Topic: Logitech Pro 9000 Web Cam

[mchallis]

I have wasted money on two cams that were not good enough
then, I got a Logitech QuickCam Pro for Notebooks and it looks great.
The cam is very small, has only a 3 ft. cable. I had to get a USB extension cable.

QuickCam Pro 9000 may be even better for a weather cam positioning, it is the same high quality optics, but has a 6ft. cord and a different housing.
I am posting this information for anybody looking for a sub $100 cam, either of these might be the one to get.

The image quality is outstanding. It has auto focus, but you can manually set it in the driver settings if you want. If you are just using it for a weather cam with Weather-Display webcamcapture.exe you can just install the driver only. You do not need to install the complete software. It gives you these options at time of install if you select advanced install.
I recommend downloading the current software from the logitech web site and install it before plugging in the cam. The software on the install CD is outdated.

I was inspired to get this by the looks of Tom's Carter Lake web cam
http://www.carterlake.org/index.php

I tried out a Microsoft LifeCam VX-6000 and it was no good at all for looking outdoors. The clouds were easily bleached out and some trees in the foreground were always too dark. None of the settings would correct these issues. (Not recommended)

I also tried out a Creative WebCam Live Ultra, the image was so so, better than the Microsoft LifeCam VX-6000, but the problem was the cam would go black sometimes after a reboot requiring the driver to be uninstalled/reinstalled. (Not recommended).

Here is my weather cam page:
http://www.carmosaic.com/weather/cam.php

Here is my cam archive:
http://www.carmosaic.com/weather/cam-history.php

[Cienega32]

I too went out and bought the 9000.  My existing camera (really old, cheap, Logitech) is far away from the computer, and I have it hooked up via a cat5e USB extender.  However, it appears that the 9000 draws more current than the cat5e extender can supply across the wire, so it's time to head to Radio Shack to buy a power supply for the remote -- fortunately with this extender you can plug in an optional power supply if the device's current draw is too great, which is exactly the problem here.

Any way to remotely power the cam's USB and separate and send the data with a wireless AP or router type setup?

[ncpilot]

Finally, a breakthrough with WebcamXP... I don't know what I did, but I finally got it to stream in Flash mode... discovered a few things.

Without adequate instructions on what settings are needed, I had all the boxes checked for "source enabled for". When I only have HTTP Broadcasting checked, my CPU % dropped to +/- 20%.

Contrary to what I'd normally expect, when the server button is red, that means it's on, when you click the red button, it stops, but shows a green wedge/arrow, which I'd normally take to mean it's on--you know, green--active, live, running, go? I'd really expect the color to indicate the current state, but it's the opposite.

Anyway, after finally taking a few hours to figure it all out, it seems to work ok... I'd put the cam up now, but you'd only see a cat on a couch... LOL

I'll have to try it out with my USB extenders to see if it will still work, if not, that would be disappointing--but don't others have non-powered extenders with this cam?

<edit> I have to quit doing this stuff so late at night... I connected the Logitech thru my USB extenders http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812101152 and about 30-40' of cat5 and it worked ok, but the image degraded...

[capeweather]

Great! Glad you got it to work and were able to get your CPU rate down a little bit. Another thing that will actually save CPU is not leaving the live image playing in box #1. Just click on box#2  and it will say no source connected but it does save a little bit when it's not operating through the software.

I know what you mean about the color of the buttons for stop and start. It was a little bit confusing for me as well because I had thought exactly like you did but I guess that's one of those things where software can get complicated even on minor stuff.

Yes, I actually have five non-powered USB extenders feeding my webcams and haven't had any issues. Two cams have 100' cables and have ran really smooth.  You should be good to go.

[ncpilot]

I read that little tidbit on the support forum, or the FAQ--to not run the live view locally and save CPU...

Time to order another USB extender... current one is on my hi-res snap shot cam...

Lost power about 3 times this morning--twice while still at home, another after I had left. Although my PC is on a UPS, my hi-res cam is not, so it lost it's connection.

I've been using TeamViewer for remote PC access instead of logmein, and it was a lifesaver today since I could log in from work and start things up again... TeamViewer is SO much easier to use compared to logmein...

[capeweather]

TeamViewer is SO much easier to use compared to logmein...

Have you tried Ultravnc? This is what I use and love it.

http://www.ultravnc.com/

[ncpilot]

I've looked at the different flavors of VNC, but the learning curve looked a bit too steep, and you had to take extra steps for encryption by using a 3rd party plugin.

TeamViewer was developed by some of the original team members for one of those VNC's, and there is no setup, no installation necessary even, you can just run it from the install program without actual installation, so you don't need any computer permissions. To me the beauty is that I can go on any computer anywhere, run TeamViewer locally, and have an encrypted session with my home PC...

I wrestled a lot with logmein to get remote connections. TeamViewer worked the first time with no effort at all... 

I know VNC has some sort of nugget you can get remote users to run for remote access and support. But I managed to get my parents to download and run the install of TeamViewer with no problems at all--and that's saying something...

If I needed that functionality within my LAN, I would definitely go with VNC though...

[racenet]

TeamViewer is SO much easier to use compared to logmein...

Have you tried Ultravnc? This is what I use and love it.

http://www.ultravnc.com/

Chris,

Have some questions on this utility. Can you email me at support@nhweatherdata.com to discuss?

Thanks!


Bob

[capeweather]

TeamViewer is SO much easier to use compared to logmein...

Have you tried Ultravnc? This is what I use and love it.

http://www.ultravnc.com/

Chris,

Have some questions on this utility. Can you email me at support@nhweatherdata.com to discuss?

Thanks!


Bob

Sent

[racenet]

Got it! 

[roakey]

Any way to remotely power the cam's USB and separate and send the data with a wireless AP or router type setup?

