12 STREAMPUNK CamStreamer
A company in the Czech Republic is making it easy and cheap to livestream from Axis IP cams to anywhere on the internet CAM STREAMING FOR EVERYONE Words by Neal Romanek
ivestream cams appeal to the voyeur in us, the desire to watch, god-like, the banal coming and going of the oblivious little people
of Earth. Cams can transport us in a special way that only live broadcast can – “I am watching an event happening right now on the other side of the world”. It’s as if we were imbued with a kind of clairvoyance, develops livestreaming applications for Axis Communications, the pioneering Swedish manufacturer whose IP cameras are used in a range of industrial, security and consumer applications. The company started with a simple encoder embedded in Axis cameras to allow live streaming to YouTube. Now, CamStreamer features foolproof set-up and easy graphic features for a variety of Axis IP camera types, and includes recording options, scheduling and audio features. CamStreamer is employed in many different scenarios. It’s deployed in 24/7 nature cams, including a stream from a white-tailed eagle nest in Latvia and the polar bear pen at the Alaska Zoo in Anchorage. Live streaming of tourist landmarks abound – a seafront hotel on the Dutch coast, a Swiss ski resort, and an able to vision events far, far away. Czech company CamStreamer
could be logos of sponsors or owners of a resort, or showing information on what is happening at the location,” says Capousek. “Cities can have a stream going online all the time, and it’s good for attracting visitors and increasing exposure.” APPS FOR CAMS The main CamStreamer app enables easy streaming from an Axis camera to multiple social media platforms simultaneously. It is downloaded right to the camera, eliminating the need for other encoders or hardware. The app integrates easily with YouTube and Facebook Live, but is also compatible with other streaming servers like Wowza, and is available for a single purchase price of $299/€269. The company’s newer CamOverlay app provides graphic overlays for livestreams, burned into the video at source. These allow for addition of weather information, sports results or custom graphics like
ALL OVER THE WORLD Popular initiatives using Axis IP cameras include wildlife watching and tourist destination feeds
ocean view from a bar in the British Virgin Islands, for example. One of the most popular use cases is in small-scale sporting events: “Small sports teams can install cameras around the field and eliminate the need for a cameraman,” explains CamStreamer CEO David Capousek. “And they can then stream to YouTube, which is free. We find that around 80% of our sports customers are using YouTube because of its zero cost and reasonable functionality.” City and resort cams also represent a big chunk of CamStreamer’s custom: a full-time stream of your hotel, resort or tourist centre is a great promotional tool. “They might have a fixed camera equipped with embedded graphics, which
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