I have two QuickCam Pro 9000 webcams running and the second one is eating up all available CPU. Camera 1 is running through an Active 5m (16’) USB extension cable and only uses between 8 and 25% of the CPU, but the moment the second webcam starts it jumps to 99% CPU.
The second cam is coming through 15m (48’) of Active USB extension cables, and it is linked to the PC via a powered 4 port USB hub, which was the only way I could get my PC to recognise it.
I have also noticed that there is pixilation on the image of the 2nd cam.
Could both of these problems be down to the length of cable I am running the 2nd cam through and will it matter if the CPU is running at full tilt continually?
The obvious thing to do is disconnect your No#1 cam and then see how the other one runs. This will tell you if the cabling is a problem if the pixcelation remains.
The CPU running at 100% all the time would be a problem as you nave no room for other things to be processed, such as the time when files are uploaded. The computer then starts to fall behind.
When I first set up my webcam a 4000 pro I could not get it to keep running with an active cable and it also had problems running through a hub. #-o
I also run two cameras on my site http://www.i40exit319weather.com/wxcam.php Camera 1 (Logitech QuickCam Orbit) is network streaming and camera 2 (Logitech QuickCam Pro 5000) uploads only during the daylight hours. CPU usages during the evening is about 15%…during the day is about 35%…just to give you a base line. Make sure under camera setting you are not using Face Tracking…that feature utilizes a lot of computer resources.
I stopped the #1 camera and the CPU dropped down to 60%. Starting it again bumps it up to 100%. If I take the #2 cam out of the powered hub, it just disappears.
Ronnie,
I checked and I do not have Face Tracking running.
It is cloudy now and difficult to see the pixelation on #2 which is/was very evident with a clear blue sky.
I would add that this PC is dedicated totally to WD, and the only other thing I use it for is visiting the forum.
Another thing I cannot understand is after setting White Balance to Auto in both of the camera settings, it often becomes unticked even after pressing Apply, OK and then Save Settings.
Another thing I cannot understand is after setting White Balance to Auto in both of the camera settings, it often becomes unticked even after pressing Apply, OK and then Save Settings.
When I go to your camera page, the live streaming cam IP address resolves to a local LAN IP–192.168.0.100–and therefore never displays… and I got that IP from looking at your source code for the page…
Well, what d’ya know! I just found a check box to Set to Low CPU Priority and put a tick in it! The CPU is now running at between 30% & 40%, so that’ll do me!
I wonder if it will ever be possible to know everything about the WD software… unless you are Brian that is!
I thought that the Set to Low CPU Priority had solved my problem, but unfortunately, even with that box checked, webcamcapture.exe has reverted to using 99% of the CPU.
Its all down to what else is running along side WD and webcamcapture.exe
Have you got them both streaming? or is only 1 streaming? ithink only one is possible anyway
i cant remember now, but if you do have one streaming the video, turn off streaming and
this will make the cpu usage drop big time, more so when using 2 cams…try it if your are
streaming…
Other than that are you on a Dual Core machine? cause you can set the affinity of the cores
i.e. one core to use webcamcapture and the other core to use WD and see how that goes…?
I know it’s not as convenient as running it through WD’s webcamcapture, and it doesn’t have all the features, but if it’s just a matter of horsepower limitations, you can try Dorgem, an open source capture program. Once you set it up and minimize it (important), it uses very little memory and CPU. I tested around ten capture programs and this had one of the lightest footprints by far. It’s open source and free. It is very basic, but the features it does have are useful. http://dorgem.sourceforge.net/
John - I’m not sure if that option in the tick box is the same function as in Task Manager?
In TM, on the Processes Tab, find WDWebcamcapture and right click - choose Set Priority, and select BelowNormal - that may be the same function as the tick box?
With my two webcams running I now have 80% as about a minimum - I chose the Below Normal a few days ago before the 2nd webcam, and then to start with (2nd cam installed) it had risen to 65% but now its over 80%… #-o
Thank you all for your replies. I have downloaded Dorgem, but I just checked in Task Manager and webcamcapture.exe is only taking 3% of the CPU. My two webcams are still uploading pictures, and earlier today I stopped the jpgwebcam images saving into the webfiles folder of WD.
Is this something to do with the fact it is past sunset? Has the cancelling of the jpeg files caused the dramatic reduction in CPU use? I admit I never checked earlier what was happening in Task Manager, so before I install Dorgem, I’ll see what is hapening when I get up tomorrow.
I just checked in TM and webcamcapture.exe is set to Low in priority. I don’t know if the tick in the box made it that way, so I shall leave well alone and see what is happening after sun up.
There are a couple of places to set only create at daytime…, hmmm one might be webcam image on main screen, the other is definitely in the webcam setup somehwere.
Graeme
PS I have added a couple of images below…
The first is from the FTP options for the webcam - an unticked box on mine to Upload daytime only
The second is in the Control Panel - Webcam - An option to Save at nighttime as well.
Different options for different needs and operations.
PPS - Back on track with CPU load issue.
After installing a Logitech, I found my CPU load went high too - but it wasn’t wdwebcamcapture.exe, it was because of the USB resource management… in Task Manager, Processes:
Image Name - User Name
system … - … SYSTEM
The loading got to as much as 54% just on this operation, and guess what - it beeped loudly when I went right click - Set Priority and selected Below Normal and said I had no authority to that file but it did reduce back to about 34%… who knows…
Graeme
Extra - Logitech - sending this one back - it was advertised as the PRO version for Notebooks but was old basic one. Can’t handle strong light in clouds at all… so have to cough up for more dosh for the replacement.
