Work-around for camera capture problem

I was able to find a work-around for the problem of the camera capture software: After the porting of the software to the "new" computer it sometimes went into a state where the DirectX camera preview just stopped. This did not manifest itself as an error, but instead the software kept running as if nothing had happened - and kept uploading the image that had last been captured ok. Only a restart of the software helped - so I programmed into the software an automatic restart at midnight.

This seems to work - I noticed yesterday that the image had again been frozen; now, however, the image is being updated ok.

Is not an ideal fix - I would like to explore what the true reason for this error is... but at least for now the camera capture works as intended.

Server update - camera is out for a while...

On Sunday, 13.9., an upgrade of the basic server scripting components was carried out. For some reason, this affected the web cam software as well. I am investigating what the problem is.

New Webcam: 1280x1024 capture

The previous webcam has now been replaced by the Microsoft LifeCam VX-6000. This camera has a much larger wideangle field of view, which now allows to see the front of the James Graham building (to the right) and part of the Acre (to the left). It also can capture at a high resolution: it is currently set to the maximum at 1280 x 1024 pixels.

Image from the MS LifeCam VX-6000:



Image from Philips ToUcam Pro:



Image from the Philips SPC 200NC camera (here only 320x240):



Also, the capture software is constantly being revised and updated, as the development for this tool provides me with additional code for other projects. The current revision 104 allows to select a camera from a set of connected cameras, makes accessible the property pages, and allows to set a compressor.

Open Day at Leeds Met

The view of the camera has been adjusted to cover only the front of the marquee and the James Graham Building, no sky is visible. This provides a larger view of the area where pedestrians are walking. At the Open Day today, we expect several 1000 visitors.

The recording has been set to four images per minute. This should give nice material for a good time laps video.