webcam software feature matrix

I am getting frustrated with this card. It has 8 Conexant 878A chips. I loaded the software that came with the card, but didn't have much luck, but I may go back to that. It is giving me a message that implies it wants to format my disk and of course that isn't discussed in the manual. Their software also didn't like me using Remote Desktop, the color depth is wrong.

I downloaded and installed Active WebCam. It found the Hauppauge 150MCE card (this is an MS MCE machine) and I got that input working with Active Webcam. It didn't list the other 8 inputs, which had loaded the Surway drivers. That was based upon Windows choice or the supplied CD, not sure. So I got the BTwinCap drivers and installed them. The installer didn't recognize my card, so I tried selecting generic BT878. The drivers loaded OK and Active Webcam now lists them as 8 available inputs. But I just get a blank blue screen when I try to create a camera. Is Active Webcam tricky to get running (do I need to read a manual)? Is there an easier way to test this card? Jskibo, do you remember what options you used when you installed BTwinCap? Of course that may not matter since I am not sure we got the same card.

Link to my snapshots of the card
 
I used those generic BT drivers for WDM listed earlier in this thread. Never used anything that was shipped with the card.

For Active WebCam I let it search to find the cams and it found each one. I was frustrated at first getting that blue screen, but found a few things out:

A. The labels on each of the octopus connectors was wrong (Channel 1, 2 or 3 were not as labled) No big deal with the search.

B. Even though the channel was selected that I knew the cam was on, there was another selection for input type (S-Video, direct, somethinging else) that still needed to be selected.)

He's buying his cards from another e-bay seller now? That's odd.

Same card

Wayne, e-mail if you're still having trouble (john at jskibo dot com)
 
I finally got this eBay card working with Active Webcam.

Drivers from Surway Tech were supplied on a homemade CD with the card, but they don't work with Active Webcam. Konicom Diginet software was also supplied, but I didn't have much luck with it, but it didn't appear to be a card or driver issue and I think that the software has good reviews. Maybe I will play with it again someday.

I loaded the BTwinCap drivers. The BT installer recognized the 878A chips, but it didn't recognize the card itself. Just accept the defaults. Thanks to jskibo, I learned the trick is to use the option in Active Webcam to "open all video capture channels". I learned the hard way that if you selected the wrong options in BT installer then this option will hang the app with the CPU @ 95%. If you have the right driver configuration, you will see 32 channels open in Active Webcam. If you have 8 physical inputs hooked up, you can obviously see the "right" channels in Active Webcam to keep. You can delete the rest. Basically, every 878a chip has 4 input choices. I also learned the hard way that logic doesn't apply here. To see my cameras, you had to select the "tuner" input, not the sVideo or one of the composite inputs. I never would have guessed that if I hadn't used the option to "open all vid capt channels". I was manually trying to configure an input channel and silly me kept assuming it would be one of the composite inputs.

So, now I have basic functionality and the card seems OK. Warning, this combo can suck up your CPU horsepower. According to Py Soft, 8 cameras at 5 fps at 320x240 requires a 3.6 Ghz CPU. The card is rated at 30 FPS x 8, so does anybody have a 21 Ghz CPU I can test this with?

The seller claims the card came from AsianWolf, which I think is just another eBay seller, not the manufacturer. The pictures on their site don't match what I received. I don't see any audio input capability, even though it wants to load 8 audio drivers. I also don't see any PTZ capability and the seller claimed it did. The sellers pic also showed extra connectors, presumably for sensors & alarm outputs, but those are not present. So, not bad for the price, but not what i was hoping for either. there is no brand name or model name on the box or the card. The serial number is blank on the card. And the docs don't exactly match the card.
 
AutomatedOutlet said:
This is what I'm getting ready to instal:

http://dbs.mywebstand.com/VisionTech/produ...s/WebVISION.pdf

I signed the distribution agreement a couple of months ago with Visiontech but have been waiting until my new office is finished being built.

