaux Send Ybarra and Thibodeaux an email

SiteRing by Bravenet.com