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I have a webcam and i like to interface the webcam to my color TV only(no PC interfacing). Main purpose is to see who is knocking my door.The distance between webcam location and TV is 50 feet approx. i need some simple solutions to go-ahead.
thanks in advance.
Well, a good start would be the model/interface of the webcam. I've got an old one (pre-USB) hooked up in the carport. It had a seperate power supply and plain video output, just needed to go through a VCR. It's exposed to weather, been through 7 huricanes, and still works great. Not bad for a freebie.
Not sure how USB gets video, but doubt its direct or simple. If it comes down to buying/building a power supply and a video amplifier, it would be better just to buy a camera. If you shop around surplus sites you can usually find something in the $30 range. BGMicro had some B/W low lux board cameras for under $20, lens was another $12, but I can get almost my entire backyard, day or night, no additional lighting.
If it's USB and you still don't want to use a computer, you are much better off throwing it away and spending a bit of money buying a new camera with regular video output.
Must of the cheap USB webcams I've seen are pretty low resolution, and the picture is kind of dark. Doubt you would be happy with the results. Only way to really know is crack it open and see what's inside. Might get lucky and find a regular CCD camera and video signal in front of the USB stuff, and just need to add power to the camera and a video cable. I've never been into webcams (dial-up internet, not much for chatting either), so have no idea what's inside.
As mentioned previously, I was given an old ALPS webcam, but it need a video capture card, and it was direct video/audio out, so no big deal. The picture is surprisingly good in daylight, but useless at night.
Anyway, if your webcam is basically junk sitting on a shelf, and you thought to give it some new purpose, nothing really to lose if it gets destroyed. Open it up, post some pictures of the guts. We'll be better able to give suggestions.
I agree with HarveyH42 regarding webcam picture quality. They seem to give an output quality comparable to cheap CMOS colour cameras, and infact I would suggest that they probably are CMOS cameras, rather than CCD.
Even in slightly low-light conditions, these types of cameras give a very questionable output quality indeed.
I bought one to mount as a rear-view camera for my Land Rover, but it was so awful that to be honest it's not worth using. It doesn't react to changes in lighting very well, and even in slightly darkened conditions you can't see anything.
If you're looking specifically for cheap cameras because you don't want to spend a lot of money, then I would suggest you stick to black&white models as these are more tolerant to changing lighting conditions such as those experienced in outdoor use.
Another cool thing about cheap B/W is they are often low lux and IR sensitive. Makes for easy night vision with a cheap/simple IR illuminator.
I know it sounds like I trying to put down your webcam project, but I'm not. I have been doing my video security on the cheap for a few years, and try to save you some money and frustration.
For me, if I came across a USB webcam, I'd eventually take it apart hoping to find the camera module is on a seperate board, with three wires come off. Before removing the camera module, I follow the traces to determine the power/signal wires. There is some chance, as these cameras are mass produced and small by a few companies. Seems simpler and cheaper to add the computer interface, then to intergrate the camera and drivers and optics.
Can someone please help me? I need to interface a low cost 1280x960 CMOS VGA sensor to a dsp in order to perform some image processing. I bought a CN-WCAMN1 from Canyon for this. Can someone please tell me anything about communicating with a webcam throught a dsp? I've opened the webcam. They are using a SN9C201AFG IC from a chinese company to do processing or something in the webcam, but I can't seem to get the datasheet. I think the CMOS sensor itself is from Micron or Hitachi,but I don't want to just ripp it off the board to take a look. Any help would really be appreciated.
You need to answer several questions first. Have you ever programmed DSP's before? Have you ever tried to interface any kind of CMOS sensor before? What is your general level of knowledge about electronics. Because if you're coming at this as complete newbie or with no experience in either DSP or CMOS image sensors than no one here is going to be able to help you. It' be like showing up for your first day of Medical school expecting to be able to leave being able to do neural surgery.
I am a finalyear engineering student, so I'm not a total newbie at this. And yes, I've worked with DSP s before, but only Motorola's 56F807. I haven't worked with CMOS VGA sensors before, but I have already read up quite a lot on how they work. The big problem that I have is that it really is quite hard to acquire 1280x960 sensors here in South Africa. I was only able to find a company selling Micron 640x480 sensors, but I specifically need a 1280x960 sensor. Thats why I thought that it might be easier to buy a webcam and try to figure out how it works. I don't plan on using just the raw sensor, since you get modules doing the A/D and everything for you. I just need information on the communications protocol or something that webcams use. I've already done some image processing with a webcam and Matlab's image acquisition and image processing toolboxes. Is it a waste of time to try to figure out how the webcam works and should I just continue searching for a CMOS sensor with an evaluation board?
It's device dependant. Although I'm sure there are several different common modules or chipsets out there that most web cams are based on, finding out what the most popular and easiest to interface with is not easy.
I actually got permission to use a 640x480 sensor. They are locally available, so I'll rather do that than trying to figure out a webcam. I only have till November to complete this, so I can't spend that much time on figuring out stuff. I'm using a development board and uCLinux for the Blackfin533 processor. I think figuring out how the board works will be the hard part.
I have a Genius Webcam. I want it to serve as a cam that allows me to know whose at the door. I want it to be connected to my TV. I have attached it's inside pics. please help me.
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