AW: Got our home-grown baby monitor working!
inamra
member
We just moved last weekend and we're no longer in a small 1br apt but still in a smallish place but with 2 stories, so we now have a need for a baby monitor...so amidst unpacking and settling in this weekend, I worked on our baby monitor.
And best of all, it only cost me $5 (for a LED webcam--for ability to view in the dark with the lighting--with built-in microphone)...it was $5.47 when I purchased it from Amazon...now it's gone up to $9.
We have an old laptop with a busted screen, but it doesn't matter because LO doesn't need to watch us =P so I hooked it up to the webcam and now I have a video baby monitor!
It works best for us in our situation because I have 3 laptops (one of them is in the kitchen) + a desktop + MH's laptop so we can monitor him already from anywhere without having to worry about carrying around a baby monitor around the house...and I like that I get to see LO on a bigger screen than a small LCD 
Re: AW: Got our home-grown baby monitor working!
Yeah, that's what I originally had set up at our old apt! I even had recordings of myself saying "Good boy/girl" and "Nooooo!" or "Bad dog!" and VNC'ed into my computer from work so that I could play the clips if I caught them doing something bad and/or doing the right things (this way, I didn't have to say it while at work and have my co-workers wonder why I'm talking to our dogs in my cube =P). So the only thing that's different with this one now is the webcam (our old webcam didn't have lights for viewing in the dark).
Jaime & Brent
Oahu, Hawaii | Sept. 9, 2005
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Malia & Dave & Alexa
Happily married since 2-17-08! Three since 9-9-09!
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And congrats on moving...that's awesome!
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that's awesome! and so is this:
hah. congrats on the move!
that's awesome! and so is this:
hah. congrats on the move! yay for no longer being in a 1br!
For those who asked about what software to use, there are a lot of options out there.
Back when I set up the doggycam, I just used Skype or Yahoo Messenger and video chatted between two logins by setting it up so that I automatically receive video chat w/myself. So it can be as simple as that.
But now with the baby, I don't really want my data going through the Skype or Yahoo servers...I prefer to keep it local because (1) it's faster (2) privacy. There is a program called iSpy which is an open-source software that is really neat because it also features motion and sound detection and can also alert you based on that. It comes in an application mode with the sound/motion detection or a more lightweight/stripped-down server mode. So I use iSpy (server-mode only) for just the video part and then Google Talk for the audio only because I want my data local and I don't mind going through Google's servers for just the audio cuz audio is way faster than video anyway and I don't care much about privacy in terms of how LO sounds when he fusses/cries =P
You can also use iSpy application for video & audio, but it goes through their servers, so I didn't choose to do that (it also costs a $5 donation which is minimal considering it's a one-time fee). Yawcam (Yet Another Webcam) also works great for remote streaming video (but also with no audio). Either one of these would work well for traveling IMO.
Jaime & Brent
Oahu, Hawaii | Sept. 9, 2005
My Food Blog - Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats
The "night vision" is a set of LED lights so that it lights up the room a bit more (not the expensive infrared night vision =P). Sometimes LO stares at it but usually he doesn't notice it, esp if he's sleeping or fussing/crying b/c his eyes are closed =P But I got this one because (1) the laptop that I wanted to use with it is an old laptop with no microphone, so it was important to me that the webcam came with a built-in microphone (I could've always attached an external mic but I wanted to minimize the number of external components hooked up to the laptop) and (2) it was only $5.47 when I bought it and that was basically the cheapest one I could find with decent ratings (3.5+)...it's now gone up to $9 but still pretty cheap.
This one was tempting but no built-in mic, and so was this one (with built-in mic) but I didn't like how the mic part was protruding from the unit, whereas the one I got was all one unit without extra protruding parts. I also liked that the one I got had some weight to it so it was able to stand up on its own (the two webcams that we already owned, which didn't have LEDs for night vision, had to be propped/mounted/etc on something like a monitor). I also love the LED brightness adjustment feature--there's a dial where you can adjust the brightness of the LEDs (or have them off completely, which is what I do during the day) so you can make them dimmer if they're distracting LO or if you don't need it.