activex for mac

Krislynn wrote:
..I'm trying to be able to view the webcam from my daughter's school, which requires activex. The cs tech at the school said I needed to first go through internet explorer and then there is activex for a mac available. ..

sounds like a historic set-up 😉
if possible, provide us the direct _URL to that webcam_.. usually, that activx elements are only needed for 'controls', the video itself is available as a stream.. in some codec; and probably, we find here a solution to access that stream without that MS-java-derivat.. (e.g. by teaching QT a few codecs via perian.org + inserting a 'deep link' into QTplayer's 'Open URL' command.. )

aside, that has VERY little to do with MacOS' video editor iMovie 😉

Can't view anything and the page shows a missing "plug-in" icon (no Flip4Mac on my machine).
A click on the "Setup" link did prompt for a password. Since I don't have one I cancelled.
Try http://flip4mac.com for a Windows Media format addition to your browser.
Don't use Internet Explorer. I used Safari 3.1.2.

thanks for providing the URL

that LinkSys site we do see is a 'ready made' thingie for usage of webcams of that specific router which is in use.
if you click on 'show video', it will try on 'Play' to establish an connection to
http://172.21.4.81
.. which is (172. xx) an internal connection of that LinkSys router device; we can not override from external.. (well, 'you' could probably, .. but that is hacking .. 😉 )

funny enough, that Windows Vista Users are able to see anything.. I've heard of lots of trouble about 'incompatiblities' between ActivX and Vista.. 😉

probably, you should tell the school admins to use a 'modern' set-up, keywords 'Vista' and 'barrier free' (=usable for handicapped ones...). avoid mentioning MacOs.. 😉

and for sure, for WindowsXP there're zillions of 'webcam apps', which allow an upload of webcams to the internet..

just to mention: ANY Mac has a built in WebServer and the free tool QTbroadcaster is avail. for download at apple.com.. no need for usage of special hardware nor proprietary software components.
maybe, the school should switch to Apple?

The linksys IP camera is only viewable from a Windows OS because of the activeX controls. The school is unlikely to change hardware to accomidate Mac users, but one can install Windows on a Mac PC. Stop in an Apple store and the staff can explain how to boot in Windows. Then, open internet explorer and install the ActiveX control. The camera should be viewable.

Ask the school admin to upgrade firmware for the Linksys camera. If it is WVC200 you can find the firmware by following: Home »Technical Support »Choose A Product »Cameras » WVC200. They will need to upgrade to at least version 1.1 (the camera ships with version 1.0). First download the ".bin" file to the local computer and then on the camera setup page the Firmware can be upgraded under Setup>Maintenance>Upgrade Firmware. Once the new version is installed on the camera they will need to change the codec setting to MJPEG. This can be done under Setup>Image>Image Type (the default is MPEG-4, which is why you needed Active-X). Once they make the change to MJPEG, you can view it on a Mac, or even in the new Google Chrome (which I am using now).

http://www.linksys.com/

I hope this solves the problem for you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ActiveX
Windows only.
Post the URL so we can see the format used by the page.

Very ancient stuff on the link you provided above.
Can you post the URL to the web cam page?
Most use Java.

That url takes me to a linksys page ???