Author Topic: Trying to connect webcam to Weather Underground  (Read 35269 times)

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Offline kray1000

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Re: Trying to connect webcam to Weather Underground
« Reply #25 on: October 24, 2007, 05:05:59 PM »
All I did was ask them to tell me what are their FTP settings needed to allow the software to upload to WU.

...which you already know if you've used other software to FTP a fixed image to WU. 

FTP software varies considerably in what settings to use.  Some fields may be blank in one application whereas you'd need a slash for that field in another.  Some want a leading and/or trailing slash, some don't.  WU can't keep track of the precise settings to use in dozens of software applications.  Application-specific questions will need to be directed toward the people writing the software.

You can use the internet version of VWS to automatically upload the webcam image-- once it exists-- IF you don't already use it to upload other things to a different server.

If you decide to give ImageSalsa a try, several of us on this forum use it and can help you with those settings.

Offline Pinster56

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Re: Trying to connect webcam to Weather Underground
« Reply #26 on: October 24, 2007, 05:28:31 PM »
All I did was ask them to tell me what are their FTP settings needed to allow the software to upload to WU.

.
FTP software varies considerably in what settings to use.  Some fields may be blank in one application whereas you'd need a slash for that field in another.  Some want a leading and/or trailing slash, some don't.  WU can't keep track of the precise settings to use in dozens of software applications.  Application-specific questions will need to be directed toward the people writing the software.




Yes that is where the problem lies. I just figured the WU folks would have seen these questions before and would have the answers on file. I will take your advice and try ImageSalsa.

Offline Pinster56

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Re: Trying to connect webcam to Weather Underground
« Reply #27 on: October 26, 2007, 05:27:53 PM »
On your advice I downloaded a demo version of ImageSalsa. Can someone tell me what the settings should be in order to upload the images to my Wundergound page? My page still says the camera is inactive.

Offline kray1000

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Re: Trying to connect webcam to Weather Underground
« Reply #28 on: October 26, 2007, 08:10:44 PM »
Have you gotten to the point where you've set up your canvas and are seeing your webcam image update in real time in the application?
« Last Edit: October 26, 2007, 08:25:24 PM by kray1000 »

Offline Pinster56

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Re: Trying to connect webcam to Weather Underground
« Reply #29 on: October 27, 2007, 09:36:07 AM »
Have you gotten to the point where you've set up your canvas and are seeing your webcam image update in real time in the application?

Yes I did that no problem.

Offline Pinster56

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Re: Trying to connect webcam to Weather Underground
« Reply #30 on: October 28, 2007, 10:20:21 AM »
Can anyone give me some advice on ImageSalsa? I am trying to get my webcam to connect to my WU page and I am trying to figure out the settings. I made a canvas, set up a video feed and I see the image. What settings do I put in Web Server setup? When I right click on the canvas, what settings to I need? All that I see my WU page is a white blank that says Demo Edition. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Offline kray1000

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Re: Trying to connect webcam to Weather Underground
« Reply #31 on: October 28, 2007, 10:14:12 PM »
As I said earlier, I've been using "Fling" as my FTP method.  For testing purposes, I set up a second webcam this afternoon from the same IP address and have been trying to use ImageSalsa to do the uploads for the second one.  After some trial and error, I've posted below what I believe those settings should be. 


The only settings you will need are "Fixed Save" and "FTP Push".

Here are a couple of screenshots.  Of course, the file path on your PC may vary.





Review Weather Underground's instructions on this page:
http://wiki.wunderground.com/index.php/WunderCams

Based on those instructions, you should use the "Put Original" mode in your FTP Settings.

I don't see the point in going more frequently than 5 minutes on the uploads.  WU seems to have trouble keeping up with that pace anyway.

Some folks restrict the FTP uploads to daylight hours only, which you can change in the FTP Settings as well.

Pay no attention to the "xx minutes ago" indicator below the thumbnails on the WU page.  Sometimes it's correct, but sometimes the images are much newer than indicated.  Putting a time stamp on your image is a good way to verify that it's updating.

Offline saratogaWX

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Re: Trying to connect webcam to Weather Underground
« Reply #32 on: October 29, 2007, 05:25:45 PM »
I use the same settings, but use 1 minute intervals.

