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Technical |
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| Breed your own Mealworms
Breed your own Mealworms to feed the birds,
its very easy, click on the Mealworm picture, to find out how. |
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The excellent video capture and streaming
software, used for this website is i-Catcher by iCode Systems
Limited. Units 4 & 5 Grange Farm Business Park, Sandy Lane, Shedfield,
Southampton, Hampshire SO32 2HQ UK.
http://www.icode.co.uk/
What's more you can try all their software
for free for 21 days to see if you like it |
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| For 2008 we have upgraded the streaming
computer to a Core 2 Duo 4 Gigs of RAM and Nvidia graphics card, this has enabled
us to use the new Euresys Picolo Alert 16 input video capture card
to its full potential. This card
and i-Catcher's new version of Console greatly simplifies the
running and streaming of multiple cameras over the internet. |
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| This is one of the daughter boards, needed
to add the extra 12 channels. I can
also record live video and sound from all of the main cameras using
my other 2 computers and mpeg capture cards,
and will add these to the diary pages and the video page |
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| Bird box setup for 2008
Both the new boxes are identical apart from
the internal colour of box 1, which is an experiment, and this time
I have made them with an internal low level camera. This camera is
the same one as last year but with the addition of some
extraordinary lenses. The lenses were given to me and were used in
the medical field, they are quite large but give an excellent depth
of field. I have been experimenting with them for months, to get the
best image and merely had to make an adapter on my screw
cutting lathe, to get them to fit. The only problem I have
encountered so far is, the birds can see their reflection in them. |
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| This is box 1 from the outside. Box 2 will
be the same but is wall mountable, and therefore the roof is
different. |
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| The results from the outside supposedly
waterproof camera |
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This is the setup from inside, this time I have
made the side accessible, making it easier to make adjustments
without a lot of cables in the way. Another factor is the ability to
zoom the overhead camera remotely |
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| The view from above, notice the quick
release tabs for quick and easy access |
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| The view from the bird side. The main
lighting is from high brightness light emitting diodes these are
special ones as used in traffic lights and have mini reflectors. two
of these are set at one level and the others slightly lower to give
good contrast to the video. additionally as these cameras are not
that sensitive to infrared I have added 16 infrared diodes, to give
a good image at night. This setup
with some extra ventilation should avoid overheating problems for
the chicks. The only liquid the chicks get is in their food, so the
last thing you want is to expose them to sunlight and the heat from
bulbs and cameras. This year the long range weather forecast is for
a very hot summer |
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| This is the result from this camera with
lighting on |
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| Another view with a blue tit this time |
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| This is a night view under infrared
lighting. |
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| If you have enjoyed watching, and feel you
would like to make a contribution, you can safely send a donation to
the running costs of this site by clicking on the link opposite |
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