real-time video transmition in Lebanon

samer

I have got a friend that wants to transmit real time video from his factory in batroun to his computer in beirut.

so he'll need:
· a decent connection (which one?)
· a good surveillance cam (any recommandtion?)
· a cam program to transmit the video (which one?)
· any other requirements ?

thanks for your time.

mahdoum

Don't know much about this, but Nokia has a camera that works on a mobile card that u can get mms pictures and short clips (not sure if it has video) as for the connection you'd need a fast one for a good quality picutre i'm thinking vpn but not sure.

rolf

What's the budget?
The problem is she'll need fat upload, which will cost lots of money.
You can have a webcam ona phone connection (about 40k upload) though, but it wont be real video, it would be low resolution and low fps (frame per second).

You can have 128k up and down with isdn, you'll have to pay
about 300-400$ to for equipment and installation, and about 180$ subscription per month, then telephone costs at regular "4 digits" prices multiplied by 2.

Wireless business broadband prices are around:
installation 750$

64 kbits up&down:400 $/month
128kbits up&down:865 $/month

She could try put an wireless access point with a directionnal entenna at every side. These things reach about 5-10 KM, and maybe more, I'm not really up to date on this technology.
These peeps ahve tried to set up a 20+ miles (30km) link using off the shelf wireless technology.

http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/wireless/2001/05/03/longshot.html
alse see:
http://www.chubbage.com/un-chubbage/unchubbage.htm

If batroun is too far away or not in the direct line of sight, you may have to put a relay between the two points. A wireless acces point + unidirectionnal antenna typically costs around 350$.
You'll need 2 for a direct connection, or 4 if you need a relay. But you wont need to pay any monthly fees whatsoever.
What's the distance between batroun and beirut?

You need a licence to operate this equipment, but I dont think anybody will see the equipment and cause you any trouble. I know where you can buy them.

Alternatively, if you want to stay on the legal side, you can ask assistance from the licenced wireless networks operators in lebanon. But chances are it'll be expensive.
http://www.gds.com.lb/
http://www.cedarcom.net/

My advice is if you want a bad quality webcam, stick with what you have (modem internet, direct modem link between home and office, or whatever), and if you want video quality (and even dvd quality), try to install you own long distance wireless link. You'll get a high speed (10mbps?) link between home and office without having to pay monthly subscriptions.

mahdoum

how much would it cost to setup wireless between two points??

samer

Batroun is about 45 / 50 Km far :rolleyes:

rolf

how much would it cost to setup wireless between two points??

Well I wrote it in my post, just the price of the equipment. The rest is up to you to do.

40-50 km is complicated unfortunately, you'll need one, maybe even 2 relays.

samer

hm, which is going to cost a lot i assume :rolleyes: ,
still searching for a cheap alternative

rolf

yeah if it was like 10Km away you could have paid 400-500 $ and have a 20mb/s free wireless link between the 2. Maybe even 15 KM if we're lucky. But 50 km no way, unless you set a relay or bring some spectialized professional wiress equipment. In both cases it is a complicated and expensive operation.

I'm not sure about the cost of the relay. And I'm also investiagating a new technology called "WiMax" that lets you carry wireless signals up to 30miles (50km!). But I dont know if WiMax equipment is available in lebanon.

In any case, I'm talking theory here. I have never had any experience in setting up long range wireless. So if you decide to pay 1000$ to set up such a system and it doesn't work, dont come blaming me!

rolf

nope, wimax is not commercialized in the US yet, let alone lebanon. But it is around the corner.
You'll have to wait a couple of years for it to be affordable.

Imagine the future: wireless internet everywhere. Everything will be done over the wireless internet. Phone, TV, radio, ...
And the wireless internet will be free. It will be provided by the state, like they provide the roads for the car.

If it wont be free, then it'll be riculously cheap. I mean if they're providing 1GB dsl in taiwan (or hong kong :) ?) at 200$ and 192kbps cellular internet in the US for 30$/month, then how cheap will it be in 10 years?

Wait and see...