There are no silly questions, just silly people!!! I personally designed and maintian 100% of, so if there is a guy to ask it's me. Below are some of the questions (that visitors have asked and that I have foreseen them asking), if you do not find your question on the list, please e- me. and I will clear it up for you. Hey, if the question is good enough you may even get ti added to this page, are you excited!!!

1) When will the WebCam become a streaming cam instead of a 20 second refresh.

Easy, when I figure out how to program it (HELP IS VERY WELCOME IN THIS AREA FROM ANYONE WHO HAS EXPERIENCE IN THIS). Also, as of right now my dial-up connection can handle the 60 sec. refresh. If you want to help me get it streaming, please e- me.

2) Why does use MPEG movies rather than streaming Real Video?

Well, truth be told, I use both but offer more MPEGs. This being the question I thougth people would ask most, it certainly deserves a good answer. The answer is brief but complete - STREAMING VIDEO SUCKS!!! Seriously folks, have you really seen a decent quality streaming video out there at a 56K connection speed. While streaming audio is usually high quality, AVI and MPEG movies leave a lot to be desired when coded into Real Streaming video. Streaming video has a long way to come. You will notice that in the "Cool Videos" section on the home page I offer the vids in both MPEG and Real Media format. The Real Streaming section is reserved for special events (concerts, parades, etc) that I record live and code directly into Real format. These Streams are too long to be able to do as MPEGs so I put them up as streaming video so you can see the whole event. I am aware of the fact that the MPEGs are about 5X the size of what a streaming file would be but I figure if the internaut is willing to wait hours to download a naughty video file from one of those sites (you know who you are out there) or to open a hideous Cristina Aguilera video, then I truly think a 5-10 minute wait for one of my Madrid videos is WELL worth it.  LIFE IS ABOUT QUALITY NOT TIME, SLOW DOWN AND ENJOY IT.

A second reason is that I do not want my visitors to have to download the 7 MB Real player installer from Real.com in order to enjoy the videos. I am flexible however so if I get enough requests for more Real streams I will offer more of them them.

3) What model webcam do you use for the Plaza Mayor Cam?

Good one!!! This question, while being easy to answer, makes me tremble when I think about the time I had choosing the webcam. After asking many peolple and checking out many models and brands on the market I went with the "Philips Vest Pro" -

Click the cam to enlarge.

 

I chose this camera because it delivers decent quality and was not too expensive (10,000 pesetas - about 60 € euros - $55 USD). Ultimately I would like to acquire (I will steal it if I must, je, je) a professional camera like a Axis NetEye but they are very expensive. If you want to buy me one and sponsor the Plaza Mayor Cam, please feel free to do so at any time.

4) Do you runon your own? 

Well, that's an interesting question. I would love to take all the credit but I must admit that I do have an assistant who helps with some of the programming and design work. To be fair, I have pasted his photo below, you can click on it to see him hard at work!

Click to see him at work!

That killer look on his face shows his extreme concentration. You can e-mai him at killkenny@onspanishtime.com. Back to the question, I suppose I am the only human contributor toif you want to get picky about it. I do however accept material from Madrid Fans, you can either send the stuff to me directly by e-mail so I can put it up or send the (URL) web address where it is published and I will link to it from my

You can learn a lot more about the inner workings ofby clicking on the button below and zooming to the "Inside Story" where I leave no question unanswered (in my own particular visual way).

I am aware of a few errors with Netscape, for example when you use my easy link to addto your favorites folder (just beneath the link to float the Plaza Cam in it's own mini window on the home page), Netscape comes up with a JavaScript error and can not complete the task. Also, when one enters the home (camera) page from the cover page at www.multimadrid.com, the page loads and then sometimes goes to blank (everything dissapears but the background image. The solution to this is simple, just hit refresh on Netscape's browser tool bar at the top of the page.

Netscape is known to detect JavaScript errors on an exgagerated level and unless you tell it not to show errors, it will keep acting up. The funny thing is that Netscape even detects a JavaScript error on the Netscape.com home page the first time you access it through their browser when newly installed on a computer, ha!!! I guess they should be a little easier on themselves. Personally I prefer Microsoft Internet Explorer and always will therefore I strongly reccommend it's use for viewing. I have however, made a huge effort to design my website so that it looks the same in both MIE and Netscape and I have achieved this on almost every section (this is a LOT harder than you may think and anyone who has done web design will agree). One more quick note, you must use a Java and JavaScript supporting browser to correctly view my website, this means versions 3.0 or better of either Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape or an equivalent AOL browser. You can update your browser for free.