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iCam Pro Support / Upload & Download Bandwidth Questions
« on: June 03, 2015, 06:18:28 PM »I have read many "bandwidth" threads in these forums. I still have a few questions.
I'm putting this in the iCam Pro forum because I will upgrade as soon as it becomes available for Android, and because HD video questions are included.
I realize this looks like a lot of questions, but I've tried to be concise, and the answers will be extremely helpful in making decisions about Internet speed and possible HD webcams.
UPLOAD BANDWIDTH
I have read many bandwidth threads and understand that only a small amount of data is sent when the video is not being viewed on iCam (or Pro). I also understand that when viewing a camera feed, obviously more data is sent. I'd like to try to quantify that to help with Internet speed choices.
I have read elsewhere about video call bandwidth requirements. The information I found amounts to about this:
-- VGA resolution requires roughly 0.2-0.5 Mbps upload per camera.
-- HD resolution requires roughly 1.5 Mbps upload per camera.
Here are my questions:
1) When I use iCam (or Pro) to view the "camera summary" screen (for example, four quadrants for four cameras), is iCamSource (or Pro) combining the feeds locally and sending just the equivalent of one camera feed's bandwidth? Or does it upload the equivalent of four camera feeds?
2) When I choose a camera to view, are the upload estimates above (0.2-0.5 Mbps VGA, 1.5 Mbps HD) accurate?
3) Would iCam (or Pro) ever upload more than the equivalent of one camera feed's bandwidth (other than adding a little overhead)?
4) I recently upgraded my cable Internet connection from 1 Mbps upload to 5 Mbps upload. Some of that is used by cloud backups, but that shouldn't be much of an issue when I'm not here. So something like 4+ Mbps upload should be available--could iCam Pro ever use that much?
DOWNLOAD BANDWIDTH
I saw this in admin replies to various bandwidth questions:
Quote
On local Wi-Fi, you should see a few frames per second.
On a remote Wi-Fi hot spot, you should see about a frame per second.
On 3G, Apple requires us to keep the framerate less than 1 frame every 2 seconds (0.5 fps). This has been the limit since iCam was first released.
On EDGE, you'll probably see about one frame every 5 seconds or so, or as low as 1 frame every 10 seconds if you have a poor EDGE signal.
A) What remote mobile data (non-wifi) performance (frames per second) would you expect on 4G or 4G LTE, for VGA (640x480) and for HD (1280x720 or 1920x1080) resolutions?
B) I assume the statement quoted above for remote wifi (about 1 fps) is for VGA resolution. What remote wifi performance (frames per second) would you expect for HD (1280x720 or 1920x1080) resolutions?
The answers to these questions will be most helpful for users looking to upgrade to HD webcams.
Thank you in advance.
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My current configuration
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iCamSource 2.7.2 (it looks like that's the latest version for WinXP)
Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 3
Intel Core2 Duo E4600 @ 2.40GHz, 2GB RAM
(I have Win7 and Win8 systems available, but the XP machine is by far the most stable)
Various VGA (640x480) webcams
(Plan to upgrade to HD webcams when iCam Pro for Android is available)
iCam version 1.6.3
Android 4.4.3
HTC One M7, 12GB of 32GB used (typical of multiple smartphones used)
Carrier is T-Mobile, phone is not rooted or unlocked
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