Once we have completed work on the next major version of the iCamSource application we will be adding iPad-optimizations to iCam.
What sort of fast application switching functionality are you interested in?
I think he means not having to wait for the camera to connect again if you leave the app. Like you can switch to do a SMS then back to iCam without having to reconnect.
Also is there an ETA you can give us for the new iCam Source?
Hi Dean, yes, for fast user switching it would be nice if the application could continue running in the background for at least a minute or two so that if I needed to take a phone call, etc, and reconnect it's still there on the particular camera I had previously selected.
I think you can set it up so that it does this in the background and then terminates the data feed automatically after a timer expires so that it does not sit forever in the background sucking down the users data connection if they are on 3GS, etc.
Thanks again for the attention to this. I've shown this app to many friends who are simply amazed with it and I'm sure if you guys can enhance it a bit for iPad, etc you can sell another million copies!
I know you guys are a small shop, but considering that your application is relatively premium priced I'm getting dismayed as the weeks tick by without a single update for iCam. By now I would have expected an app that is optimized for the resolution of the iPhone 4, the iPad as well as ios4 fast application switching.
I'm not sure but I'm immediately suspicious of your -url parameters... what kind of camera do you have? Does that parameter work with iCamSource if it is running standalone (not as a service)?
Also, you have your username and password entered twice, this should not be necessary and could cause a problem. Here's what the string for my panasonic IP camera looks like;
Use the helper tool on the SKJM webpage to make sure your URL is correct for your video feed, it looks like it could be the problem, or your duplicate username and password.
Would love to see this on the iPad. I would gladly kick some more money towards this app if it supported iPad navigation, supported audio for live camera feeds, PTZ controls, etc.
There is going to be more interest in surveillance apps for iPad because of the larger screen, so hopefully iCam is the best one out there!
Okay, I just downloaded the executable and renamed it to icamsource.exe and restarted my services, it works! Is there a command line option to name the feed that shows up in the iCam window? Right now it has "servername"'s iCamSource displayed as the feed name.
Okay, I have one additional question. I run iCamsource as a service. I see that the install package is a .EXE as opposed to the binary itself. If I install with the .exe will I have to set my services back up or run into other issues?
I got the client installed but have not updated the icamsource. Everything appears to be working, but I'm guessing I would need to update icamsource in order to be able to define a specific camera name, etc, to display in iCam?
I was also curious if the overhead is lower for the new version. I've noticed iCamsource consuming over 50MB of RAM in some cases and a decent amount of CPU. This doesn't seem like much but I run multiple instances of iCamsource on a low power home server and every bit counts!
I appreciate the work you guys are putting into this application. I would still say that it would be great if you could put PTZ controls for some of the more popular/mainstream security camera lines into icam as an in app purchase. I have presets on all of my cameras (Panasonics) and would love to be able to point them around while viewing with iCam.
Ronnie, it's still not very clear from what you are saying what is going on.
Are you saying that when she opens the lid of the laptop that ICAMSOURCE starts up and the video from ICAMSOURCE is what's displayed on the desktop and that is what she's closing?
There might be a way to run icamsource in the background on the Mac, but I don't use icamsource on my Mac, so I'm not sure.
I would also caution you that secretly video taping your baby sitter without her permission is probably a recipe for trouble.
Thanks for the reply. I think that the services are working normally, just some unexpected behaviors after running as a service and then trying to run the program manually.
I would add to the votes to get some capability to specify which camera feed is in which window on the iCam app. At least I know it's supposed to be random, I was worried there was some option I could not find which would let me set it to my own preference.
Not too long ago I wrote a tutorial in the forums about setting up iCamsource to run as a service. Today I got a 2nd Panasonic BB-HCM511A camera and created a 2nd service on my Windows Home Server for this new camera. After some initial confusion I seem to have gotten it to work but am noticing some "weirdness" that I hope I can get resolved.
1. When I run iCamsource manually now it will always come up with the 2nd service I created. I'm guessing that this is "normal" since that's the last instance of the program run but I'm wondering if I instead need to have two physical copies of the iCamsource software installed on the machine somehow since there appears to be no way to run it manually and reference the 1st instance of the program that I have running as a service.
2. Is there any way to mandate the layout control for when I am viewing the video feeds on my iPhone? It appears to be random right now, Service 1 feed will sometimes show up in window 1 and sometimes show up in window 2. I would like some way to control this so that a specific camera is always showing up where I want it. It does not appear that the iPhone application allows a user to rearrange the ordering of the cameras on-screen.
Any assistance welcome, I plan on adding a 3rd camera so hopefully nothing I can't iron out!
How do I find out what my server IP address is? Also my wireless router is connected to a computer downstairs, and my cam is connected to my computer upstairs, does this make any difference?
Go to the computer that is running the iCamSource software (assuming it's windows). Open up a console window (command prompt) and type ipconfig. This will give you the IP address. Be aware that this address can change when you reboot the PC or the router. You can set up a reservation on the router so that this PC always has the same IP which makes port forwarding easier.
Yeah, I can see how that would indicate that those options would be available on the command line. Even though it is in the iCamSource interface, it is a global setting, so if you enable the port range once in the interface, it will stay enabled whenever you run iCamSource (until you uncheck the checkbox).
Thank you for the clarification! The port forward did do the trick I can now view my feeds remotely.
If I can put one more idea in your ear it would be fantastic to be able to set this up to send motion alerts only during a specific schedule. I would love to use this to monitor a camera at my wife's business and only send me alerts if motion is detected during evening hours.
Thanks for the response. I think the source of confusion is that the article you linked indicates that after applying a registry patch that you need to go into the GUI and check a selection box for manual port forwarding in the application. Since I run the app as a service I will never see these options.
I will simply try to forward ports 12000-12100 as indicated and see if that resolves the issue.
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