iCamSource - Stops working every day, now after a few minutes.

[trujillo]

I have 4 IP camera connected to iCamSource 2.2.1 on Windows 7 64bit.    I have used iCamSource for about a year, and now its unusable.  Can you please help.

For the last 3 months, I have stop or kill the iCamSource every morning before I leave for work.   I upgraded to 2.2.1 probably a month ago.  Reasons for restart:

1. One 1 of 4 camera is connected to iCamSource.  Sometimes I can stop iCamSource by opening the existing program. Most of the time I have kill the process using the Windows taskmgr.

2. One 1 of 4 camera is connected to iCamSource and does respond in any fashion.  I have to kill process with Windows taskmgr.  Normally the memory in use 900 MB +.

3. Now the last week, iCamSource will stop working after a few minutes, following a restart.  So I basically its unusable.   I have to kill the process using Windows taskmgr.

There are no logs in the iCamSource product installation directory.   I have used the registry cleaner twice, resulting in no performance improvement.



 

[Jay]

Do you  see this same behavior if you only run one of the cameras in iCamSource (delete all of the entries in the Cameras list except for one)?

[trujillo]

Last night, I restarted iCamSource with my normal  4 IP cameras.  This morning, only one was viewable from my iPhone 4g phone (iCam).   iCamSource would not respond to me using the Preferences menu option (so that I could remove 3 out of the 4 cameras for our test).   So I again has to use the Windows taskmgr to stop iCamSource.exe.  It was using about 1,700,000 K of memory. 

So this morning, I remove all but one of my IP cameras, and started iCamSource (8 am CST).   So far I can still view the camera image is viewable from my iPhone.  I am at work, so I don't know the status the iCamSource running.

[Jay]

When you have a chance, please check to see if iCamSource is using a lot of memory with only one camera running.

If iCamSource behaves normally with one camera, that might mean that your computer is struggling with the processing for 4 cameras. What are the specs for your computer (CPU speed, RAM, etc.)?

[trujillo]

I get back, home I will check send the specs.  When the older iCamSource ran with multiple .exes (one per camera),  I hardly had to restart the four cameras.   I know for sure, the Windows 7 machine has 6GB or RAM.

•  Processor: Intel Core i3 530 / 2.93 GHz
•  Quad-Core
•  Memory: 6 GB
•  Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Basic 64-bit Edition

[trujillo]

So is there a suggested setup for running 4 IP cameras?  Meaning, should change the image resolution or motion detection sensitivity?  Did you see my machine specs?

It seems like version 1.5 did not not quite have this issue, or at least as often.

[Jay]

There are a few settings on the cameras that could effect iCamSource performance.

As you mentioned, the image resolution can have an effect on the CPU/memory usage.  If your cameras has a resolution setting, try setting it to something small, like 640x480.  You can try raising it later if iCamSource is performing well with the low resolution.

The camera framerate can also have a large effect on the processor usage.  If your camera has a framerate setting, try setting it to a low value, like 5-10 frames per second.  If it's working well with the lower framerate, you can try setting it higher if you want.

[trujillo]

iCamSource stopped working again.

I ran iCamSource with one IP camera attached.  It ran for 24 hours without any issues.   

Yesterday morning, I added another IP camera to my iCamSource.   There wasn't any issue for the first half day.  Then this morning, I woke up to find the iCamSource was not running at all on my PC.   This has occurred in the past when I was running 3 or 4 IP cameras.

So why does iCamSource continue to not respond or shutdown with more than one IP camera?   Again, version 2.x of iCamSource seems to be much more prone to shutting down are not responding.  Can you please provide some assistance.

[Jay]

Did you try changing the resolution and framerate?  With IP cameras, the computer's specs aren't the only limitation, the available bandwidth (on the local network and on the internet) can also be a limiter.

Also, are the cameras currently configured to use MJPEG mode in iCamSource?  If so, try switching them to JPEG mode.  You can use the same MJPEG URL, just select the JPEG checkbox instead of the MJPEG checkbox.

[trujillo]

One of the cameras was already using 10 fps.  I lowered the other one too.   I just swtiched from MJPEG to JPEG in the iCamSource setup.   Will this change reduce image or motion detection quality?

Why would these setting cause iCamSource to shutdown?   

[Jay]

I'm not sure what's causing iCamSource to behave this way.  Programs can behave strangely when certain limitations are reached, such as CPU usage, memory usage, or bandwidth usage.  That's why I'm asking about the resolution and framerate settings. 

Changing the MJPEG/JPEG setting causes the program to use different logic when connecting to the cameras.  If the problems you're seeing are occurring in MJPEG code, then they might not occur if it's in JPEG mode.  Changing that setting shouldn't effect image or motion detection quality. 

[trujillo]

Ok this morning at 7:30 am, I change iCamSource to use JPEG.  After the change, iCamSource would not connnect/display the camera images.   So I tried changing back to MJPEG (my original setting), but iCamSource would not respond to my two cameras.  No video.   Stopped and started iCamSource multiple times and reboot my machine, but still no video with my original MJPEG settings.  What is going on here?   

So then I added a third IP camera as MJPEG.  ICamSource was able to view the video.  I changed it to JPEG and it still worked.  The other two still inoperable.   Next I left for work.  I was only able to view the 3rd camera from iCam. 

9:30 am - I can still view my third camera, but nothing else.

10am - iCam reports No Sources Found.   So I assume iCamSource crashed again.   Obviously something is going on with iCamSource.  Can you please help?  Do you have "debug" version or setting for iCamSource to troubleshoot my issues?

[Jay]

If necessary, a logging version of iCamSource can be created, but we don't have enough information at this point to create a logging version. 

What happens if you put the same MJPEG URL (one of the URLs that isn't working) into your web browser?  If it doesn't show an image or video, that indicates that your camera has either locked up or has changed IP addresses.  In that case, you can try rebooting the camera (unplug power cable for ~10 seconds).  If it starts working again, then the camera was locked up.  If it doesn't then the camera may have been assigned a new IP address by the router.

Please email the external IP address of the computer running iCamSource to support@skjm.com. To get the external IP address, go to http://whatismyip.com in your computer's web browser.  Please refer to this forum thread in your email.

[trujillo]

You are completely missing the point.   I only changed the iCamSource to use JPEG instead of MJPEG.  They both camera's stop working though ICAMSOURCE.  I can view the video though other applications and in a browser.   I have remove and added the camera's serveral times, and they still are not viewable through ICAMSOURCE.  Also, it shutdown in the last 8 hours.

So making that one change, caused ICAMSOURCE to stop working. 

As to what constitutes a logging version, your software keeps shutting down.  I don't know anything else worse for a software product.   

[Jay]

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that the problem wasn't important enough for a logging version.  I meant that we don't know enough about the problem to know what we're looking for, that's why I need to collect more information.

Have you run the registry cleaner since switching between JPEG and MJPEG mode caused problems?  If not, please run the registry cleaner to see if MJPEG mode starts working again.

I'd like to check the server logs to see if there's any information in there that could help track down the cause of the issue.  To do that, I'll need you to email the computer's external IP address to support@skjm.com.  To get the external IP address, go to http://whatismyip.com in your computer's web browser.