This box also has built into it it's own processor with operating system & web server - no PC required. I thought it would be good to off-load this function from any of my PCs. It plugs directly into my network. I think it will be great.
Click to expand...
Martin, have you set this up yet? This is an option I am also considering but would like to hear your feedback first. I see your price has dropped to $424!
 
I just purchased a similar card with the eight 878A chips on it and am having the same problem with Active Webcam not recognising the inputs. Where do I get the generic BT878 drivers from? I can't find them. Thanks!
 
Ah ha! Thanks. I saw that site but I wasn't sure if I wanted to an install file or just the driver files. After playing with that software, I finally got the correct drivers installed. It's amazing, on the card I have, each input chip has a red LED on the back side of the board. When I boot the computer, each led turns on one at a time and with all eight turned on, the whole case glows red.

This is the card I bought off ebay. I paid about $200 CDN which isn't bad at all. I don't have any BNC to RCA connectors yet but Active Webcam can see all eight inputs. I will try to get some adaptors and let you all know how it works out.
 
jeffx said:
AutomatedOutlet said:
This is what I'm getting ready to instal:

http://dbs.mywebstand.com/VisionTech/produ...s/WebVISION.pdf

I signed the distribution agreement a couple of months ago with Visiontech but have been waiting until my new office is finished being built.

This box also has built into it it's own processor with operating system & web server - no PC required. I thought it would be good to off-load this function from any of my PCs. It plugs directly into my network. I think it will be great.
Click to expand...
Martin, have you set this up yet? This is an option I am also considering but would like to hear your feedback first. I see your price has dropped to $424!
Click to expand...
Martin set me up with a Webvision4 for only $350 (his last one)! I should receive it and have it set up by next weekend and will post brief review with screen shots.

I like Active Webcam, but it is just way too processor and memory hungry (40-60% on a P4 2.8 HT system and over 1 GB of system memory in use w/ only 2 cameras configured). It also was consistently locking up on me.
 
jeffx said:
I like Active Webcam, but it is just way too processor and memory hungry (40-60% on a P4 2.8 HT system and over 1 GB of system memory in use w/ only 2 cameras configured). It also was consistently locking up on me.
Click to expand...
What FPS were you running with this setup that required that CPU useage?
 
jeffx said:
jeffx said:
I like Active Webcam, but it is just way too processor and memory hungry (40-60% on a P4 2.8 HT system and over 1 GB of system memory in use w/ only 2 cameras configured). It also was consistently locking up on me.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Interesting.. I'm running 9 cameras, and my webserver on the same server and it's about 60-80% with similar specs as you're using. It of course depends on what you're doing with the cameras, but I have motion and recording on all of the cameras.

I do agree that offloading it onto it's own device is indeed the best route to go in terms of dependability.
 
I've only got one camera at the moment but I connected it up and it seems to work fine. I'm using a PIII 800 w/ 256MB ram and am able to record the one camera at about 20 fps when there is motion. I am going to try and borrow a couple more cameras so I can try the software out a bit more, but so far so good.

What fps do you guys usually record your motion activated video at?
 
I bump up the value to 24fps whenever motion is detected. When it isn't recording, it's set to 10fps.
 
I just discovered this thread, and I haven't seen my favorite program mentioned: Motion!

Motion is a free webcam motion detection tool with tons of features:
  • Motion detection
  • Maskable areas
  • Video streaming
  • Webcam Server (including the ability to pan, pause, etc)
  • Snapshots, timed and/or triggered by movement
  • Mpeg movie creation
  • Configurable text overlays
  • Lots of automation hooks for triggering external commands, etc.
  • and more!
http://motion.sf.net/
 
It probably wasn't mentioned because it runs on Linux. I do agree that this is one of the better apps out there tho, I actually downloaded it after seeing some cool screenshots, but never got a chance to build a Linux based video machine.
 
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