capture frequency and quality

[khachikyan]

Hello,

First of all thanks for the nice software!

Now questions.
1. Is there a way to increase frequency of image captures? It is 5 sec now, how can we decrease this timer?
2. Possible to have better quality of images? My camera supports more, so I want to have 1024x768 photos or even more.

Thanks.

[Jay]

That framerate sounds low.  Do you see that framerate when you're connected to Wi-Fi or 3G/4G?

Does the video appear slow in iCamSource on the computer as well?  The framerate in iCamSource is determined by the camera.

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.

If the framerate you're seeing is significantly lower than that, please let me know what framerate you are seeing and what connection type you're using.

It's possible that support for higher resolution images will be added in a future update to iCam.  Thanks for your suggestion.

[khachikyan]

Hello Jay,

Home network is created on Netgear WNDR4000 (b/g/n); there are two laptops and one desktop. Laptops are Toshiba L305 with dual core CPU and 4Gb RAM, running W7 - normal machines, and desktop is Fujitsu E5905 - P4 3Ghz, 4Gb RAM, XP; 6 years old PC but working perfectly. All 3 computers are using USB webcams. On all of them there is the same framerate - 1 frame per 4-5 seconds. No difference if I am connecting via local Wifi or 3G (using Motorola Droid Pro on HSPA 2100 and have >4Mbps speed usually). On computers the framerate is also the same, even if I am moving the slider to "better framerate".

Thanks.

[Stefan]

Is the live stream to iCam one frame every 4-5 seconds? Is it that slow in the thumbnail view as well as the zoomed-in view?

[khachikyan]

Stefan, for live stream it's one frame per 1-2 seconds. Photo frequency is fixed - a shoot per 5 seconds.

Just had a more careful look on the photo times - frequency vary from 5 to 15 seconds... 5 is the minimum.

[Jay]

Do you see this same low framerate in the iCamSource window on each of the 3 computers?

How many cameras are you running on each computer?

[khachikyan]

Hi Jay,
Yes it's the same on all computers, one camera per computer.

Yesterday I tried another software - I will not tell you which one in order not to advertise it - and it is making 1024x768 photos with perfect speed - 10-15 per second, and streaming was also smooth, 15fps @VGA without any stops. And CPU usage is less - 10-15%. If you can reach this values - will be perfect, because your software is much more better from mobility point of view...

[Jay]

The video shown in the iCamSource window (on your computer) should be smooth.  We have seen cases before where the framerate on the computer was slowed by third-party image encoding software that had hijacked the image processing.

Do you have any such third-party software installed?  The most common one we've seen is called ffdshow.

[khachikyan]

No, there isn't any such software.
As I said - another similar to iCam program gives me 15fps without any problem.

[khachikyan]

Just installed on another laptop with fresh, clean install of Win XP (core 2 duo 2.5Ghz, 2gb RAM).
Picture in the program window is a smooth, web stream is 1-2fps, photos are again photo per 5 or 10 second... Here is the list of files:


 Volume in drive C has no label.
 Volume Serial Number is ACC7-3BC3

 Directory of C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents\My Pictures\iCamSource Motion Events\724A13420F5196488D01155F20C910F8BCB9CE88\2012-12-06_18.25.50

