icamsource crashing on mac after adding ipcam sources

[kylecordes]

icamsource will run for minutes or hours but then crashes (and icon disappears).  This problem has gotten worse since I added ipcam to an iPhone and iPad.  Both are usually off but I will view other cameras.  But then icamsource eventually crashes.  Any advice?  All software is latest version including mac lion.

[OUAnthony]

Did you have only one camera installed before adding the IP camera sources? If so, it could be a port forwarding issue. Do you have auto config router enabled in icamsource? And do you also have uPNP enabled on your router? If so, do you a get a uPNP success message? If not, you might try setting up manual port forwarding.

I think the Mac saves crash logs, as well. So if it's not a port forwarding issue, you should send the crash logs to the SKJM guys.

[kylecordes]

i use two other Trendnet wireless ip cameras. i do not use auto config as my router does not allow.  i do have manual port forwarding set up and working ok. it all works.  it just won't stay working. icamsource will shut itself down. i can still see the cameras using a web browser.

[OUAnthony]

Did you increase the number of ports available in icamsource for the new cameras? I think each camera needs 6 or 7 udp ports available. So 4 cameras = at least 28 ports to be safe. And of course you'd have to adjust your router's firewall rule accordingly, as well. Just making sure you remembered both. If everything is good as far as that goes, send the crash logs to the SKJM guys. The following link should help you find the crash logs.

http://skjm.com/forum/index.php?topic=3948.msg13165#msg13165

[Stefan]

If the iCamSource is crashing periodically and you have a number of IP cameras connected to it then it is likely a frame rate / high CPU issue. What frame rate do you have your two TrendNET cameras configured to? I would suggest configuring those cameras to output 2-5 fps to see if the stability of the iCamSource improves.

[kylecordes]

I have 101 ports open in icamsource and forwarding same in router.  My Trendnet cameras are set at 2 fps.  I have decreased Trendnet video quality from "highest" to "normal" to see if that helps.

[kylecordes]

the latest crash log that I have is from May 21.  Perhaps I'm experiencing some other shutdown of icamsource??? Not a "crash"?  I'm having to restart the app a couple times a day at least.

[Stefan]

the latest crash log that I have is from May 21.  Perhaps I'm experiencing some other shutdown of icamsource??? Not a "crash"?  I'm having to restart the app a couple times a day at least.

If the application is shutting down unexpectedly then that should (in theory) create a crash log I would think. When you click the Start button on the iCamSource what is the % CPU usage in the Applications > Utilities > Activity Monitor for the iCamSource process?

[kylecordes]

on the Activity Monitor, when I re-start icamsource, it shows as the icamsource process using 6-7% CPU, 15 threads, 13MB of real memory.

[Stefan]

That CPU usage is definitely within the acceptable range.

If there are no crash logs being generated then it is odd if it is closing unexpectedly. Does anyone else have access to the computer and may be closing the program?

You could look in the Library / Preferences folder in your home folder and delete the com.skjm.icamsource.plist file to reset the iCamSource settings and re-entering your camera info in case your preferences have gotten into a bad state.

If you are using Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) then your Library folder may be hidden. Here are some ways to find it: http://osxdaily.com/2011/07/22/access-user-library-folder-in-os-x-lion/

[kylecordes]

Nobody else has access to close icamsource.  I deleted the plist file and re-entered camera info.  The program worked fine for 24 hours with just my two Trendnet ipcams.  When I re-added my iPhone and iPad that have the ipcam app, then icamsource closed after a few hours.  Note that the iPhone and iPad were not actually running ipcam at the time.  I am now doing an experiment where I have turned on ipcam on both devices and restarted icamsource to see if it perhaps doesn't close itself when ipcam is running on the devices.  Otherwise, I will just delete the ipcam devices and stay with the two Trendnet cameras as it is too much of a pain to keep restarting icamsource multiple times per day.  I would like to use ipcam on my other devices on an adhoc basis, but perhaps I will be able to someday if/when this is sorted out.

[OUAnthony]

I've encountered issues (in the past) where icamsource would crash if it was trying to reach a source but couldn't find it (like when it's looking for your ipCam sources, but they are turned off/not running ipCam). I bet it'll work perfectly with ipCam enabled on both of the source devices.

[kylecordes]

...and therein lies the problem.  I want to be able to use the ipcam devices occaisionally, but when not in use, icam will shut down.  The only current solution is to delete them from icamsource and then re-add them when I want to use them, but that is burdensome for my purposes.  Anyway, thanks for your comments.

[OUAnthony]

Did you test it to see if i was correct? If that is the issue, maybe they can tweak the program code in the future to allow connection failures and/or code a built-in feature that will automatically enable/disable IPcam.

[kylecordes]

I did test your theory to some degree, but not long enough to know for sure.  I had both my ipad and iphone running ipcam, and icamsource kept running for that time, but after a couple hours, my iphone shut down due to low battery as I didn't have it plugged in.  Just for fun, I might re-add my ipad to icamsource and leave it on ipcam and plugged in to see if icamsource stays up for a longer period of time.  In the mean time, I deleted both device sources from icamsource and it has been running fine with just the two Trendnet cameras.