Make sure the resulting jpg is <= 150kb otherwise Wunderground rejects the upload.  Mine is 61kb.
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Offline kray1000

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Re: Trying to connect webcam to Weather Underground
« Reply #33 on: October 29, 2007, 05:27:52 PM »
I use the same settings, but use 1 minute intervals.

I did too until yesterday.  I had trouble getting mine to update more than once every hour or two, even with 5 minute uploads.

Offline saratogaWX

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Re: Trying to connect webcam to Weather Underground
« Reply #34 on: October 29, 2007, 05:31:49 PM »
Hmmm.. I've had the odd ImageSalsa freeze-up (and restart by StartWatch) .. I'm wondering if it's a FTP problem with Wunderground.  I'll try switching mine to every 5 minutes too.  Thanks..
Ken
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Offline kray1000

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Re: Trying to connect webcam to Weather Underground
« Reply #35 on: October 29, 2007, 05:34:12 PM »
Mine locked up about 7 or 8pm yesterday evening. 

I figure at least one of their servers was having issues.  About a third of the images were taking hours to update; others were updating every few minutes.

Offline Pinster56

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Re: Trying to connect webcam to Weather Underground
« Reply #36 on: October 30, 2007, 11:00:08 AM »
Thanks, Kray100 for the screen shots. They are very helpful.

Still playing around with it. Even though my cam shows a live picture in the video setup tab, I assume it should be automatically creating jpegs for the ImageSalsa file folder in order for it to upload after. I don't see any saved images in the folder, hence no upload to WU. I do have a connection to WU, because I see a blank canvas there that says Demo Verson.  Oddly, it seems to also be randomly uploading display JPEGs from my VWS display!

Offline kray1000

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Re: Trying to connect webcam to Weather Underground
« Reply #37 on: October 30, 2007, 01:38:56 PM »
Even though my cam shows a live picture in the video setup tab, I assume it should be automatically creating jpegs for the ImageSalsa file folder in order for it to upload after. I don't see any saved images in the folder, hence no upload to WU.

You should definitely have a "current.jpg" file in the "C:\Program Files\ImageSalsa\images\" folder.  If you're not finding it, then there's a setting that's been missed. 

You've just indicated that you've enabled the camera feed in the "Video Feed Setup", but you should also be seeing a live image in the ImageSalsa application "desktop".  I've posted mine below (cropped to fit).  This image updates according to the settings I've entered in the "Graphics" tab.



Oddly, it seems to also be randomly uploading display JPEGs from my VWS display!

This is strange.  It almost sounds like you've got VWS set up to upload graphics from your jpeg folder to WU.  Double-check the "FTP Upload Folder" schedule in the VWS Internet menu to make sure it's not still enabled.

Offline Pinster56

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Re: Trying to connect webcam to Weather Underground
« Reply #38 on: October 31, 2007, 11:01:16 AM »
Quote
You've just indicated that you've enabled the camera feed in the "Video Feed Setup", but you should also be seeing a live image in the ImageSalsa application "desktop"

I don't see this and I have tried every setting possible. Now I am thinking my webcam is not compatible with this type of software application It is a Microsoft LifeCam VX-1000. I bet it is a piece of junk--I should have known better since it only cost 25 bucks. I think I will give up and eventaully buy a more expensive cam and maybe attempt this again sometime...very disappointing.
« Last Edit: October 31, 2007, 11:06:11 AM by Pinster56 »

Offline racenet

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Re: Trying to connect webcam to Weather Underground
« Reply #39 on: October 31, 2007, 11:37:45 AM »
If you are able to get a picture to show up on your canvas, then you should be able to upload the image to WU. Are you sure you are actually saving an image to your hard drive, so it can actually be uploaded? If the cam wasn't going to work, you wouldn't even see an image in a canvas.



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Offline Pinster56

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Re: Trying to connect webcam to Weather Underground
« Reply #40 on: October 31, 2007, 01:53:21 PM »
No, I DO NOT see the image on the canvas, so it is not saving images to the hard drive. I only see the live cam image on the "Video Feed" tab. It is amazing to me that this is so difficult to resolve....

Offline racenet

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Re: Trying to connect webcam to Weather Underground
« Reply #41 on: October 31, 2007, 02:30:45 PM »
No, I DO NOT see the image on the canvas, so it is not saving images to the hard drive. I only see the live cam image on the "Video Feed" tab. It is amazing to me that this is so difficult to resolve....

