Webcam .... Advice and Recommendations

Gina · **Posted:** Thu May 13, 2010 11:55 pm

hills wrote:

Yeah I left mine at 640 x 380 at 60% quality to take advantage of the wide screen, but also so it doesn't take too long to down load the previous 3 or 24 hours images as each image is about 20k For a single image though 1280 x 720 looks great!! :clap:

How large is the image file?

About 400K as I recall. ATM it's refreshing with a 2min period but I'll put that back to 5. When I get round to producing a history of images I'll use a scaled down image and probably greater compression. I've added an extra webcam page with 800 x 450 pixel image for those with lower res monitors. This resizing is done at the server end.

geoffw · **Posted:** Fri May 14, 2010 7:09 am

Just taken a look at your webcam and it is still the middle of the night in Somerset Gina!

Gina · **Posted:** Fri May 14, 2010 9:35 am

geoffw wrote:

Just taken a look at your webcam and it is still the middle of the night in Somerset Gina!

Just about to fix it. XP decided to reboot in the "wee small hours"

I'd forgotten it had that habit. I'm running Win XP because ATM Yawcam is the best webcam software I can find and only works in Windows ATM. I have plans to write webcam software in Python and combine the webcam with my other weather software eventually but I have too many other calls on my time ATM. Alternatively I may try adapting Yawcam, which is written in Java, to run under Linux in the interim.

Oh and we are in Devon, though only a couple of miles from the Somerset border :lol:

EDIT... Working again now but the image is suffering from rain droplets on the window.

hills · **Posted:** Fri May 14, 2010 11:14 am

AAAAAAAAAARGH!!

Gina · **Posted:** Fri May 14, 2010 12:02 pm

I've had bugs too :lol:

geoffw · **Posted:** Fri May 14, 2010 1:54 pm

Unidentified Flying Objects! ..... so soon after setting it up as well :lol:

Anyway, Gina, I'm really impressed with the replacement webcam. much more detail than your last. It is now down on my wishlist for the summer. I'm glad i started this thread!

Gina · **Posted:** Fri May 14, 2010 2:33 pm

geoffw wrote:

Anyway, Gina, I'm really impressed with the replacement webcam. much more detail than your last. It is now down on my wishlist for the summer. I'm glad i started this thread!

I'm very pleased with it. And I'm glad you started this thread too, or I probably wouldn't have got this new webcam

Gina · **Posted:** Fri May 14, 2010 5:56 pm

Just taken down that eyesore of several cables going across to an extended fence post - the previous camera didn't cover that far across.

hills · **Posted:** Sat May 15, 2010 7:35 am

I just put a link to yawcam in my startup directory to get around the automatic reboots that windows inflicts upon us, with the hide at startup option set so the kids don't shut it down again.

I'm glad you posted this thread too Geoff! I don't feel so silly spending so much on a webcam stuck to my roof, now others are doing it!

Gina · **Posted:** Sat May 15, 2010 8:32 am

hills wrote:

I just put a link to yawcam in my startup directory to get around the automatic reboots that windows inflicts upon us, with the hide at startup option set so the kids don't shut it down again.

Yes, I'll do that (though not the kids bit :lol:

). Also have to see if I can find a way to keep the HD resolution - it starts up in 640x360 ATM.

hills · **Posted:** Sat May 15, 2010 9:20 am

Yeah there's instructions how to fix that on the forum, but unfortunatley that's still down. I think it was:

setting - device(microsoft lifecam cinema) - change to device

A new window will open, select the format you want in the bottom drop down then save. From memory this will save the settings across restarts. This was a new feature in version 0.3.3.

Gina · **Posted:** Sat May 15, 2010 10:46 am

hills wrote:

Yeah there's instructions how to fix that on the forum, but unfortunatley that's still down. I think it was:

setting - device(microsoft lifecam cinema) - change to device

A new window will open, select the format you want in the bottom drop down then save. From memory this will save the settings across restarts. This was a new feature in version 0.3.3.

You can change resolution from Settings - Device - Format then Apply, OK but this doesn't seem to be kept across restarts.

hills · **Posted:** Sat May 15, 2010 11:05 am

No it won't save across restarts doing it there, that's correct.

What version are you running?

When you select "settings" - "device", is the top option "change to device"? If so change it there and it will save across restarts.

Gina · **Posted:** Sun May 16, 2010 12:49 pm

Thanks Phil, I'll try that

I'm using the latest version, Yawcam 0.3.3.

Gina · **Posted:** Sun May 16, 2010 1:57 pm

That worked

However, now I have another problem... Just installed SP3 and restarted - now Yawcam won't connect to the webcam

It detects it and you can choose it from a list but I then get an error message that it can't connect! Guess I'll have to uninstall SP3

but that'll have to wait - run out of time for now.

Later... Before I went out this afternoon I set the webcam running using the Linux webcam app whcih doesn't provide any device control so I was running 640x480 with auto-focus and I had to tilt the cam downwards so that it had ground to focus on. It was working like this for several hours while I was out and then doing other things.

However, I have now rebooted into Windows XP Pro with SP3 and after choosing the MS camera from the list, it's working! Amazing!!! Maybe it just needed restarting a few times to settle down properly after installing SP3.

	It is currently Wed May 22, 2013 11:25 am
Please click here before posting. Help me to help you!
Useful Links: Cumulus FAQ • Enhancement requests • Wiki (documentation)
Please put your approximate location into your profile
Add your web site to the Cumulus user map
Vantage Pro2 users with firmware 3.00 should upgrade to fw 3.12 and Cumulus 1.9.4
Latest Cumulus release v1.9.3 (build 1059) - Feb 09 2013 Latest Cumulus beta v1.9.4 build 1076 - May 12 2013 --> Latest Cumulus Realtime v1.0.0.5 - Sep 05 2009

Sandaysoft

Webcam .... Advice and Recommendations

Who is online