The New York Times has a decent, if not short, piece on wireless network cameras. They review the Linksys WVC54G, Panasonic BB-HCM371A, and D-Link DCS-6620G. They did not mention the Hawking Technology HNC230G I reviewed last month.
Tech. Culture. Ideas. Opinions.
Great site. I'm not sure if you are the correct person to ask, but I was hoping maybe you could point me in the right direction to find the answers I'm looking for. Currently I am in the market to purchase a camcorder, and I recently heard that it is possible to use some camcorders as wireless webcams. My wife and I have our first child on the way and we live overseas. Therefore, while our first priority is to record videos of our upcoming arrival, it would be great if we could also use the camcorder we purchase as a more portable replacement for the current USB-based logitec cam that I currently use when talking with relatives over skype, msn and yahoo messenger. I have also looked at purchasing a wireless network webcam, an option I'm still considering, but I'd also like to know if this camcorder webcam option trully exists. If it is a possibility, the main benefits that come to mind would be that the LCD would allow you to know what image is being transferred, without having to have the computer next to you, and that you could simultaneously record and broadcast images, which would be perfect when webcasting special events like birthdays for the grandparents to watch online, that I'd also want to have a recording of. I'd be curious to know if audio could also be transferred while using a camcorder as a webcam. At the same time, I guess a great benefit of a wireless network webcam that companies like Linksys and Logitec offer is that they have their own IP address and therefore you don't even need to have a computer involved to conduct the webcast, since you can set up a broadcast on a personal website. Of course the disadvantages are that you don't get the two features I mentioned with the possible camcorder option.
Anyway, I'd REALLY appreciate any advice your or a colleague of yours could offer me on this. If there are any particular camcorder models you recommend, that would be great too...I'll be purchasing one even if it turns out the wireless webcaming is not an option.
Thanks so much for your assistance.
Best regards,
Jeff