[fixed] IP Camera causes VidBlaster Trial version to Freeze in XP SP3

[josiahbryan]

Hey Mike, et al -

I've tried several times to get the trial version of VidBlaster to accept IP Camera streams - both the sample IP Camera URL in the help file (webkamera.kristinehamn.se...) and several local MJPEG streams that I have on my LAN for security cameras. NONE of the streams "work" in VidBlaster - each time the result is the same:

1. Load VidBlaster (default profile)
2. Right click on a camera, choose IP Camera URL
3. Paste in URL (after testing it in Firefox to make sure it works)
4. Click OK
5. Select the "IP Camera" from the source list drop down

As soon as I click the IP Camera item from the source list drop down, the cursor goes to an hour glass and the VidBlaster window is unresponsive until I kill it with the Windows Task Manager.

This is a very repeatable problem for me - no IP Camera stream will work, even though all the streams I've tried *DO* work in both Firefox and VLC. (And yes, I've rebooted several times since this problem started - still persists.)

The goal here is that I've got cameras connected to several remote PCs doing the capture work, and I'd like to use those streams in VidBlaster some how, some way. Right now, the IP Camera method seems the only way unless there are other suggestions.

Thanks for your help!
-josiah

[Mike]

Can you try this url

http://webkamera.kristinehamn.se/axis-cgi/mjpg/video.cgi?resolution=320x240

and let me know if the hang persists? If so, please tell me what PC you use.

[Dave Owen]

Same symptoms here with the URL above.

Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 32-bit
Intel Core2 Quad CPU Q9550 @ 2.83GHz 2.83GHz
RAM: 4GB
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT

[Mike]

Default profile (i.e. video resolution 320*240)?

[josiahbryan]

With 320x240 output, the IP camera URL that you gave (the 320x240 res axis) loads fine - no hangups. However, as soon as I switch to a higher res (640x480 is the highest 4x3 res that I can find in the list), vidblaster hangs using the 320x240 axis URL. (It also hangs on the 640x480 axis url...)

[Mike]

Thanks, that confirms what I'm seeing. Working on it.

[josiahbryan]

If I may be so bold as to ask, I could work around this bug if there was some sort of remote screen capture streaming available - I saw some old posts on the forum about that possibility - did anything get developed for that remote screen capturing idea?

[Mike]

Still working on that. By design, WM streaming has a latency of several seconds. For remote screen capture I find that unacceptable, so I need to develop something more real time. When there are developments, I'll post them in the dedicated thread. Feel free to post any further questions in that thread.

[josiahbryan]

No worries - sorry for the hijack - it was more related the the original goal than the problem itself. Thanks! (Re: Latency - I've been trying every solution I can think of to get the video stream from one computer to another - VLC, Java Media Framework, DirectShow C++ custom software (I am a newbie at DS), DS GraphEdit tetst graphs - nothing has worked reliably or without latency to get the stream from the capture computer to the VidBlaster computer. Why capture on one computer and vidblaster on another? I want to share the camera with two vidblaster computers driving two different screens.) Thanks for your time.

[josiahbryan]

Just a side note, For my purposes, unacceptable latency is > 300ms since the cameras will be capturing a live event - e.g. I'm projecting the cameras onto the stage at church behind the preacher - so > 300ms latency will be too perceptible by the audience. 200ms is just barely able to be tolerated. This will be over a dedicated gigabit network - no other traffic other than camera streams.

[Mike]

Suggest you open a topic in General Discussion for your problem.

[josiahbryan]

Opened new thread about remote capture in General Discussion, URL: http://vidblaster.com/forum/index.php?topic=349.0

[Dave Owen]

Default profile (i.e. video resolution 320*240)?

Same as this for me...


With 320x240 output, the IP camera URL that you gave (the 320x240 res axis) loads fine - no hangups. However, as soon as I switch to a higher res (640x480 is the highest 4x3 res that I can find in the list), vidblaster hangs using the 320x240 axis URL. (It also hangs on the 640x480 axis url...)

[josiahbryan]

Hey Mike - Any ETA on when this might get fixed? I've got an remote screen capture program working that creates an MJPEG feed, which could be pulled into VidBlaster as an IP Camera - if this worked! :-)

[Johan Lundberg]

I am experiencing the same problem.
I've got it working a few times when using the same resolution from the IP-camera as I use in the vidblaster project. If I then restart Vidblaster, it just hangs though and the only way I've managed to get Vidblaster working again is by reinstalling it completely.

Hope you are close to a fix on this!

Regards,
Johan

[Mike]

Fixed in v1.01.

[josiahbryan]

Is v1.01 available for download now as the current release?

[Johan Lundberg]

I would also like to get my hands on the 1.01 release.

[josiahbryan]

IP camera seems to work great in the v1.01 release - still chews up a large % of CPU resources (with a single IP cam module and single program, I'm running at roughly 35 - 45% CPU usage. oofta.) But no more freezing - yay!