Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 28

I am using PalmVNC version 1.40 to remotely monitor the screen of my computer in my home office. I have set up an inexpensive wireless TV camera in my living room with a Hauppage WinTV USB converter to display the video image on my computer screen. PalmVNC lets me check in from my Prism and see what's happening on the home front. Currently, I will get a few minutes of sequential still pictures and the connection will spontaneously disconnect. I can reconnect without difficulty but it will stop again after a few minutes.

The video image on the computer screen continues uninterrupted while the PalmVNC browser dies. Has anyone else run into this?

David

Registered: Aug 2000
Location: Alive and well on VisorCentral.com
Posts: 861

Could be your ISP, mine (Verizon DSL) loves to disconnect your line (silently) when you don't appear to be using it.. I had to come up with some creative solutions to keep my line (apparently) up and active 7/24..

See if the timeout is occurring at similar time intervals..

Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 28

More about my PalmVNC setup

Thanks for the suggestion but I am on PacBell DSL which is now ATT Wireless and I have 24x7 service all of the time. I have a firewall, ZoneAlarm Pro, and a LinkSys router which presented slight setup problems but there is no cessation of service for any other app.

I also tried PalmVNC monitoring the desktop without the WINTV app running and it continues to shut down after 5 minutes of connection. During the five minutes, there are constant updates and I can browse my way around my desktop at various magnifications. Then the app will freeze and show a disconnected message.

This is a free app and I am not complaining because this is a capability that exists nowhere else. I would like to find out if the experience can be improved.

By the way, you can only view WinTV images if you force Primary surface mode rather than Overlay. When the TV image is displayed in overlay mode, you can see it on the screen as an observer in the room but the PalmVNC sees the image only as a black field.

Any other suggestions as to extending the PalmVNC viewing time? What experiences do others have?

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David

Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 62

I also am using a Prism with the Minstrel S modem and Yadayada. I have a Linksys router and DSL at home. I installed Palm VNC on the Visor, and then used my static external IP address as My Server IP. The VNC went to my computer after I forwarded port 5900 to the internal IP address of my computer, and IT WORKED.

I am now trying to get Network Sync to work. I need some help. The folks at Novatel said that it should work.

I have found that the ports that Network sync uses are 14278 and 14279 (these were found on the 3com website). I forwarded these ports within the Linksys software to the internal IP of the computer that I have HotSync running on. When you install Network sync, it asks for the Primary PC prefs which include the IP address, thinking that this IP is the one that the modem will go to to connect. But this is an internal IP (192.168.1.xx) and is not unique in the external environment so when I push the sync button I get nowhere. Does anyone out there have any idea how to get this to work? I am lost.

Actually, my router assigns an internal IP to the machine which I can not change. I did manually change the IP on the visor to my external static IP successfully. When I sync'ed, I know that it made a connection because the Visor changed the IP to the one of the Primary PC when it connected but it did not continue and sync.

Thanks

PS How did you get the camera to come over the Palm?

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Jeff Schaffer
[email protected]

Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 28

Viewing a TV camera on a Prism

Jeff, we are using pretty much the same setup. How long can you stay logged in using PalmVNC?

As fas ar getting to view a TV camera on your Prism, you just need to display it on your computer screen and look at it using PalmVNC. The display mode appears to be quite important.

In a previous post, I mention the Hauppage USB WinTV setup. I have connected the output of an X10 wireless video receiver to the input of the USB WINTV box. There are now other X10 wireless camera systems with receivers with USB outputs, but I bought mine when the receiver would only connect to a TV set. The WINTV unit comes with software that lets you display TV channels on your computer screen. I have the camera set up as one TV channel and force the display into primary screen mode not overlay mode. I locate a 3" x 4" image in the top left of my screen and it is the first thing I see when I log in from my Prism.

I hope that helps.

David

Registered: Oct 2000
Location: Phoenix, Arizona
Posts: 80

Re: More about my PalmVNC setup

quote:

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Originally posted by davidstl
I also tried PalmVNC monitoring the desktop without the WINTV app running and it continues to shut down after 5 minutes of connection. During the five minutes, there are constant updates and I can browse my way around my desktop at various magnifications. Then the app will freeze and show a disconnected message.

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I do NOT look wierd! I just look ... "different".

Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 152

Is FireProducer an option?

PalmVNC 1.40 is great, especially with a VNC server supporting server-side scaling, but it seems to be a roundabout way to get what you want, which seems to be a streaming video of your living room. Have you considered the combination of FireViewer and the trial version of FireProducer? Just install FireProducer, set it to grab video from your USB video device and start the server. Since you mention a firewall, you may have to forward or open a port, but I can't remember which one. Then, in FireViewer, goto Options->Open Location and enter ftsp://<your_ip_address>

FireProducer and FireViewer can be gotten at http://www.firepad.com.

[Edited by dvIceT on 01-29-2001 at 04:34 AM]

Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 28

FireViewer sounds interesting!

Thanks for the suggestion. I started this project before FireViewer was available.

I was looking for static images more than streaming video but I will happily take whatever is available. I will download FireViewer tomorrow and see how it all comes together.

I discovered that my timeout problem is caused when I don't press keys on my Prism frequently. Perhaps my auto shutdown setting of 2 minutes is causing things to halt even though the Prism does not shut off. When I logged in with PalmVNC and kept pressing the up and down buttons periodically, the connection stayed on as long as I was willing to do this.

David

Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 62

Tonight PalmVNC seems to working great here at home. I am watching the desktop of my main computer wirelessly. When I leave the visor alone, it continually updates the screen every 5 secs until the auto off shuts off the PDA. Then when I turn it back on, it is no longer connected. If I try to connect again, it will not. I then have to log off, get out of the app, and restart it. Sometimes it will restart, other times not.

I will try to find the little app that keeps the Visor on without autooff. Does anyone know which one this is?

I still have not gotten the solution of how to network sync wirelessly. I am sure it can be done though.

Also, if you use Inetcam or Teveo.com, they give you a camera view that you can access with your static IP as the URL.

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Jeff Schaffer
[email protected]

Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 28

FireViewer vs PalmVNC

At dvIceT's suggestion, I downloaded FireViewer and FireProducer. They are interesting apps. FireViewer handles graphics beautifully! I couldn't believe the images I could display with FireViewer. Unfortunately, FireProducer would not work with my camera and video grabber and I have shelved it for now.

PalmVNC is reliable and easy to operate. I like the ability to control the PC remotely and have the bonus of being able to look at what my security camera is scanning. I plan on installing more X10 hardware in the future to expand the camera coverage and switch between them.

David