Webcams

Webcams can also be used for investigative, communication and security purposes in various situations.

• When you are out of town and want to secure your home by keeping an eye on it.
• When you are at work but want to keep an eye on the nanny who is watching your children.
• You are settled in a foreign country but want to keep in constant contact with your family in your home country.
• You work from home and need to videoconference with your boss and your team at the office.

Webcams help to remotely monitor a situation and help us gain a modicum of control of that situation. There are various webcams that are available in the market today made by companies like Logitech, Microsoft, Philips and Creative. They consist of essentially a digital camera that is connected to a computer. Most webcams now connect to a computer through a USB port and generally require a flat surface to function effectively. However many webcams today clip onto laptop computers like the Veo Mobile Connect Web camera, the Creative Webcam NX Ultra and Logitech QuickCam for Notebooks Pro.

Along with the digital camera there is software which captures a frame from the digital camera component of the webcam at periodic intervals and then transfers this image to the viewing location. If you use your webcam for streaming video and chatting you would need one with a high frame rate. The frame rate indicates the number of pictures that the software can capture and transfer in a second and a high frame rate of say 30 frames per second is considered to be ideal for streaming video. In order for this frame rate to function effectively the web camera must be supported by a high speed broad band internet connection as well.