CamCollect - Readme File for Release 1.4e - 28th July 2000
==========================================================


CamCollect for Windows 95, 98, ME, NT4 and 2000 will download, display 
and save images from the many web cams appearing on the internet.  
CamCollect monitors up to 1,000 pre-defined web cam sites, only 
downloads new images to save web bandwidth, supports authentication
for members only sites, and contacts up to eight web cam sites
simultaneously to maximise internet usage and stop dead or slow sites
effecting collections. Images may be automatically enhanced before being
displayed (brightness, gamma), captioned with site name and time, and
automatically saved on disk, with file names based on the date and time
(fully customisable) or with sequential numbers.  

A built-in image editor allows images to be viewed enlarged, cropped,
have text added, be colour corrected, filtered or enhanced, and saved in
various image formats. A single button launches a web browser for the
web cam site's home page, and web cam site information can be imported
from a text file to allow rapid set-up, and saved to text files to share
with others. 

CamCollect is shareware, developed by Magenta Systems Ltd, in England.
CamCollect may be evaluated for 30 days, but must be registered if usage is
to continue. 

Until registered, CamCollect is crippled so that all images will be overlaid 
with nag text. Registration costs 15 (UKP) which is about $25 or 23 (euro). 


Features
--------

* CamCollect is designed to automatically monitor web cam sites,
downloading, enhancing, displaying and saving images from each site.

* CamCollect can monitor up to 1,000 pre-defined web cam sites that may
be defined by the user or importing in bulk

* Checks selected sites at pre-defined intervals, with up to four
scheduling periods during the day. Sites may be grouped into categories
of varying importance.

* Tries to download only new images, but unchanged images are discarded
(saves web bandwidth and disk space)

* The latest pictures from up to 250 web sites are displayed on a tabbed
dialog with age and site local time

* CamCollect contacts up to 16 web cam sites simultaneously (PC
processing power permitting) to maximise internet usage and stop dead or
slow sites effecting collections 

* Displays and saves individual frames from streaming cams (server push)

* CamCollect is able to automatically locate the image for certain sites
that regularly change the URL to frustrate linking from other web sites  

* Images may be automatically enhanced before being displayed, to
increase brightness, or adjust the gamma

* Displayed images are resized to fill the viewing window

* Images may be automatically captioned with site name and time, to ease
subsequent identification

* Images are automatically saved on disk, with file names based on the
date and time (fully customisable) or with sequential numbers

* A log window reports sites visited, pictures saved and errors

* A built-in image editor allows images to be viewed enlarged, cropped,
have text added, be colour corrected, filtered or enhanced, and be saved
in various image formats.

* Supports JEPG, BMP, PNG and TIFF images (no GIF for license reasons)

* A single button launches a web browser for the web cam site's home
page

* Supports authentication for members only password protected sites

* Web cam site information can be imported from a text file to allow
rapid set-up, and saved to text files to share with others

* CamCollect is dial-up networking (RAS) aware, will open a connection
if required, indicates which connection is being used, and will ensure
it is closed down when the program is exited

* CamCollect may be automated with command line options to provide 
scheduled picture collection


Installation
------------

CamCollect comprises a single program file CAMCOLL.EXE about 1 Mbyte in
size. Installation prerequisite is Windows 95 (any version), Windows 98,
Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000, with TCP/IP networking and Dial-Up
Networking (Remote Access Services) installed, and a web browser to
check site details. 

CamCollect is distributed as a ZIP file which should first be unzipped
into a temporary folder.  If you do not already have it, the Winzip
application from http://www.winzip.com/ (or from most magazine cover
CD-ROMs, Tucows archives, etc) is strongly recommended. 

The program SETUP.EXE should then be run to install CamCollect.  About 
1.5 Mbytes of disk space is required for the software and documentation.
However once running, CamCollect can easily use vast amounts of disk
space for all the web cam images that will be downloaded!  


Default Sites
-------------

The standard installation version of CamCollect contains a some general
default web cam sites of places, but no people.  The CamCollect web site
includes a further defaults file with a substantial number of adult web
cams.  Although these details will be updated every few months, Magenta
Systems Ltd will not be offering the same level of updates as
specialised web cam listing sites.  


Distribution
------------

CamCollect may be freely distributed via web pages, FTP sites, BBS and
conferencing systems or on CD-ROM in unaltered zip format, but no charge
may be made other than reasonable media or bandwidth cost.  Any
notifications must state that CamCollect is shareware with nags until
registered with Magenta Systems Ltd.  Please email Magenta Systems Ltd
if you distribute CamCollect in some way, so you can be notified of
upgrades or other important changes. 


Copyright Information
---------------------

CamCollect is copyright Magenta Systems Ltd, England, 2000.

Magenta Systems Ltd
9 Vincent Road
Croydon 
CR0 6ED
United Kingdom

Phone 020 8656 3636, International Phone +44 20 8656 3636
Fax 020 8656 8127, International Fax +44 20 8656 8127

Email: camcollect@magsys.co.uk
Web: http://www.magsys.co.uk/camcollect/
Download: http://www.magsys.co.uk/camcollect/camcol14.zip 
(709,203 bytes)

