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How to create a live web cam feed

I have recently received a number of e-mail's asking how to create web cam feed. Before you read on, you should be aware that you really need a high speed, unmetered Internet connection such as ADSL (asynchronous digital subscriber line) or Cable Modem to provide a successful live video feed. Alternatively, if you have a regular 56 kbit/s modem you really want to still have some form of unmetered access, otherwise your paying per minute for the cam feed to operate (and that's not good !).

Prerequisites

Before creating your live web cam feed I suggest get yourself a "fixed domain presence" on the Internet by using a free service provided by no-ip.com or dyndns.org. I discuss more about getting a fixed domain presence here.

Also, before creating your live web cam feed I suggest you examine your existing configuration to determine if you need to "open" particular ports on any firewall software you may be running. If you have a network address translation (NAT) device such as a broadband Internet you will have to "forward" particular ports to your computer streaming your live web cam feed. I briefly discuss configuration of broadband Internet routers here.

The applications used for creating a live web cam feed

There are numerous applications that allow you to broadcast a live web cam feed to the Internet. I will discuss the following three in detail:

• Windows Media Encoder
  This is a free application from Microsoft that allows you to easily broadcast a live web cam feed from your PC. This method requires that the client computer viewing your web cam has Windows Media Player 7 (or above) installed.
• Webcam32
  This is a commercial package with a free trial period, and allows you broadcast a live web cam feed from your PC. Because this uses either FTP or JAVA Script, this method requires no special software to be installed on the client computer viewing your web cam.
• QuickTime Broadcaster and QuickTime Server
  These are free applications from Apple that allow you to broadcast a live web cam feed from your Apple computer. This method requires that the client computer viewing your web cam has QuickTime 6.1 (or above) installed.