IP Camera Problem

[upstatemike]

I just tried setting up an old junker PC and spare monitor so I could view my IP cameras on a second screen while working on my main PC. Everything fired up fine but after about 4 or 5 minutes the cameras stopped streaming and an old picture was stuck on the screen (the timestamp shows exactly when they quit streaming). The junker PC is running Windows 98SE and IE6. I checked the IE settings to make sure the Temporary Internet Files settings were configured to refresh with each visit so it should not be a caching issue, but I don't know what else could be causing it.

When I run the same view on my XP machines it keeps up a live view of all three cameras just fine so I know it is not the cameras. Anybody know what else could cause this? Is it an OS thing?

 

[electron]

Not sure what the cause could be, 98 is so flakey to begin with. Probably not the answer you are looking for, but why not add a 2nd video card to the main pc, and hook up the 2nd monitor to that? Or put Ubuntu (use the LiveCD, no install needed if you just want to try it) on that PC, and use Firefox to view the feed (assuming it doesn't require windows). Just an idea.

 

[upstatemike]

Good ideas but I was just trying to put together a quick and dirty solution (already put more time into it than I wanted to). More symptoms: Not all cameras flake out at once. I restarted several hours ago and 2 of the 3 views continued just fine to now while one froze about 3 hours ago. I also fired up the ME machine I keep near my PBX for system configuration and it worked just fine.

I wonder if 98SE networking is somehow at fault? If it is too sensitive to traffic on the network then it might lose connection to a camera and cause that view to freeze in the browser. Or maybe the NIC itself is lame with a tiny buffer or something? I guess the money you save by reusing old hardware is offset by the time you waste trying to make it work!

 

[electron]

Does it require an ActiveX plugin? Or is it using jpeg streaming? Try running Opera or Firefox on 98 (if they still support it) if it isn't ActiveX based.

 

[upstatemike]

Panasonic uses ActiveX.

 

[electron]

hmm, thought my panasonic IP cams were using motion jpeg or whatever it was called. Try those browsers anyway, ActiveX might be the problem here.

 

[upstatemike]

hmm, thought my panasonic IP cams were using motion jpeg or whatever it was called. Try those browsers anyway, ActiveX might be the problem here.

Just checked the support page and confirmed it is ActiveX. I might just try another junker machine before I waste too much time fixing this one. Maybe I have another ME machine down there. Or one with a newer network card.

 

[gatchel]

Most Panasonic products use ActiveX plug-ins and are capable of streaming MPEG4 or JPG images.

If you think is networking related you can try tweaking the typical network settings

RWIN, MTU, etc.

I am just grasping here. Win98 was never relaible for me. I actually purchased ghost along with my 1st 98 machine because of the issues and constantly having to redo my machine. Win 98 also taught me to have separate partitions for data and the OS...

 

[mike_r]

hmm, thought my panasonic IP cams were using motion jpeg or whatever it was called. Try those browsers anyway, ActiveX might be the problem here.

Maybe it's not ActiveX but I always have to approve the installation of a plugin when I access the cameras from a new system. Next time I'll pay more attention to what it is loading.

My Panasonic will use ActiveX when I use IE, but with Firefox no install is required. Without ActiveX I don't get audio, but everything else works OK.

Mike

 

[upstatemike]

Most Panasonic products use ActiveX plug-ins and are capable of streaming MPEG4 or JPG images.

If you think is networking related you can try tweaking the typical network settings

RWIN, MTU, etc.

I am just grasping here. Win98 was never relaible for me. I actually purchased ghost along with my 1st 98 machine because of the issues and constantly having to redo my machine. Win 98 also taught me to have separate partitions for data and the OS...

This stinks. I have lots of WIN 98 machines and I always thought I could count on them as UI boxes, especially if I was using a basic browser for an interface. I don't think it would be worthwhile trying to upgrade the OS on them (manufacturer does not support it and never wrote drivers). Guess it's time to to make a run to the dump!

 

[electron]

What are the specs? I'll take em lol