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Tell HN: Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and now web cams

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Re: Tell HN: Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and now web cams

#331

Post by arcticfox »

40four wrote: post #278
TheAdamist wrote: post #110

Wyze cheap security cameras released a firmware that turns them into a webcam. Still in stock. You will also need a USB a-a cable that I didn't know existed or was legal. And a 32gb microsd. I did this last week, came in one day on Amazon prime. Under $50 for everything. Setup went okay, although the 3-4 minutes for firmware write was under a minute for me with their branded microsd. Quality is passable, lens is more…

I would not touch a Wyze camera with a 10 foot pole. Given the recent enormous security breaches, the likely connections to the Chinese government, and the incredibly low price point, there are red flags waving everywhere. Read this blog series about Wyze, and then make up you mind if you are comfortable having that piece of hardware in your home. I think it is pretty clear the risks are not trivial. https://blog.12s…

> it is (or at least was) theoretically possible for any individual anywhere in the world to access the live video feeds of every single Wyze camera that was online

Holy cow. And easy to do if you found their unsecured database.

Re: Tell HN: Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and now web cams

#332

Post by rainbowzootsuit »

technofiend wrote: post #73
51Cards wrote: post #66

I tried to pick up a webcam last week... nothing anywhere.

I think it was covered previously but Wyze offered an image that makes their security / surveillance camera into a webcam. Requires a USB cable and sd card in addition to the camera. I see Wyze cameras available on Amazon at a markup and with some delay, but their website seems to have them in stock? I didn't go through the checkout process to verify. https://wyze.com/wyze-in-response

Home depot stocks Wyze cams too.

Re: Tell HN: Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and now web cams

#333

Post by lancefisher »

I ran into this a couple weeks ago getting my son set up for remote school. I ended up buying a 24” Dell monitor with a webcam, speakers, and mic built in. They are surprisingly few choices for monitors like this, but I’m really happy with the P2418HZm that I ordered. It was $280 on Amazon and took a week to get here. You can also use it to login with your face.

The other option I was looking at was just picking up a cheap chrome book with a camera built in.

Re: Tell HN: Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and now web cams

#334

Post by kroltan »

neves wrote: post #259
neves wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

any equivalent for android?

I've found these apps: - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dreamdroid... - http://www.dev47apps.com/ - http://ip-webcam.appspot.com/ Any opinion on which one is best?

I've had huge success with IP Webcam, especially since it appears to be a standard MJPEG stream, so very hackable (in the good sense). The web interface also crucially adds UI for focusing, in addition to the customizable in-phone UI.

Re: Tell HN: Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and now web cams

#335

Post by foofoo4u »

TomMckenny wrote: post #295
walkon wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Allowing the price to move up with market demand will encourage increases in production. It just takes some time, especially in a pandemic, for the production to catch up.

Which might be fine for things like web cams but for critically and immediately needed sanitation products, it proves a fatal flaw in markets. The reward for quickly buying up commodities and reselling them at enormous markup always out weighs stockpiling them for years and potentially never selling them at the same mark up. Not to mention destructive hysterical hoarding. There is someone in this thread who noticed a…

People are hoarding, because they are not rationing. They are not rationing, because prices are too low. Prices are too low, because it is either illegal or retailers would rather have a shortage than tarnish their brand. If you allow prices to rise, then we will see both an increase of supply and increased rationing by the population.

Re: Tell HN: Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and now web cams

#336

Post by tibu »

jamieweb wrote: post #318

Why would you want a video feed anyway? If you're just having a talking meeting, I don't really need to see your face, and also don't want you to see mine. Edit: Maybe I'm antisocial, but I have talking meetings all of the time with people I know well, but never feel the need for video.

Metacommunication is a really important part between communicating parties

Re: Tell HN: Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and now web cams

#337

Post by vidanay »

Arelius wrote: post #301
PAPPPmAc wrote: post #260

I ran into that the other week as well. Get a UVC industrial camera with a M12 or CS mount lens to use as a webcam, most are better cameras than the "webcam" models and not everyone has noticed UVC cameras _are_ webcams so the prices are normal. I grabbed one with an OV2710 sensor (does 1920x1080@30fps, 1280×720@60, and so on) and a 2.8-12mm CS lens for $65 that took a little over a week to arrive (I paid a slight pr…

Neat, where did you order yours from? I've actually been looking for a sensor without a Bayer filter on it to use with a spectrometer, and this looks like the sort of thing that might be able to be used for that.

I'm not sure exactly what you are looking for, but there are a lot of machine vision cameras available that do not have Bayer filters and are grey scale only.

https://www.baslerweb.com/en/products/cameras/

https://www.alliedvision.com/en/digital-industrial-camera-so...

These cameras most likely DO HAVE a NIR (near IR) filter on the sensors. You would need to check on specific models.

Basler provides some documentation for removing the filter from specific camera models.

https://www.baslerweb.com/en/sales-support/downloads/documen...

Re: Tell HN: Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and now web cams

#338

Post by danjc »

buro9 wrote: post #63

I bought an Elgato CamLink instead... hooked it up to a DSLR I already owned, and it makes for a stunningly crisp and clear, high quality, webcam. Of course, using a 42.4 Megapixel sensor and a Carl Zeiss Sonnar lens it would. https://www.elgato.com/en/gaming/cam-link-4k Turns a HDMI input into a USB web cam.

If you have a USB cable for your DSLR/mirrorless, try SparkoCam - lets you stream your camera to your pc with no additional hardware

Re: Tell HN: Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and now web cams

#339

Post by ChainOfFools »

kroltan wrote: post #334
neves wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've found these apps: - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dreamdroid... - http://www.dev47apps.com/ - http://ip-webcam.appspot.com/ Any opinion on which one is best?

I've had huge success with IP Webcam, especially since it appears to be a standard MJPEG stream, so very hackable (in the good sense). The web interface also crucially adds UI for focusing, in addition to the customizable in-phone UI.

I've not been able to get it to work smoothly without specifying at least a 1000ms buffer, which kinda ruins the ability to use as a real time communication tool. Gigabit local lan, strong wifi N MIMO signal, Galaxy S10 and a fairly recent Macbook pro (dual booting to Win 10).

Have you encountered a similar hurdle?

Re: Tell HN: Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and now web cams

#340

Post by noodlesUK »

If you’re the typical hacker news reader, I suppose there’s a good chance you have a decent quality SLR or mirrorless camera. If it has a clean HDMI output, you can use it with a capture card (80USD or so) on amazon and you’ll have the best webcam money can buy. Couple that with a cheap lavalier mic or similar and you’ll have far better quality than any video call is likely able to transmit.

If you’re feeling really hacky you might be able to do without the capture card and use gphoto2 to stream your camera over usb, and then use something like OBS virtual am or V4l2loopback. This is fiddly though and only works with a few cameras.

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