Video Monitoring of Pond?

My husband asked what I wanted for Christmas this year, and I gave him one
heck of a challenge.... I told him I'd like to be able to watch my pond from
inside the house when I can't be out there! Anyone with equipment
recommendations, helpful hints, past experience, etc. - I'd really
appreciate hearing from you. Of course he's now getting carried away with
this challenge and thinking it would be great if we could "view" the pond
from any website anywhere, and also "pan" the yard so that I can see BOTH
ponds, one at a time. I'd settle for something simpler.... just being able
to watch the activity in my turtle pond when I'm in the house would be
great. Any suggestions, please? Thanks in advance.
Sue

SueAndHerZoo wrote:
My husband asked what I wanted for Christmas this year, and I gave him one
heck of a challenge.... I told him I'd like to be able to watch my pond from
inside the house when I can't be out there! Anyone with equipment
recommendations, helpful hints, past experience, etc. - I'd really
appreciate hearing from you. Of course he's now getting carried away with
this challenge and thinking it would be great if we could "view" the pond
from any website anywhere, and also "pan" the yard so that I can see BOTH
ponds, one at a time. I'd settle for something simpler.... just being able
to watch the activity in my turtle pond when I'm in the house would be
great. Any suggestions, please? Thanks in advance.
Sue




a simple remote color security camera to hook into a VCR
is around $100.00. there around the size of a pack of cigs.





--
--
http://www.kencofish.com Ken Arnold,
401-781-9642 cell 401-225-0556
Importer/Exporter of Goldfish,Koi,rare Predators
Shipping to legal states/countries only!
Permalon liners, Oase & Supreme Pondmaster pumps


Linux (SuSE 8.2) user #329121
Please Note: No trees or animals were harmed in the
sending of this contaminant free message We do concede
that a signicant number of electrons may have been
inconvenienced

"SueAndHerZoo" wrote in message
news:F63Db.7160$WQ3.2200@lakeread05...
My husband asked what I wanted for Christmas this year, and I gave him one
heck of a challenge.... I told him I'd like to be able to watch my pond
from
inside the house when I can't be out there! Anyone with equipment
recommendations, helpful hints, past experience, etc. - I'd really
appreciate hearing from you. Of course he's now getting carried away
with
this challenge and thinking it would be great if we could "view" the pond
from any website anywhere, and also "pan" the yard so that I can see BOTH
ponds, one at a time.

Then _don't_ show your hubby this website!
http://www.x10.com/products/cameras.htm

I'd settle for something simpler.... just being able
to watch the activity in my turtle pond when I'm in the house would be
great. Any suggestions, please? Thanks in advance.
Sue

"SueAndHerZoo" wrote:

appreciate hearing from you. Of course he's now getting carried away with
this challenge and thinking it would be great if we could "view" the pond
from any website anywhere, and also "pan" the yard so that I can see BOTH
ponds, one at a time. I'd settle for something simpler.... just being able
to watch the activity in my turtle pond when I'm in the house would be
great. Any suggestions, please?

Get an outdoor color camera, there are some in the $100-200 range, and a
RF modulator from Radio Shack (get the expensive one, that allows a wide
variety of channels). Run the output of this into you antenna/cable with
a splitter, using an un-used channel.

Now your pond will be just another channel on your TV, you can have
multiple channels (3 is common on the RF modulators), so each camera
would have its own channel.

IMHO, it is better than a blank screen.

Thanks, Ken, Volts, and John:

Sorry I didn't respond sooner but I'm using a new mail reader AND a
new newsgroup program, so it took me a couple of tries to actually SEE
your responses to my post. I'm on my way to check out that website,
but something tells me I really shouldn't. The other ideas sound
great, except..... what about the camera being outdoors in the
elements? How do we protect it from rain?
Sue

RHooD wrote:

Thanks, Ken, Volts, and John:

Sorry I didn't respond sooner but I'm using a new mail reader AND a
new newsgroup program, so it took me a couple of tries to actually SEE
your responses to my post. I'm on my way to check out that website,
but something tells me I really shouldn't. The other ideas sound
great, except..... what about the camera being outdoors in the
elements? How do we protect it from rain?
Sue


mine is made for outdoor use, even has sound!
it will say it on the pkg.



