Tower Cams and live net stream

genlock · Post by **genlock** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 7:59 am

I wonder why it is so difficult for WOWK to place their Tower/weather cams on a live stream? They had it years ago but dropped it for some reason.

Arp2 · Post by **Arp2** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 1:04 pm

I've been curious about that, too. Believe it or not, from having seen theirs a few years ago, I knew my way around Huntington better when I went there than I would have otherwise.

WSAZ's Charleston cam has been bad for a while....like a number of others I've been seeing in other places, it has a kind of double image as if the camera is shaking. I don't believe, however, that the WSAZ cam and all the others I've been seeing are shaking every moment all the time.

There's one I miss -- the camera on the Fairfield Inn in Charleston that was there to show the arts building being built. With a full web interface controlling tilt, pan, and zoom, you could look at all kinds of things all over town. I once stood at a particular point, called a friend of mine, told her the website and the numbers to enter/match, and waved at her from hundreds of miles away.

Lester · Post by **Lester** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 2:35 pm

You didn't get arrested for what you were waving, did you?

Arp2 · Post by **Arp2** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 4:15 pm

No....I figured I needed to wave something that could be visible.

Let me check a map...

The camera was at Leon Sullivan Way and Washington Street, and I was on Leon Sullivan Way between Quarrier and Virginia.

Yeah, I really needed to use my arm....

lil mole · Post by **lil mole** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 5:34 pm

There used to be a camera in Fountain Square in Cincinnati that you could control. It was pretty cool, too.

genlock · Post by **genlock** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 5:59 pm

The shakiness of a "tower camera" is inversley prportional to the amount of money invested in it's mounting. Most stations use an el cheapo security camera mount and motor and the camera is POS(piece of shit) that is cheap enough to sacrifice on the tower to lightning. WSAZ has the best resolution of local cams with its Huntington unit. WSAZ and WOWk have their Charleston units near each other at Garfield st up on the hill. WCHS has theirs on the tower at the studio and WVAH has one on the tower at the studio in Hurricane. The most expensive of the camera units may have cost $1000. but I doubt that more than $300 was spent for the cheapest.
Pan/Tilt units may cost $500 for a cheapo. And a grand to get it mounted.
Add a microwave or a switch to get it back home and you are in the tower cam business. Weather and Sales love them.

AmpedNow · Post by **AmpedNow** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 12:53 am

I love tower/traffic cams.

It would be cool if WV would set up a cam network on the major highways and attractions.