I want to set up a webcam (streaming media) in a classroom for teacher observation? We are thinking of putting a camera or two in a classroom in our lab school so education students can observe a classroom on their laptop. We have too many students to get them all to observe in a classroom before the end of a semester, and then they don't all have a common experience to discuss if they go at different times. I can buy some hardware but am looking for low cost but good quality solutions. How could we do it for 3-5K?
I Spy with my little web cam...
I will say this, it helps if you could explain what the "Stream" is going to be used for as this will give you a boundary to work to. If your not concerned with quality and definition then a really cheap option with built in mic can be picked up for as little as £9.99 but if your looking to run the camera as a remote tutoring tool for students at home, for example, you would need to shell out for one that has a good quality picture that has good definition and a good frame rate and if your looking at high end stuff, your then talking lots of money.
I take it £3~5k is your budget, have you planned or mapped out what type of set up you are looking to make? Hardwired Vs WiFi... where wifi may seem the simpler option, hardwired gives you security and bandwidth as wifi reliability drops of significantly over very short distances, is affected by weather conditions and other issues that are too many to list.
So your better off sitting down, writing up a list of needs and your options that are open to you, research software that can help in conectivity. You may want to run a server that uses Linux, but beware, web cam support in Linux is often hit and miss and it was several weeks before an update enabled me to use my web cam. The beauty of Linux over M$ is that its free, you install it to a PC and away you go, download software that you need and go. That will save you on operating system licenses and paying for software, all it tkes is your time and effort to get to grips with the system.
This might not have been the answer that your looking for but at least now you can sit and think about it and set out your aims and have a better idea where the budget needs most spending.