Web Camera (Web Camera Server, or Network Camera) is a CCTV Camera with built-in network video server so that you can connect it to a network line such as DSL or T-1 for the Internet or LAN. When you assign an IP address to the camera, you can see the camera's video at any place where the network line is available.

One of the features you have to check about the web camera is the speed. That is, a web camera should have a good image compression technology which can compress the video images to a size small enough to go through the network line with fast speed. For now, the Wavelet is the best compression algorithm with compression rate 30% to 300% higher than other technology such as JPEG or MPEG.

Another excellent feature of web camera is that you can program it to send you an email with up to 5 pictures when a movement is detected by the camera. And it usually has enough flash memory for you to customize your own Internet homepage.