Preserved Topic: Webcam blues

Ok, I know this has come up before but I can't seem to figure it out. Sometimes webcam32 uploads my webcam images just fine to my site. But then sometimes it uploads an incomplete image. I've tried setting it to upload to a temp file and then rename it to the real image and nothing seems to fix this? Ideas? What am I doing wrong?

Examples:

This could be sound stupid (I dunno much about this) but that happens when an image is not good downloaded, is it possible that the upload time could be longer than the time between each upload? so there's no time for the complete upload...

Dunno, just had that idea...

BTW, How do you refresh your image in your site? I have tried that, but no working!!!!!!
Have your Cam URL?

Thanks, Wakkos, but I'm pretty sure the upload has plenty of time. By the way my cam is here http://bugimus.com/bugcam

I put these meta tags on the page to keep the content fresh:

<META HTTP-EQUIV = "Pragma" CONTENT="no-cache">
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Refresh" CONTENT="15">

BUG! run now to the Babybug's Room! There's a monster with her! Is making her jump all around the bedroom!!
Go Go!!


(Poor Babybug)

Pana, did I mention that my baby is the newest PowerPuff girl?

Ohhh!!!
Now I see! She's protecting you (And singing some good-night song to you)



[This message has been edited by Wakkos (edited 10-21-2001).]

Of course, I'm a proud father so just in case you haven't seen her latest pictures go here:
http://bugimus.com/buglog/
http://bugimus.com/bios/kianna2.html

Last time when you had this problem Bugimus, you said it has been fixed after you changed your network card. Anyway, since the problem now appeared again, maybe the reason is located somewhere else. Maybe there are some problems with you web cam? Maybe there are some problems with connection from your web cam to computer (cables can create all sorts of troubles - i.e. half or completely broken wires, broken shield, etc.)? Also, maybe there are some problems with web cam driver?

The explanations of the different settings in webcam32 are kind of hard to find, if you mouseover the checkboxes for a few seconds, it'll tell you what you need to know (hopefully). For the problem described above, you'll need to adjust the Advanced FTP settings, here's my dialogue box for that area...

Tell it to use a temp file, and it will upload the image, and then do a rename to replace the live file with the temp, then delete the temp. Still, it's possible to get a broken image sometimes, if a viewer tries to read the image at that exact moment, but...

Your pal, -doc-

Thanks guys, I'll try those settings, Doc. The last time I was sure that the network card and cable were the culprits but it started happening again. Here's a wierd aspect, I tried doing a local save all night one night and collected about 20Mb of shots. Some of them when viewed from the web were incomplete but *all* the local saves were perfect. This tells me it is not a problem with the cam to the PC itself. Wierd problem.

I also had a problem with my cable modem connection, it had blazingly fast *downloads*, but I was getting modem speeds on my uploads. Some of my uploads took so long (I'm doing 8 every 30 seconds!) that they weren't complete by the time the next one was due, so it just abandoned one and moved to the next, leaving a bunch of half-way images, could this be the problem?

Your pal, -doc-

I don't think it's a problem with webcam32... I think it's a webcam problem. Sometimes with my webcam, it doesn't capture a complete image... maybe it's the webcam itself... maybe it's the webcam software for getting the image... but it's fairly regular... webcam32 just uploads what it grabs from the camera, so I think it's the camera that's to blame.

I may be wrong.

Hmm, which cameras are you guys using now? I've got a bunch (of course), but my current favorite is this Philips "To U Pro" cam, the quality just *rocks*, even in low light! I can't recommend this camera more highly, I wish it was all I had around here, honestly.

Your pal, -doc-

Hmm I wonder if it fully captures the photo before attemting the ftp.
Do you save the pics locally as well as straight to the server?

Are the local pics okay?



:[ Computers let you make more mistakes faster than any other invention in human history, with the possible exceptions of handguns and tequila. ]:

Yeah, me suspects the FTP is kicking in while the file is still being written to the drive. The TEMP feature should help.

In my experience, that type of picture is a sure sign of grabbing it before it's done written to the drive.

Cable modem upload speed is really good so I don't think that's it.

Local captures to the hard drive are *not* corrupted. This means the cam is fine.

But FTPing before it's completely written to the hard drive sounds like a real possibility. I'm using the temp feature and still getting the problem... maybe there's a delay feature somewhere?

Thanks for the help! I'll keep troubleshooting.