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Image Resizing Down [Resolved]
By: AllenWa
Rank: New Member
Topics: 13
From: n/a
Added: 08/18/2010 - 02:11 PM

I'm new to AbelCam, and so far it does everything I could want, and then some. I'm running into one problem I hope I can get resolved and then I can pick up the pro version.

I have a USB Webcam, (Microsoft LifeCam VX-1000), which supports up to 640x480. I have this selected for both Input and Output on the Camera configuration screen. Using TyCapture for the Capture Interface. The "Preview" seems to be the full 640x480 however the Motion detection video recording gives me this error in the log:
08:05:16 Video Save Microsoft LifeCam VX-1000-1 warning image resizing from 320x240 to 640x480

The Video comes out as 320x240, and so does the still images from the motion detection.

I've tried re-adding and reconfiguring the camera, selecting a different resolution and then re selecting the 640x480, but it still does not use the higher resolution.

I'm thinking about getting a higher quality webcam to use with AbelCam, and it goes up to 720p. Does Abelcam support 640x480 (and higher) with the Recording of videos for Motion Detection?

By: sse
Rank: Forum Addict
Topics: 73
From: n/a
Added: 08/18/2010 - 10:20 PM

The size on video recording depends on the codec used.
You need to play around with the codecs available on your system to find out which one(s) allow the resolution you want.

AbelCam does not limit the size for video recording, so - Yes, Abelcam does support 640x480 (and higher) with the Recording of videos for Motion Detection
By: AllenWa
Rank: New Member
Topics: 13
From: n/a
Added: 08/18/2010 - 11:04 PM

Hi SSE,

Thanks for the reply. I'm using TyCapture and pairing that with WMV Version 8, Profile: Windows Media Video 8 for Broadband (NTSC, 1400 Kbps). There doesn't seem to be any setting on resolution, (I've already tried a few different WMV8 Profiles, with only change in quality not resolution). I tried WMV9 and the video, including overlay was blurry beyond usefulness.

I'm sure WMV8 (and 9) Support up to HD resolutions, any way I can get additional information on which codecs within AbelCam will use the original 640x480 resolution?

Few Screenshots:




By: sse
Rank: Forum Addict
Topics: 73
From: n/a
Added: 08/19/2010 - 12:38 AM

Have you tried saving with AVI codecs?

See also this old thread
By: MelvinG
Rank: Magna Cum Laude
Topics: 661
From: Los Angeles, USA
Added: 08/19/2010 - 02:02 AM

I don't have a LifeCam so I tested using your settings with a Logitech Pro-9000 instead. Similar but admittedly not the same.

I can't see what your capturing framerate is from any of your screenshots. But your replay rate is set to 25fps so I assumed your capture is also 25fps. Is that correct?

Everything worked as expected for me - 640x480 video was recorded at 25fps and the quality was quite good - definitely not blurry/useless.

So...

- Are you sure LifeCam supports the resolution/framerate combination you are asking it to deliver? I ask because with Logitech cams there are a bunch of poorly documented rules restricting what framerates the camera allows at which resolutions. The rules are imposed by the hardware and/or drivers, not AbelCam.

- 25fps is a bit "ambitious"... consumes a lot of resources. Have you tried backing it off to 5fps as a test?

- How does your CPU usage look? Your settings kick my Athlon Dual Core 5600 2.8GHz up to 80% while recording. If your CPU is hitting 100% it's hard to say what might happen to your recording but it won't be good.

- Do you have other stuff (besides kbd & mouse) on USB? If so, it might be useful to disconnect it as a test.

- Does the LifeCam driver have any settings related to USB utilisation? My Logitech cams have a few mysterious checkboxes such as "reconsider bus usage when new device connects" that cause the cameras to throttle back (at the expense of quality) if the driver believes the USB bus is becoming saturated (overly congested).

Hopefully one of the above will shed some light on this!

Incidentally... among the regular users here, 5fps is usually the framerate of choice. Unless your PC is a super-machine higher framerates tend to eat unacceptably high amounts of CPU. This isn't really an AbelCam thing - it's video recording in general: resource intensive. 5fps is usually quite adequate for security video - in fact many "pro" security systems only record 1fps.

By: AllenWa
Rank: New Member
Topics: 13
From: n/a
Added: 08/19/2010 - 02:18 PM

Message has been edited, click here to see original content

From sse:
Have you tried saving with AVI codecs?

See also this old thread


That URL did the trick, didn't realize the resolution was hard coded into the profiles, interesting enough Somewhere along the line from AbelCam to the WMV Decoder, it chokes if the profile is set to "Source Resolution".

08:09:38 Microsoft LifeCam VX-1000-1 tried to start motion detection video to C:\Temp\VideoCam\20100819080937.wmv but failed. Verify the file location or try different Codecs

Not sure where in the chain the problem is, but atleast I got the high resolution working, and can just adjust the profile/create a new profile to meet future needs!