Then THAT is the root of your problem. Get the canvas working first and then the other stuff will follow. If you can see a cam image in the video feed, then if setup correctly, it will be seen in the canvas. If your video feed is not showing in the canvas, the canvas is not setup correctly.

You really need to provide some screen captures of what you have set and what you don't. Otherwise, we are just grasping in the dark as to what you have and don't have configured.

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Offline kray1000

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Re: Trying to connect webcam to Weather Underground
« Reply #42 on: October 31, 2007, 08:34:31 PM »
As Bob said, you need to get the canvas set up first.  I was under the impression that you had made it that far with no problem.  But if you can see the image updating in the Video Feed Setup, there's no reason why we can't get the canvas working.

Go to your canvas properties and click on the "Graphics" tab.  I've posted a screenshot of my settings (I have the Weather Edition; your demo version will probably look different).


In line 1, double-click in the white box below the "Enable" heading (on my screenshot, it says "Yes" in that box).
Move across to the box under the "Update Interval" heading.  I'd suggest putting a "1" in that box, which tells ImageSalsa to retrieve a new image every 1 second.
If you're using a USB camera, you will use the video feed for your canvas.  Click on the box under the "Video Feed" heading, then go to the drop-down menu below the tabs and select a video feed.  You will probably only have one to choose from.  Mine says "Microsoft WDM Image".
Move left to the box under the "Source Type" heading.  Repeatedly double-click in that box to cycle through the available options.  Hopefully you will see your camera's image, probably using the "0" setting.

Hopefully this will work.  ;)

Offline capeweather

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Re: Trying to connect webcam to Weather Underground
« Reply #43 on: October 31, 2007, 10:13:59 PM »
Quote

You really need to provide some screen captures of what you have set and what you don't. Otherwise, we are just grasping in the dark as to what you have and don't have configured.

Bob

I agree, post some pics so we can see exactly what you are doing. I think I mentioned this before so if you could do that it would be really helpful. Right now we don't know what you are seeing or what is going on. I think I'll start wearing a blindfold when I read this thread.  :lol:

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Offline racenet

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Re: Trying to connect webcam to Weather Underground
« Reply #44 on: October 31, 2007, 10:39:58 PM »
Kevin,

Stupid question for you. In your canvas screenshot above, what is the 9958 80?
I've looked at that over and over and for the life of me, it just doesn't click.
Getting old sucks!  :oops:



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Offline kray1000

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Re: Trying to connect webcam to Weather Underground
« Reply #45 on: October 31, 2007, 10:44:02 PM »
LOL... the 9958 is the number of frames for the day so far, and the 80 is the exposure.  Those are put there by the camera, not ImageSalsa.  But good question...  :grin:

Offline Pinster56

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Re: Trying to connect webcam to Weather Underground
« Reply #46 on: November 01, 2007, 10:47:12 AM »
Take off the blindfolds...here are my settings:




[imghttps://publish.comcast.net/rpath/piDqNFKqo--hmYOynMEqz_5LTMOP8iNm6ill5xXRkBvJjvFzAFiH7Q7GCSK0GD_lzLuvrvO8CdhvsyGiedg8dcVuCp3E4C8nWlJ-E_XczcVgWJ7iNkrg3kFGgoUXqLZe/]http://[/img]



Offline racenet

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Re: Trying to connect webcam to Weather Underground
« Reply #47 on: November 01, 2007, 11:04:25 AM »
Thanks. That helps a lot.

Did you set your image up for the canvas in the GRAPHICS tab?



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Offline racenet

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Re: Trying to connect webcam to Weather Underground
« Reply #48 on: November 01, 2007, 11:11:40 AM »
LOL... the 9958 is the number of frames for the day so far, and the 80 is the exposure.  Those are put there by the camera, not ImageSalsa.  But good question...  :grin:

Damn, those figures never even entered my thoughts. Thanks for clearing that up. Now I can sleep.  \:D/ :grin:

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Offline Pinster56

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Re: Trying to connect webcam to Weather Underground
« Reply #49 on: November 01, 2007, 12:38:36 PM »
Thanks. That helps a lot.

Did you set your image up for the canvas in the GRAPHICS tab?



Bob


Thanks! Here you go:

 

anything