[AG-TECH] Cheap Video Cameras

[Don Morton]

All,

I'm helping a couple of good folks incrementally jump
into the AG world.  They both, theoretically, have
I2 and multicast, but no funds for an AGN yet.  So,
I've interested them in building a cheap "proof of
concept" system much like the one in my office (the one
that delivers those views of mountains and deer to
y'all), just so they can start to familiarize themselves
with the basic software components, work out multicast
issues, etc. while they're still waiting for Santa to
bring them their real AGN.

The one area I feel weak in is the choice of a video 
camera.  I happen to use an expensive one in my office
(costs more than the computer), but that's just because
I happened to have a spare.  For these folks, I'd like
to be able to recommend one with the following properties

- CHEAP - remember, this is just proof of concept
- Compatible with the Hauppage video capture cards recommended
  in the AG hardware list, and of course the AG 1.0 
  Redhat distribution.  In other words, I don't want to
  be having to compile new drivers, etc.  My "guess" is
  that the only drivers needed are those to interface with
  the Hauppage, and that the Hauppage is relatively 
  "camera independent" as long as one has the right
  input (like S-video), but I'm not sure of this.

Does anybody have a recommendation for a tried and tested
video cam that satisfies the above?

Thanks,

Don
-- 
   Don Morton                   http://MRoCCS.cs.umt.edu/~morton/
   Department of Computer Science       The University of Montana
   Missoula, MT 59812 | Voice (406) 243-4975 | Fax (406) 243-5139