Hi,
We have a vacation home where DSL has just become available. I would like to install a remote webcam for weather watching/surveillance.  The webcam would be inside the house, looking outside through a window. I would like azimuth, elevation, and perhaps zoom capabilities. I initially thought I'd use USB 2.0 for connectivity, and I may; howver, there seem to be alot of cameras that just connect directly to a router/switch/hub via CATx cable.  It also seems like some of these cameras serve their own "web page" so one can easily access the camera remotely.

Any recommendations on Cameras/Software?

TIA!!

Ivista inetcam software seemed to work for me, at least until the evaluation period ended.  Posts either your desktop or streaming video from your cam on their website.

Zoom is a good feature but most zooms on webcams are digital zoom and consequently are pixellated at higher zoom levels.  Won't increase detail much.

Higher resolution still pictures are nice if you're exchanging pix with somebody who has a higher screen resolution and/or want something that shows some detail.

A friend mentioned to me that getting audio working properly is the real trick with webcams.  He had had some trouble with that and I also experienced problems in that regard - the audio didn't work out of the box on my Webcam NX Pro and I still haven't had time to do anything about it.  MSN messenger tried setting up the sound, then got into this crazy low bass feedback loop and eventually decided the mic that came with the webcam wasn't working correctly.  My advice is to try before you buy so you'll find what you like and how they work with other programs that you want to run.