Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
Attention Google Chrome users
Oddly enough, Chrome recently stopped supporting the direct
viewing of MJPEG streams. The streams must be embedded with an
img
tag on a web page to render. That's why the
Stream
page works
while the direct URL does not.
• The
Java
page tries to load a Java applet called
Cambozola
, which can
be used as a stream viewer. If you haven't got the Java browser plugin
already installed, you'll probably want to steer clear of this page. While
the Cambozola viewer certainly has some neat features, the security risks
associated with the plugin outweigh the benefits of the viewer.
• The
JavaScript
page demonstrates an alternative way of displaying a video
stream in your browser. This method also works in Internet Explorer. It
relies on JavaScript code to continuously fetch new snapshot frames from the
camera, in a loop. Note that this technique puts more strain on your browser
than the preferred native stream method. You can study the JavaScript code
by viewing the page source of
http://[IP address]:8080/javascript_
simple.html
.
• The
VideoLAN
page contains shortcuts and instructions to open up the
camera video stream in the VLC media player. We will get to know VLC
quite well during this chapter; leave it alone for now.
• The
Control
page provides a convenient interface for tweaking the picture
settings of your webcam. The page should pop up in its own browser window
so that you can view the webcam stream live, side by side, as you change
the controls.
Viewing your camera in VLC media player
You might be perfectly content with your current camera setup and viewing the
stream in your browser; for those of you who prefer to watch all videos inside your
favorite media player, this section is for you. Also note that we'll be using VLC for
other purposes further in this chapter, so we'll go through the installation here.
Viewing in Windows
Let's install VLC and open up the camera stream by following these steps:
1.
VLC installer package (
vlc-2.1.5-win32.exe
, at the time of writing).
2.
Install VLC media player using the installer.
3.
Launch VLC using the shortcut on the desktop or from the Start menu.
