Output does not update, if preview not displayed

Report and discuss bugs here!
Post Reply
Jambba
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Apr 28, 2007 6:43 am

Output does not update, if preview not displayed

Post by Jambba »

Output (out.jpg and stream) stops, if I am not previewing camera!
Previewing takes about 50% of my CPU power..
malun
Site Admin
Posts: 1589
Joined: Sun Jan 04, 2004 1:29 pm

Post by malun »

Strange!
What camera brand and model are you using?
What CPU do you have in your computer?
What happens if you don't close the preview, but minimize it into the taskbar? Does STREAM and HTTP still stop?

/malun
Jambba
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Apr 28, 2007 6:43 am

Post by Jambba »

I did forget basic information from my previous message;
Win XP Pro all SP's, Intel Pentium 4 1,8GHz, 768MB RAM.

If preview is active (top or minimized) output is updated.

I did not have such problem with 0.2.6 version (HW same, only Java platform has updated).
Can it be, that "update" from 0.2.6 to 0.30 can cause my problem. During installation routine, "old web-site and settings" was converted to new version??

Camera is from Lidl - and suprice - natural 640x480 picture quality and sensitivity is quite good.
Actually camera is so sensitive* that I do use (front of camera lens) sunglasses, when it's "sunny".

* too sensitive -> or "dynamic range" is too small -> or aperture adjustment does not exist.
Jambba
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Apr 28, 2007 6:43 am

Post by Jambba »

I don't restart PC too often,
after reboot, seems that output was updated (without preview) a while.. but later on,
when I did check, web-server output was not updating anymore. Output (at that time out.jpg) was steady.

So.
After reboot - Yawcam running, CPU usage was around 20% (no preview), when somebody was using pages, it did rise up to 50-60%. During stream it was nearly 100%.
After a while (10-20sec) nobody was updating picture or using stream, CPU usage return to 20%.

After two hours, CPU usage was about zero - but output was not updated..
malun
Site Admin
Posts: 1589
Joined: Sun Jan 04, 2004 1:29 pm

Post by malun »

Jambba wrote:Can it be, that "update" from 0.2.6 to 0.30 can cause my problem. During installation routine, "old web-site and settings" was converted to new version??
A lot of changes were made between version 0.2.6 and 0.3.0. In the later version Yawcam connects to the camera in a complete different way. It might be something that goes wrong there...

There shouldn't be any problems installing the new version over the old one and use the old settings file. However since you're experiencing some problems I recommend you to uninstall all versions of yawcam and delete the remaining files in Yawcam's directory (e.g. C:\Program Files\Yawcam). Then do a clean installation of version 0.3.0. (But first: Save the template files for the html pages in the stream and www folder before uninstallation so that you don't need to modify these again.)

Have you tried updating the drivers for your webcam?
Is it this webcam you are using?
http://www.mysilvercrest.de/en/artikel.php?a=27&av=2
Or perhaps you can find it here:
http://www.mysilvercrest.de/en/kategorie.php?k=1

Let's start with this. It looks like this can be a hard problem to solve... :(

/malun
Jambba
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Apr 28, 2007 6:43 am

Post by Jambba »

Let's start with this. It looks like this can be a hard problem to solve...
First my PC is agent history, second I does use "newest" Empia (camera multimedia circuit) drivers - witch might be not so good idea.

Is it normal - that web-server and picture update does not take so much resources (CPU load nearly zero).. BUT when somebody is watching pages - SW "activates" and takes more resources (about 50%).

Today I did try motion detection - it seems that constant CPU load is about 75-90% - but output is updated (without preview).
BlueKnight84
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Jun 06, 2008 8:48 pm

Post by BlueKnight84 »

I had this problem with Dorgem.

That's why when I switched to Yawcam I was very much relieved that it would post "live" shots thru FTP.

My only issue is the resource hog it or Java has on my system.

Maybe try uninstalling the program and reinstalling it. Perhaps that's all I had to do for Dorgem to continue working for me. Doesn't matter much for me now. I like Yawcam much better.
stefan21
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Jul 04, 2008 11:39 am

Post by stefan21 »

Yawcam would be the perfect tool for me, but I also encounter the bug that the output image is not updated if the preview window is hidden.

This is really an annoying bug.
I do not want to show the preview window as the cpu-load would go up to 70%.

Is there already a solution to this output-not-updated-if-preview-window-is-hidden bug? ????

