Image Quality Declined

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ddaniel
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Apr 20, 2012 5:17 pm

Image Quality Declined

Post by ddaniel »

I've had an existing install of Yawcam, running on Vista since 2009 with great success. The cams pull video feeds from my parrot nest boxes. You can see current images and links to the feeds at http://www.beakersaviary.com/index.php?title=Nest_Cam

I noted last year sometime that the video quality went from good to horrible. The Yawcam version has not changed. I installed a new version with no change. A good indicator of the quality is the text overlay on the feed. I even went so far as to put a very high quality video camera on the inputs with no improvement.


Check the following images:

This is from late 2010, from one of my aviary cams. Don't pay attention to the focus, rather, look at the text and the overall size and quality of the image.

Image

The next image is a recent one. Note the smaller image, the very poor text, and overall poor quality.

Image

Data:
Yawcam Version 3.0 and current
Video feed via Kworld DVD Maker USB
Driver Provider - eMPIA Technology
Driver Date - 4/3/2008
Driver Version - 5.8.403.0

None of the above items were changed during the observed image decline. The most notable difference in change was image size. Changing the size in Yawcam increases the image size, but the image quality is very bad and pixellated.

I have even setup a second computer with the current Yawcam, using the same USB interface, running on Windows 7 and experience the same issue, with both the original cam and the high-res cam. Yet I know at one time the images on the original webcam system were much, much better than they are now.

Any thoughts?


Dave
memoric
Posts: 184
Joined: Wed Feb 23, 2011 1:37 pm

Post by memoric »

Well, when you are at your stream's page enter this

Code: Select all

javascript:setQ(100);cTO();
in the address bar & hit Enter. Then, if that is what your stream used to
look like, I'll tell you how to fix it permanently.
ddaniel
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Apr 20, 2012 5:17 pm

Post by ddaniel »

Thanks for the prompt reply.

I'm presuming this sets the image quality to 100. I've manipulated the image quality settings with no affect.

Are you wanting that code put in the address bar where the URL would go? In Firefox, it does nothing. In IE, it sends me to Bing. You can hit the stream page here: http://www.beakersaviary.com:8082/ to check yourself, if desired.

I can drop code in the actual html file if desired.

Thanks for your guidance.
memoric
Posts: 184
Joined: Wed Feb 23, 2011 1:37 pm

Post by memoric »

Yes, that sets the quality to 100% which, for some unknown reason, is missing
from yawcam's menu. I have already tried it at your stream & the image has
been significantly improved & the text overlay has been cleared. I just wanted
you to check it too before we try to fix it. But since you didn't manage to do it,
let's move on to the fixing part.
So, you should go to yawcam's settings folder which, if you haven't changed the
location, should be something like

Code: Select all

C:\Documents and Settings\USER\.yawcam
(instead of USER enter the name of your windows user).
Inside it there is a folder named stream & inside it there is a file named
template_js.html. Open that file with notepad & search for var quality. Then
change the value that it has (I guess it's 30) to 100, press Ctrl+S to save
the document, close notepad, restart your stream if it's running & you should
see the difference. ;)
ddaniel
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Apr 20, 2012 5:17 pm

Post by ddaniel »

Thanks for the help. I'm running mulitple instances, so I had to find the right file location for each feed. But I got the changes made. A measurable improvement.

Thanks
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