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Hawk Eye Nature Cam Video CameraThe Hawk Eye Nature Cam is a miniature video camera that can bring the great outdoors into your living room. This bird cam takes real time color video that you can watch and hear on your TV. It shows all kinds of bird activity as it is happening in your backyard. Wild Bird Photography at its best! Hawk Eye Nature Cam can be seen and purchased here at Bird Cameras. Bird Cam FAQ's - The manufacturer has some answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's) below to help you along the way! Hawk Eye Color CameraDoes it show color in a dark birdhouse? The Hawk Eye is a color cam but the brightness and intensity of that color will depend on the amount of natural light reaching the camera. The color intensity will be infuenced by the size of the birdhouse entrance, whether the house is made of light or dark wood, and brightness of the sun (dawn, noon, dusk, overcast). In a lot of instances the light inside a birdhouse will be rather muted. This is especially true at night which is why the infra red night vision is used. The night vision will show some remarkable pictures but they will be more like B/W. When the Hawk Eye is used in bright outside sunlight it will achieve its full color capability. Great around birdbaths, bird feeders, etc.Figure 1 - Hawk Eye Birdhouse Mount Figure 2 - Hawk Eye Outside Mount Hawk Eye Computer and Streaming Video CapabilitiesYour Hawk Eye Nature Cam can plug into the RCA audio-in and video-in ports that most computers now have. RCA In and Out ports can look the same so, make certain these are "in" ports. These ports are colored coded with yellow being video, white and red are audio. Also, check your Programs files, you will need capturing and editing software. MS MovieMaker that comes packaged with Windows is a good but basic editing package. Different manufacturers bundle many other good editing programs with their particular machines.If you don't have RCA "in" ports on your computer, you'll have to buy an adapter into which you plug the Hawk Eye, and then plug the adapter into the computer's USB port. "Dazzle" is one of the best and it is made by Pinnacle http://www.pinnaclesys.com/Home+Video. Very good capturing, editing, and DVD burning capabilities. The above info is for getting signals into the computer. You can either save it as a file, edit it, and then simply add an html link to your web site so people can click on the file and see that day's highlights. This is probably the easiest, and least expensive way to go, but obviously, isn't real time. Visitors to your site will only see highlights of what happened the day before. If you want to stream live real-time video you'll have to pay for it. While it does cost, it is worth it not to have just still refreshed photos. A good video/audio streaming company is www.audiovideoweb.com . It's fairly easy with a low learning curve. Audio Video Web has good customer support, and it is an excellent way to get visitors to your site and keep them coming back. You can go to www.audiovideoweb.com by clicking here. Click on the "Content Delivery" tab at the top and then select "Live Webcasting." There are three payment options with Option 3 being least expensive and thus probably the best. You can click on the "rates" and streaming option (300 kb) buttons to select what ever works for you. Download their free encoding software to your computer, hook up the camera, and make sure everything is working BEFORE you sign up and pay them. There is a also FREE video streaming service at 'Cam Streams' that you can check out. The downloading of their encoder software is fine, but setup requires finding out what the IP address was of the cable modem and get thru any firewalls. If the IP address was assigned dynamically, then it has to be changed to a static one and then do a port forward so the broadcast stream can get out through the cable modem. This free version of Camstreams allows up to 15 viewers, The technical part of Video streaming is not for everyone. If you don't have a minimal comfort level, have the desire to learn about IP config settings or have access to someone that does, then this one may not be for you. Hawk Eye's focus rangeLoosen the little set screw beneath the lens and with a few twists of the Hawk Eye's lens you can literally see your finger prints from 1/8" away. A couple of twists the other way and it is out to infinity.More significant is the depth of field. From only a few inches away, the entire object (birds in our case) will be in focus. In a typical birdhouse the camera may be anywhere from 3-12 inches above a bird's head, but yet all of the bird and the eggs it is sitting on are in focus. Because the Hawk Eye has a wide angle lens, the apparent size of the object gets very small with distance from the camera. It is therefore best to get the camera as close as possible to the bird feeder, birdbath, or whatever you are watching. Hawk Eye cold operationThe manufacturer recommends leaving the camera on all the time, as the small amount of heat it generates helps prevent any cold damage. The camera has been operating in northern states and canada continuously for a number of years. Bear in mind that your Hawk Eye is a piece of electronics gear, so the more shelter you can give it the better. A small board or piece of plastic over the top will go a long way in extending its life.Hawk Eye Extention CableYes, the Hawk Eye can be extended out at least 1000 feet, by daisy-chaining a series of our 100' extension cables, which is why we offer the Hawk Eye Plug Extension Cable specifically for this purpose.Hawk Eye Setup difficultyIt really couldn't be easier. Simply hang the birdhouse, or attach the Hawk Eye to a post overlooking a feeder; run the cable into the house, plug the audio and video plugs into the appropriate RCA jacks (video-in and audio-in) in the back of the TV or VCR. Plug in the power and sit back and enjoy.Seeing Wild birds Begins Now!Follow these guidelines and successfully create your own Backyard Wild bird habitat! See Bird Houses that can be set up with a Bird Cam by clicking here 'Bird Houses'.The Hawk Eye Nature Cam can be seen and purchased here Bird Cameras
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