06.12.2012  18:29    <DIR>          .
06.12.2012  18:29    <DIR>          ..
06.12.2012  18:25            26ÿ550 2012-12-06_18.25.50.406.jpg
06.12.2012  18:25            26ÿ550 2012-12-06_18.25.55.531.jpg
06.12.2012  18:26            28ÿ209 2012-12-06_18.26.00.593.jpg
06.12.2012  18:26            30ÿ223 2012-12-06_18.26.05.625.jpg
06.12.2012  18:26            30ÿ840 2012-12-06_18.26.10.781.jpg
06.12.2012  18:26            28ÿ938 2012-12-06_18.26.15.812.jpg
06.12.2012  18:26            31ÿ453 2012-12-06_18.26.20.921.jpg
06.12.2012  18:26            30ÿ826 2012-12-06_18.26.26.078.jpg
06.12.2012  18:26            31ÿ460 2012-12-06_18.26.36.328.jpg
06.12.2012  18:26            29ÿ486 2012-12-06_18.26.41.453.jpg
06.12.2012  18:26            31ÿ203 2012-12-06_18.26.46.562.jpg
06.12.2012  18:26            28ÿ531 2012-12-06_18.26.51.609.jpg
06.12.2012  18:26            31ÿ028 2012-12-06_18.26.56.687.jpg
06.12.2012  18:27            31ÿ027 2012-12-06_18.27.01.703.jpg
06.12.2012  18:27            31ÿ298 2012-12-06_18.27.06.828.jpg
06.12.2012  18:27            30ÿ779 2012-12-06_18.27.11.859.jpg
06.12.2012  18:27            31ÿ155 2012-12-06_18.27.17.000.jpg
06.12.2012  18:27            30ÿ056 2012-12-06_18.27.22.078.jpg
06.12.2012  18:27            31ÿ090 2012-12-06_18.27.42.187.jpg
06.12.2012  18:27            30ÿ987 2012-12-06_18.27.47.234.jpg
06.12.2012  18:27            29ÿ423 2012-12-06_18.27.52.328.jpg
06.12.2012  18:27            31ÿ300 2012-12-06_18.27.57.359.jpg
06.12.2012  18:28            30ÿ826 2012-12-06_18.28.02.375.jpg
06.12.2012  18:28            30ÿ952 2012-12-06_18.28.07.406.jpg
06.12.2012  18:28            29ÿ464 2012-12-06_18.28.17.484.jpg
06.12.2012  18:28            28ÿ478 2012-12-06_18.28.22.531.jpg
06.12.2012  18:28            25ÿ913 2012-12-06_18.28.27.625.jpg
06.12.2012  18:28            28ÿ112 2012-12-06_18.28.32.703.jpg
06.12.2012  18:28            27ÿ260 2012-12-06_18.28.37.796.jpg
06.12.2012  18:28            27ÿ307 2012-12-06_18.28.42.890.jpg
06.12.2012  18:28            27ÿ417 2012-12-06_18.28.47.984.jpg
06.12.2012  18:28            32ÿ353 2012-12-06_18.28.53.046.jpg
06.12.2012  18:29            31ÿ134 2012-12-06_18.29.08.281.jpg
06.12.2012  18:29            29ÿ288 2012-12-06_18.29.13.359.jpg
06.12.2012  18:29            31ÿ872 2012-12-06_18.29.18.468.jpg
06.12.2012  18:29            31ÿ499 2012-12-06_18.29.28.609.jpg
06.12.2012  18:29            31ÿ620 2012-12-06_18.29.33.718.jpg
06.12.2012  18:29            31ÿ273 2012-12-06_18.29.38.859.jpg
              38 File(s)      1ÿ137ÿ180 bytes

[Stefan]

Oh, you were referring to the rate at which Motion Event Images are saved. If you are seeing them once every 5 seconds, you should be able to increase that by sliding the "Perform Motion Detection" slider to "More Often" under the Motion Detection tab of the iCamSource.

[khachikyan]

Hi Stefan,

Thanks for suggestion... actually this does not coincide with "Event image min" parameter which I set to "9".

If the slider is on the "less often" position, my understanding now is that it should make detection every 5 seconds. After it - make 9 consecutive shots, right? But shots are also every 5 seconds, will be good to decrease this to 5 seconds. I.e. detection - 9 shots in 5 seconds - next detection - 9 shots etc... otherwise there is no sense to put "9" - in any case there will be 5 seconds delay after each shot.

I hope I explained clearly

[Stefan]

Actually, that is not what the Event Image Minimum is.

(From http://skjm.com/icam/help/motion_detection.php#minimum)

One of the most user-requested features was the ability to assign a minimum threshold for the number of images required for a stored Motion Event. Depending on what type of scene a camera is viewing, iCamSources can end up accumulating large numbers of 1- and 2-image Motion Events which are of little use and are ultimately deleted by the user.

The Event Image Minimum value represents the minimum required number of images that must be contained in a Motion Event for it to be retained during the periodic trimming process that occurs approximately every 5 minutes. The default value (1) will effectively disable this advanced setting.

[khachikyan]

Ok Stefan, clear now, many thanks...

So actually there is no way to have "less detection" - every 5 seconds together with 1fps images?

[Stefan]

The images are actually only saved when motion is detected. Each image is the result of motion being detected at that point in time.