Well I had the wire strung and everything in place anyway, I just needed to add the optional power to the remote adapter (5V, 2A AC-DC wall wort) to be off and running.  Bottom line is that it works just fine!  So I now know that this CAT 5e USB extender (the $55 one) will work for remotely locating the Logitech Pro 9000 Webcam, if you get the optional power supply for it.   This also menas that the Webcam works just fine across a USB 1.1 connection.

Roak

[capeweather]

Any way to remotely power the cam's USB and separate and send the data with a wireless AP or router type setup?

Well I had the wire strung and everything in place anyway, I just needed to add the optional power to the remote adapter (5V, 2A AC-DC wall wort) to be off and running.  Bottom line is that it works just fine!  So I now know that this CAT 5e USB extender (the $55 one) will work for remotely locating the Logitech Pro 9000 Webcam, if you get the optional power supply for it.   This also menas that the Webcam works just fine across a USB 1.1 connection.

Roak

You could save yourself 15 dollars and use this one. I've got five of these that I use and have never experienced problems.
http://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=1067.0

[roakey]

You could save yourself 15 dollars and use this one. I've got five of these that I use and have never experienced problems.
http://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=1067.0

Have you tested them with the Logitech Pro 9000?  The unpowered CAT 5e USB extender was fine with my previous webcam, but the 9000 drew more current than the remote dongle could supply across the cable, so I had to power it remotely.  Remote power does not appear to be an option with the VIGOR VAD-1120 USB CAT 5e Extender Adapter that you're referencing in that thread.

Roak

[ncpilot]

I tried the Vigor extender with about 30-40' of cat5, and it worked ok, but image quality degraded (visible even at 320x240...)

I checked out UltraVNC again, and it seems simpler to use/setup than last time I looked... and they have a nice box where you can specify addins (like for encryption).

UltraVNC is where I found the ad for TeamViewer--which has quite an impressive client list...

I've had problems with WebcamXP flash server stopping when I'm looking at the stream with FireFox--apparently a couple of users have posted this problem on darkwet as well... I have to experiment more with IE... I don't know, maybe I'm getting some kind of bizarre interaction by streaming with the desktop/wx computer, then using my laptop wireless to view stream (using WAN URL)--but I don't see why that should matter...

Roak--have you tried a different piece of Cat5 cable? Make your own? Termination issues maybe? Just a thought...

[racenet]

Have you figured out the exact cause for the flash stream stopping? I'm running it for my PTZ cam and it seems to run rock solid. Haven't had a single note from anyone telling me they had problems and the cam gets hammered pretty heavy on a daily basis.

As for UltraVNC, just got that installed myself. Was pretty darn simple, except for the MS login stuff. Couldn't get that working right. In basic login mode, it works flawless. Have to figure out the MS login stuff though.



Bob

[NoQuitters]

Have you tested them with the Logitech Pro 9000?

Yes I have. I have one of my 9000's running on the extender with a 100 foot cable in between. So far no problems at all and it has been up for over 3 months.

[ncpilot]

Still can't get WebcamXP to stream for more than about 30 seconds, using both IE and Firefox. The program just stops dead, 0% cpu, no upload activity. Clicking refresh in browser has no effect. Turning the internal server off and on--no effect.

I have to close the program and reopen to get it to work again. Maybe it's just my luck that my USB datalogger works fine, but WebcamXP won't... 

[capeweather]

Did you try using a different USB slot? Is it USB 2.0?
Do you have the latest drivers installed for your camera?
Have you tried another method of streaming besides flash?

[ncpilot]

Darn! Suggestions... just about when I decided to can WebcamXP and go load some ammo for my emergency kits... 

I did get the cam to stream just fine using iCatcher--not sure how it streams, probably just a jpeg push.

I downloaded the latest drivers from Logitech rather than use the included CD.

I haven't tried another port yet...

It seems as though, for lack of a better term, it's getting overloaded. If I move the camera around a lot, it stops streaming almost immediately. But only closing the program will bring it back...

I do have USB 2.0.

Haven't tried another streaming method yet.

And, I'm only using a 3' extension cable right now...

[capeweather]

Hmm, I'm wondering what version you are running? Are you running the Beta version 4 they just released or version 3?

[ncpilot]

Not running the beta...

Hooked up to different USB, ran in Java mode, and it stopped streaming. It's like the program is timing out. Nothing resets it except closing and reopening.

Version 3.72.440.

Well, thanks for the suggestions, but at this point it's not worth any more time or frustration. I'll search for another program, or just upgrade iCatcher to the latest version which has a more efficient web server...

[Panos]

Hello my name is Panagiotis and I am from Athens Greece. This is my first post.
I have the exactly webcam. This is the link of my web site http://users.forthnet.gr/ath/papsomad/ and the link of webcam http://users.forthnet.gr/ath/papsomad/camera.htm

I am very satisfied with the quality and data speed.
The only problem that I faced they was the usb connection. It needed to connect 10 meters cable between camera and PC. Finally the solution it gave from a usb Hub, with external power.

www.Korydallos.ne1.net

[weather1967]

Hello my neighbour Panagioti  and welcome to WXForum.
Your web camera is very clear and it have very nice capture.
With Panagioti we are weather friends,and my areas is very closed almost,west of center at Athens about 3 miles away.

Hello my name is Panagiotis and I am from Athens Greece. This is my first post.
I have the exactly webcam. This is the link of my web site http://users.forthnet.gr/ath/papsomad/ and the link of the webcam http://users.forthnet.gr/ath/papsomad/camera.htm

I am very satisfied with the quality and data speed.
The only problem that I faced they was the usb connection. It needed to connect 10 meters cable between camera and PC. Finally the solution it gave from a usb Hub, with external power.

www.Korydallos.ne1.net