From MelvinG:
I don't have a LifeCam so I tested using your settings with a Logitech Pro-9000 instead. Similar but admittedly not the same.

I can't see what your capturing framerate is from any of your screenshots. But your replay rate is set to 25fps so I assumed your capture is also 25fps. Is that correct?

Everything worked as expected for me - 640x480 video was recorded at 25fps and the quality was quite good - definitely not blurry/useless.

So...

- Are you sure LifeCam supports the resolution/framerate combination you are asking it to deliver? I ask because with Logitech cams there are a bunch of poorly documented rules restricting what framerates the camera allows at which resolutions. The rules are imposed by the hardware and/or drivers, not AbelCam.

- 25fps is a bit "ambitious"... consumes a lot of resources. Have you tried backing it off to 5fps as a test?

- How does your CPU usage look? Your settings kick my Athlon Dual Core 5600 2.8GHz up to 80% while recording. If your CPU is hitting 100% it's hard to say what might happen to your recording but it won't be good.

- Do you have other stuff (besides kbd & mouse) on USB? If so, it might be useful to disconnect it as a test.

- Does the LifeCam driver have any settings related to USB utilisation? My Logitech cams have a few mysterious checkboxes such as "reconsider bus usage when new device connects" that cause the cameras to throttle back (at the expense of quality) if the driver believes the USB bus is becoming saturated (overly congested).

Hopefully one of the above will shed some light on this!

Incidentally... among the regular users here, 5fps is usually the framerate of choice. Unless your PC is a super-machine higher framerates tend to eat unacceptably high amounts of CPU. This isn't really an AbelCam thing - it's video recording in general: resource intensive. 5fps is usually quite adequate for security video - in fact many "pro" security systems only record 1fps.



1) Yep, it does 640x480 'up to' 30FPS
2) Not yet, the FPS wasnt really the problem before
3) Only around 40-45% when recording, its a Core 2 Duo running at 4.06GHz, with 8GB of memory
4) Nope, just Keyboard and Mouse
5) Yes, although I disabled Auto and put it to the highest setting of '8' within that screen for USB Bus

Thanks for the suggestions, feedback, and items to check. Glad to have this solved, now to order the cam and setup paypal!

Thanks again to both of you for your help!
By: AllenWa
Rank: New Member
Topics: 13
From: n/a
Added: 09/05/2010 - 10:15 PM

Well it seems my issue was not actually resolved. Everyone (including me) miss-diagnosed the issue as the codec.

I have the new camera now, doing 1280x720. However now I'm only getting 640x480 as the input.

I have
Input: 1280x720 RGB, 24 bits
Output: 1280x720

Both the Video AND Still screen shots are coming back at 640x480. The codec for the video is set to use 1280x720 which explains the upsize error.

Video Save Microsoft LifeCam Cinema-1 warning image resizing from 640x480 to 1280x720

So, for sake of argument over the codec being the issue. Why would the STILL Shots, Taken by motion OR the "S" Button in the upper right of the camera return 640x480 despite 1280x720 being selected as the input?

It seems this is exactly the same problem I was having before, but the resolution difference was small and hard to see. 640x480 is a square resolution so when upscaled to 1280x720 it gets a little blurry, but it also stretches the width of the image. This makes it very easy to see the original image is infact 640x480.

I have a help request in, but haven't really gotten any answers or suggestions back still. Anyone have anything to check/try?
By: MelvinG
Rank: Magna Cum Laude
Topics: 661
From: Los Angeles, USA
Added: 09/06/2010 - 09:06 AM

I'm trying, man... Wink Thing is, I don't have a LifeCam to test with and haven't felt the urge to go buy one yet. I think SSE has one (maybe?) hooked up on the demo site though - there's definitely something HD going on there recently.

Anyhow - the closest I can get is my OrbitAFs, which put can put out 720p (1280x720) as well as a few high-res 4:3 formats (1600x1200 max).

I just ran a little test with an AF in AbelCam at 1280x720 at 5 FPS. I didn't try video recording, but the Preview and the stills captured by the S-button were 1280x720 as expected. Can't see any problem there...

Then I tested a bit using AmCap utility. I found that the hardware/driver are forcing frame rate down to 5 FPS when sizes >640x480 are selected. Hmmm.

I Googled a few reviews of your cam. None of them were crystal clear on the subject, but all mentioned their LifeCam Cinema would NOT deliver 1280x720 at 30 FPS. Sounds a bit like my Orbit... is it possible that your cam/driver is forcing the resolution down when you turn the FPS up - in effect the converse of my Orbit forcing the FPS down when I turn up the resolution??
By: AllenWa
Rank: New Member
Topics: 13
From: n/a
Added: 09/06/2010 - 05:19 PM

From MelvinG:
I'm trying, man... Wink Thing is, I don't have a LifeCam to test with and haven't felt the urge to go buy one yet. I think SSE has one (maybe?) hooked up on the demo site though - there's definitely something HD going on there recently.

