Minimum set up?

[LOSTINSPACE]

My girl and I would like to do cam work, our situation dictates that we cant spend huge amouts of euros on a new dedicated system..we gotta do it with what we got.

But is it enough?

Our connection is 1meg download, 128k upload.
And we have an ancient 700mhz laptop with 8 meg graphics
Havnt got a webcam yet...it will prolly be a cheapo usb logitech.

Should I bother? Or is my video quality going to be so bad that we will get one punter a month?

Thanks in advance for your help.

And this forum rocks...its just what ive been searching for. REAL INFO!!!

[Hony]

Hi there Lost. Welcome to the forum.

No hard answer to that question -- obviously technical disadvantages will be a strike against you, but it may be you can compensate somewhat with other things (e.g. great service).

How much $ have you got available to "invest"? If you can get a good webcam you may be able to earn enough in a few months to then buy a better cam and so on.

Hony

[secret]

[juggernaut]

secert is correct your laptop will handle cam shows. You really dont need the best computer for doing cam shows. from the spec you listed i would think your laptop will not support USB 2.0 which is faster then USB 1.0 but either way you will be ok. my wife and i have gone threw many cams. intel, logitech, and yes we even have a canon vc-c4 and even thou i love that cam for all its nice features. its a high end product and most likly well out of your range for what you stated as your situation. also you will need a convertor for a cam like that to work, or you will need a video caputure card. which means more money. anyway after all our cams we have found that the intel cs430 is the one we love. for a couple of reasons. the cam picture is great and the quality of the stills for posting on sites is really good also. you can pick these cams up on ebay for very little money and brand new.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=4616&item=5144254728&rd=1

We have used two differant kinds of intels. the cs330 and the cs430. the cs430 has ccd technology in it and truly makes all the differance. my cs330 cant even match the quality of the cs430. also if you are using windows XP the intel cams are totaly supported. you dont need a disc or drivers. just plug it in an start your cam show. the ohter cams most likly will need drivers.

hope this helps. jugg

[LOSTINSPACE]

Thanks for the advice folks. I thought I had asked a real lame question that wouldnt merit a reply. How wrong was I? Your kind hearts shine through!

I know this is a bit off topic in the tech section, but rather than start a new thread ill say it here. Im looking at this to save my ass.(plus we are both well up fot it!) Ive ran away to be with a girl and ended up in Finland with no hope of finding a regular everyday job. Its a language thing.....

Its good news to me that we can start hosting on a shoestring budget (as we are totally and utterly broke).

If any of you were in my situation....what website would you start with?

thanks in advance.

[juggernaut]

well i dont know if you should have this save your ass. LOL. but i get the impression that she is new to this and it can be a very hard job. she will have to deal with nice people and really strange ones. it can be a mental drain on her. from a mans point of view you have to be very supportive and be there for her when things get rough. which they will at times. also remember its a job. anyway have her start on some of the big sites, CamContacts, ImLive, etc etc. hony has them listed here. also be prepaired to give the sites up to 50% of her earnings. if she can tough it out she can make a good living. i would not expect to get rich tho. but some girls run a very tight ship and make a very very good living. there will be slow days and good days. one day she may make nothing and the next day she make make a few $100.00 hell my wife has guys that she has talked to for over 3 years and they just send her $300.00, $500.00 etc just to send it. they dont expect anything other then her chat company. it boggles my mind but i guess there are some rich lonly guys out there who really like to talk to her. hope all goes well. jugg..

[LOSTINSPACE]

Hey folks

Got a cheapish webcam (quality is ok with lots of light) and have just done our first hour performing as a couple on CamContacts. This sure is for us!!!
Had a real blast and made some money....cant beat it! We are hooked.

Now my question. Can anyone suggest a good utility that will send a pre-defined block of text to the chat room when I hit say ctrl-f. Its a pain to have to repeat the same things....esp when your doing a show. I think in my amiga days they were called macro commands...maybe wrong. Anyway you know what i mean and what im looking for.

Thank you so much for this forum!!!

cheers

[Hony]

[secret]

[sharky]

Hello
First of all your video quality will depend on the type of camera that you use, generally speaking a USB Webcam with a good CCD sensor will work just fine, do not throw your money on cheap low end CMOS cameras. Also the quality will depend on the technology used by the website you are working with. Your actual Internet connection speed is ok for this purpose.
Your laptop configuration shall be enough for this purpose, but you will need at least 250 MB memory for your laptop.

I recommend you the following minimum setup:

Hardware:
- Webcamera with CCD sensor at least 1.2 MP
- minimum 250 MB computer memory

Software:
- Windows 2000 or XP operating system to ensure your computer stability
- Web browsers: Internet Explorer 6.0 and Mozzila Fierfox or Opera
- A good antivirus software McAfee, Norton or BitDefender
- If you have a real IP address I recommend you to use a firewall but be careful how you configure it otherwise you might not be able to connect to the websites or transmit video streams
- Spyware and addaware remover or blocker, to stop unwanted software from exploiting your computer and draining it out of resources (this is a major problem do not ignore it)
- If your interested in working or more sites simultaneously consider the use of a tool that allows you to connect different software, utilities to your webcam at the same time; such as Splitcam.

There are many things to say about this and I do not think that one post or many will be enough to explain all the aspects of this subject.
Anyway keep us posted with your work progress, hope you’ll do well.
Good Luck!

[born_to_oc]

I think 1500-2000 PR rating procesor (AMD 1000- 1500mhz INTEL 1500 - 2000mhz) its needed to get a good performance specially when working 2 or more sites using cam spliting software.

Windows XP
2 pages on internet browser
cam splitting software

May need 384-512mb of ram to get a good performance.

In webcams the only way to get a descent image quiality its webcam on a CCD sensor a good light and configuration of webcam parameters.

I think Creative NX ultra and logitech quickcam pro 4000 can make the work well and its under 70 USD at online stores, they provide 320/240 at 30 FPS and with good ligth the results are very satisfactory.