live-video-feed-uk

CheckItLive's David Costello: Streaming video Website 101

(Building a great streaming video Website may look like easy work, but rest assured there are some tricky parts and David Costello ought to know. As technical consultant and Web developer for CheckItLive.com he's helped nurture the fledgling site from prototype to beta launch. After a career in the Telecoms industry and computer forensics, he is the Website's Ubergeek in charge of making CheckItLive ever cooler, and is so committed to this mission he almost forgot to e-mail a decent photo of himself for this post! Here is some sage advice from the master.)

• Start from scratch. Oh, you may think you can just stroll into your local computer store or log onto your favorite eCommerce site and order the streaming video Website program in a box. Well, think again. "The site is built entirely from scratch - using no third party products. The hardest part of the site would have to be the user-interactivity with the camera blogs etc, as they require more complex programming code to handle posting, editing, and the pagination of user comments once the page length is exceeded." CheckItLive.com in a box indeed!
• Be social...and not just at parties. We're absolutely serious about this one. You see, David explains that tons and tons of cool live feed of cute animals, picturesque locals and inviting beach scenes just aren't enough. "Many sites secure returning visitors by providing a level of interactivity - so in an effort to make the site more fun and interesting, we're trying to develop a feature-rich community structure which allows users to not only see the cameras but communicate in various ways with the other site users. Social bookmarking has become such a popular method for finding new and interesting sites, it made sense to add such features to CheckItLive - many websites have succeeded over the years by using Word-Of-Mouth as their main form of advertising".
• Let others play along. David says visitors may soon be able to get even more involved with this whole live video feed thingy including sharing their own Webcam images. "I think the major plan is to complete and open up the user-submitted cameras section, and extend on the existing community features to allow for more user-interactivity with general message boards, expanded camera favourite features, and possibly some form of instant messaging."
• Keep it simple. Still, he says developers' hopes for the site in terms of how visitors will use it remain quite simple. "We hope that people will use the site for their leisure, enjoying the communication features with other users, and perhaps getting inspiration and ideas for places to visit. The Zoo and beach cameras can provide great ideas for people looking for places to visit."

CheckItLive: How to install a live streaming Webcam

(For tips on how to install a live streaming Webcam, there may be no better place to go for advice than Chris Baxendale, on site engineer for CheckItLive.com. Before coming to fiNETra, the company responsible for CheckItLive more than a year ago, Chris completed ski instructor training in Whistler, Canada, soon to be the host of the 2010 Winter Olympics. Chris got his experience setting up digital cameras for online application through work he did on a family venture called A1Surf, a Website specializing in local surfing around the UK. Here are some of the things he's picked up along the way about placing live streaming Webcams just about anywhere.)

• Keep out of the reach of small children...and Gorillas?! Of all the places Chris and his team have planted their cameras, they quickly decided one location that might be unsuitable was within reach of the dexterous fingers belonging to some of human kinds closest relatives, the great apes. "I think the only place we have decided against putting a camera is inside of a gorilla House in Bristol zoo, as the keepers advised us that the animals will just sit there and play with it until they get it free..." he says.
• Watch out for hungry tigers! As the CheckItLive team quickly discovered, some animals may find your Webcam a tasty treat, so realize that your camera must be tough enough to survive any ordeal. Early on, Chris says one tiger became so unsettled by having a camera in her enclosure that she attacked the offending piece of equipment actually managing to get most of it into her mouth. Fortunately, the camera was a heavy duty vandal proof model used in the security industry and sustained no damage.
• When in doubt, go to the beach. One of the CheckItLive team's favorite subjects, is in an environment with which Chris became intimately familiar during his time at A1Surf.com. "We look for a subject that we think will be interesting to watch on camera, for example: If we look at Fistral Beach in Newquay this shows us a nice wide angle shot of the beach, so surfers can look at the camera to see the current live surfing conditions, they are also able to see how many other surfers are on the surf so they can make an informed decision about whether to go or not," Chris says.
• Keep your Webcam warm and dry. Since outdoor Webcams must endure the harshest weather conditions year round, they can hardly be the variety you would purchase at your local electronics store for your favorite laptop. Instead, each outdoor professional grade CheckItLive camera is lovingly packaged for protection from the elements including a rated weatherproof housing designed to keep the camera dry in the rain and even to deflect water from the lens. The housing also contains a small heater to prevent condensation or ice from forming inside as weather conditions change. 
• Always take time to enjoy the view. Sometimes Webcams catch more than what was intended with better results than the technical team could have anticipated. Take the time Chris and his team installed a Webcam at the outdoor Minack Theatre, a well-known Cornwall landmark near the sea. "What we didn’t think we would be able to see was Dolphins swimming around in the bay behind the camera and so I have been told a Basking Shark," says Chris. "The camera has been hugely popular with a huge audience of people, not just theatre lovers."