Anyhow - the closest I can get is my OrbitAFs, which put can put out 720p (1280x720) as well as a few high-res 4:3 formats (1600x1200 max).

I just ran a little test with an AF in AbelCam at 1280x720 at 5 FPS. I didn't try video recording, but the Preview and the stills captured by the S-button were 1280x720 as expected. Can't see any problem there...

Then I tested a bit using AmCap utility. I found that the hardware/driver are forcing frame rate down to 5 FPS when sizes >640x480 are selected. Hmmm.

I Googled a few reviews of your cam. None of them were crystal clear on the subject, but all mentioned their LifeCam Cinema would NOT deliver 1280x720 at 30 FPS. Sounds a bit like my Orbit... is it possible that your cam/driver is forcing the resolution down when you turn the FPS up - in effect the converse of my Orbit forcing the FPS down when I turn up the resolution??


Hi MelvinG, thanks for the response. I tried to select as low as 1FPS. Still experienced the same issue with 1280x720 @ 1FPS. I'm only using 8 FPS for my 'real' setup, as the computer cannot handle more frames at that resolution. I'm guessing I have some kind of glitch, setting issue, etc. If everyone was having this problem I think there would be a lot more forum posts! Both my cameras were Microsoft, wonder if its some kind of driver issue when Abelcam is selecting the resolution or something.

By: MelvinG
Rank: Magna Cum Laude
Topics: 661
From: Los Angeles, USA
Added: 09/06/2010 - 09:48 PM

Okay... I'm totally on the wrong track with the framerate stuff...

I got ahold of a Lifecam Cinema. I have the same problem with it as you do. Knowing as much as I do about the guts of TyCap, I'm scratching my head right now over how this could be happening. Here are a few observations that might be useful to SSE:

Lifecam Cinema with TyCapture: Input and Output resolutions set to 1280x720, framerate 5FPS. The various previews, the PNG files created by the "S" button, local saves, and the images sent to Video Save are all ending up 640x480. The "floating" preview (click on the "live" preview) is 1280x720 but it looks suspiciously distorted as though AbelCam is just stretching the 640x480 image.

Same setup as above, but using VisioForge: image sizes are as expected - cool, no problem, looks like a good workaround for now - except that as soon as I turn on Video Save (record realtime) AbelCam dies with an unhandled exception.

Same setup again, using VideoCapX: same issues as with TyCap.

Using ACNCA instead of AbelCam: same issue as TyCap.

OTOH, both my OrbitAF and my Logitech Pro-9000 work perfectly fine at 1280x720 (except that VisioForge crashes on Video Save).

My best thought at the moment is that the Lifecam driver is not obeying when TyCap or VCX tell it to switch resolutions, but it is obeying VisioForge for some reason. It also seems to obey AmCap. Weird.

I guess this really belongs on the Issue Tracker... I'll go there and post a pointer to this thread.
By: AllenWa
Rank: New Member
Topics: 13
From: n/a
Added: 09/07/2010 - 01:32 AM

From MelvinG:
Okay... I'm totally on the wrong track with the framerate stuff...

I got ahold of a Lifecam Cinema. I have the same problem with it as you do. Knowing as much as I do about the guts of TyCap, I'm scratching my head right now over how this could be happening. Here are a few observations that might be useful to SSE:

Lifecam Cinema with TyCapture: Input and Output resolutions set to 1280x720, framerate 5FPS. The various previews, the PNG files created by the "S" button, local saves, and the images sent to Video Save are all ending up 640x480. The "floating" preview (click on the "live" preview) is 1280x720 but it looks suspiciously distorted as though AbelCam is just stretching the 640x480 image.

Same setup as above, but using VisioForge: image sizes are as expected - cool, no problem, looks like a good workaround for now - except that as soon as I turn on Video Save (record realtime) AbelCam dies with an unhandled exception.

Same setup again, using VideoCapX: same issues as with TyCap.

Using ACNCA instead of AbelCam: same issue as TyCap.

OTOH, both my OrbitAF and my Logitech Pro-9000 work perfectly fine at 1280x720 (except that VisioForge crashes on Video Save).

My best thought at the moment is that the Lifecam driver is not obeying when TyCap or VCX tell it to switch resolutions, but it is obeying VisioForge for some reason. It also seems to obey AmCap. Weird.

I guess this really belongs on the Issue Tracker... I'll go there and post a pointer to this thread.


MelvinG, Thanks a TON for looking into this and finding out I'm not insane/blind/stupid with my setup! Hopefully this can be resolved soon.