The webcam as a barcode scanner - how it works
If you use your webcam as a barcode scanner, you can quickly capture large amounts of EAN or QR codes. With this data you can, for example, sell books online or find information about the book on Amazon. We'll tell you how to use a digital camera or webcam connected to your PC as a scanner for barcodes or QR codes. So you can save yourself the annoying typing.
Scan barcodes on the computer with bcWebCam
The bcWebCam software uses webcams and digital cameras to read barcodes. The freeware variant already recognizes most bar and QR code standards.
- Install bcWebCam
- When starting the software, select the webcam you want to use as a barcode scanner
- Press the "Start" button. The application is now transparent.
- Select a text field in the application in which you want to insert the scanned code, for example the Rebuy sales window or the search window on Amazon.
- Now hold the barcode to be scanned in front of your camera so that the bar or QR code is filmed as straight and sharp as possible. Rotate it if necessary and vary the distance to the camera.
- A short "beep" as at the supermarket checkout confirms the successful barcode scan. The coded sequence of digits or characters is automatically inserted into the activated text field.
- With a click on the barcode symbol you can set the tolerance for the inclination of the barcode. The greater the tolerance, the slower the code can be held in front of the camera, but the more error-prone the detection becomes.
Cameras where the focus can be set to the lowest possible depth are ideally suited as barcode scanners. Adequate light and deactivation of all unnecessary code formats increase the recognition quality.