--
--
http://www.kencofish.com Ken Arnold,
401-781-9642 cell 401-225-0556
Importer/Exporter of Goldfish,Koi,rare Predators
Shipping to legal states/countries only!
Permalon liners, Oase & Supreme Pondmaster pumps


Linux (SuSE 8.2) user #329121
Please Note: No trees or animals were harmed in the
sending of this contaminant free message We do concede
that a signicant number of electrons may have been
inconvenienced

"SueAndHerZoo" wrote in message
news:F63Db.7160$WQ3.2200@lakeread05...
My husband asked what I wanted for Christmas this year, and I gave him one
heck of a challenge.... I told him I'd like to be able to watch my pond
from
inside the house when I can't be out there! Anyone with equipment
recommendations, helpful hints, past experience, etc. - I'd really
appreciate hearing from you. Of course he's now getting carried away
with
this challenge and thinking it would be great if we could "view" the pond
from any website anywhere, and also "pan" the yard so that I can see BOTH
ponds, one at a time. I'd settle for something simpler.... just being
able
to watch the activity in my turtle pond when I'm in the house would be
great. Any suggestions, please? Thanks in advance.
Sue



I realize you probably got a bunch of camera recommendations from people but
I figured I'd give you one more. I've used this company for about 5
years(retail security) and haven't had a problem with them or their products
yet. Word of warning if your husband is getting carried away don't let him
go to the site. www.supercircuits.com
Keep us informed on what you do and how it turns out.

(RHooD) wrote:

great, except..... what about the camera being outdoors in the
elements? How do we protect it from rain?

Get an outdoor model?

You could build a little shelter thing, to hide the camera, or disguise
it, which would keep rain off the lens, making it usable in the rain.

Fancy setups have a weatherproof housing, which holds a standard camera,
that takes interchangeable lenses. That is what is used for pro security
setups.

Thanks for re ideas, guys. I have been forwarding them all to my husband,
who is, by the way, getting very carried away. He's decided it definitely
wants it to be set up so that we can view it from a website, at any
location. And subsequently, I've decided that I may as well just let him
go ahead and go crazy. What a sport, huh? That's a great
website, Rasputin, and it's always good to hear from an objective buyer that
he has been satisifed with them. There's just too many out there to know
who's reputable and who's not. I'll keep you posted!
Sue

"Rasputin" wrote in message
...

"SueAndHerZoo" wrote in message
news:F63Db.7160$WQ3.2200@lakeread05...
My husband asked what I wanted for Christmas this year, and I gave him
one
heck of a challenge.... I told him I'd like to be able to watch my pond
from
inside the house when I can't be out there! Anyone with equipment
recommendations, helpful hints, past experience, etc. - I'd really
appreciate hearing from you. Of course he's now getting carried away
with
this challenge and thinking it would be great if we could "view" the
pond
from any website anywhere, and also "pan" the yard so that I can see
BOTH
ponds, one at a time. I'd settle for something simpler.... just being
able
to watch the activity in my turtle pond when I'm in the house would be
great. Any suggestions, please? Thanks in advance.
Sue



I realize you probably got a bunch of camera recommendations from people
but
I figured I'd give you one more. I've used this company for about 5
years(retail security) and haven't had a problem with them or their
products
yet. Word of warning if your husband is getting carried away don't let
him
go to the site. www.supercircuits.com
Keep us informed on what you do and how it turns out.

"SueAndHerZoo" wrote:

Thanks for re ideas, guys. I have been forwarding them all to my husband,
who is, by the way, getting very carried away. He's decided it definitely
wants it to be set up so that we can view it from a website, at any
location. And subsequently, I've decided that I may as well just let him
go ahead and go crazy. What a sport, huh? That's a great
website, Rasputin, and it's always good to hear from an objective buyer that
he has been satisifed with them. There's just too many out there to know
who's reputable and who's not. I'll keep you posted!

The Dazzle unit does a good job of video to computer conversion, and
capture studio from bitwelder productions, can do the capture to disk,
and time lapse photos and such.