Thank you in advance!

greetings,
stefan
davem
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2008 5:59 pm

"Static" images NOT refreshed if "live(previe

Post by davem »

I am a new user of YAWCAM. Great job! Well thought out, and a great step forward for free software with advanced features. This works for the benefit of all in the true sense of the internet.

First off, I am running Win/XP, current on SP3, and all critical patches. Installed JAVA platform is version 6, update 5, build 1.6.0_05-b13. The webcam I have is a Logitech Pro 4000, also with current drivers. When I first noticed this problem, I installed the most current beta version of YAWCAM (Version 0.3.0>1 built: 2007-06-11). The image refresh problems persists with YAWCAM 2007-06-11.

I too have noticed that if only the static or snap-shot type images are enabled (FIle, FTP, HTTP and Stream (IF no one is using it) without the preview running, the image saved will NOT be updated, but the text overlay of date/time will update indicating that the process is running, but not getting a new camera image. However, if a user accesses the Stream option and causes in effect the webcam to "live stream"(LED on camera on solid), all other static images do then update – as long as there is a user accessing the Stream. This is also true if the motion detection option is enabled, as that also causes a live stream to be active(camera LED on solid) from the webcam, all static images are then updated. Once disabled (cam LED only on at snapshot time), the static images do not update, only the text overlay updates.

Finally, if I launch the Logitec "QuickCam" application and use that preview option while YAWCAM is also running, again causing a live stream from the camera (cam LED on solid), then the saved YAWCAM snap-shot images are also updated. This is an interesting bug. Apparently, there is a problem (perhaps timing or cam "warm up" time) in the refresh of the image available for saved snap-shots, when the webcam is not streaming. It is strange because when YAWCAM is only enabled for snap-shot type images, the webcam LED does in fact light at the selected snap-shot image refresh interval. I have some other ideas I am going to try look into more and will post the results.
davem
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2008 5:59 pm

More testing

Post by davem »

After my lengthy post above, I uninstalled the Beta version of YAWCAM, and reinstalled the current "production" version (Version 0.3.0 built: 2007-04-06). Now I am back to sometimes seeing the snap-shot images (File, FTP, HTTP) update fine, with or without a preview or streaming running (webcam light only on at snap-shot time). This is odd because sometimes it will work properly, and sometimes it will not. I also saw a significant CPU reduction in going back to the "production" YAWCAM version, over the beta version. I will do further testing, but I think these problems are not so much a problem with the YAWCAM code, but rather a problem with some of the "services" YAWCAM uses, either in the Win/JAVA engine itself, or in the webcam drivers. I am less inclined to believe the latter(drivers) as other posts are using other webcams, but there may be a common Windows webcam device interface. I just don't know enough about it all yet.
tellmewhy
Posts: 425
Joined: Tue Dec 11, 2007 11:19 am

Post by tellmewhy »

Thanks for the feedback
It's realy interesting
griffon4
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Nov 15, 2008 2:32 am

New user

Post by griffon4 »

I am a newbie..replacing Chillcam software (old skool). I primarily use FTP but might look at Streaming soon. My immediate problem is the same as being referenced here: if I Hide or otherwise ignore my preview window while I'm working in other apps the FTP no longer sends files. This is happening on two different machines and two different cams.

Using Vista 32bit on both. Happy to help bug test.
mikefletcher85
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Feb 20, 2009 2:24 am

Post by mikefletcher85 »

I too am also having this issue, but it is also affecting my Stream, it just shows the same still.

My Specs:
CPU - Intel P4 3.0GHz
OS - Vista 32Bit SP1
Yawcam Version - Version 0.3.0 built: 2007-04-06
Webcam - Xbox Live Vision (yes, the xbox 360 webcam http://www.xbox.com/en-US/hardware/x/xboxlivevision/)

Has this been solved yet?
mikefletcher85
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Feb 20, 2009 2:24 am

Post by mikefletcher85 »

I take it by the lack of response it has not been resolved, and appears that this is a dead project. I found WebcamXP to do just what I wanted with out issues.
skmmiranda
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Jan 09, 2010 9:26 am

Yawcams Motion Detection Stops after 11 images

Post by skmmiranda »

I have been experiencing the following buggy situation: yawcam stops after about 11 images are saved when using motion detection. I am using vista-64 on an hp w1907 desktop. I've also set yawcam to email images when motion is detected. Advice is appreciated. sincerely, skmmiranda@gmail.com
Post Reply