Problems with multiple cameras with 2.1 on a Mac

[Zarkov]

Stefan, et al-

I have two cameras I monitor - the iSight on my iMac and a WiFi Linksys.  I have two instances of iCam Source in my apps folder so I can keep both open simultaneously.  As noted in the Forums, this is the way to monitor two cameras on a Mac.  Each instance of the program retains the correct settings for the appropriate camera.  This worked fine until the 2.1 update.

After the move to iCam Source 2.1, both instances of the iCam Source bring up the camera which was viewed last.  All other functionality - port forwarding, WIFi, 3G, and Edge access, push, recording, etc work fine.

Any ideas?

[GaryW]

I'm having a similar problem with Windows and a WiFi camera.

I can see the camera live using the Windows interface,  but iCamSource is seeing an old jpg picture.  I've changed the local IP address of the WiFi camera to try to give iCamSource a 'kick', but I still can't get a live picture.

My 2 USB cams are working fine over WiFi and 3G

[Stefan]

Zarkov - With version 2.1 of the iCamSource you no longer have to run multiple copies of the iCamSource application to connect to multiple cameras. You should be able to add both of your cameras to one instance / copy.

GaryW - Are you using the JPEG or MJPEG setting with your WiFi camera's URL?

[GaryW]

jpg - as recommended by your help, it's a Hawking HNC290G

I tried mjpeg too, but the picture doesn't change.

Edit:  I wouldn't loose too much sleep over my HNC290G issues - the camera is flaky and I've had loads of problems with it in the past.  It isn't supported by Hawking any more either!  I seems to have a mind of its own!

[Zarkov]

Well, duh, that was easy!  Thanks, Stefan.  Did I miss the release notes?

[Stefan]

GaryW - It does sound like JPEG is the correct setting, yes. With the JPEG setting the iCamSource has to repeatedly connect to the camera for each image, so it may be that the camera gets into a state where it is unable to properly respond to the image requests from the iCamSource for some reason. If you repeatedly refresh your JPEG URL in your web browser does it ever give you an error message of some kind?

Zarkov - The release notes for iCamSource 2.1 (as part of the Sparkle updater were):

iCamSource 2.1

This release includes the following changes:

    * The ability to connect to multiple (up to 16) webcams or IP cameras from a single instance of the iCamSource. (No more making copies of the application if you have more than one camera.)
    * The ability to adjust the compression of the video stream to favor better-quality video or a higher frame-rate.
    * The ability to reduce the frequency that the motion detection processing is performed or even completely disable it to reduce the overall CPU usage on older hardware.
    * The ability to schedule when the recording of motion events and the sending of push notifications are enabled.
    * Router auto-configuration that allows most UPnP or NAT-PMP enabled routers to automatically forward the necessary ports when needed.
    * Support for the higher-resolution images used by iCam 2.0 on the iPad.

[GaryW]

Stefan, I've run a 60-second refresh webpage with the HNC290G jpg image, and it works fine until it stops working!  Sometimes it would run for days and sometimes only for minutes.  I've given up on the cam for the time being as I can get what I need from the 2 USB cams.  I wouldn't worry about this unless you get other reports that are similar.  Almost certainly this is a problem with the Hawking cam and not iCamSource.

[Stefan]

GaryW - Sounds good. Thanks for the feedback.