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Frequently Asked Questions

Many people have written asking questions about SpyCam setup etc. As this program gets more popular, the number of emails increases. I figured it was time for a FAQ, so here it is!

Why is this program so inexpensive when others cost as much as $90?

I originally did this for my own use after I scoured the net looking for this type of application, and discovered the only ones I found were cripple-ware and more expensive than I thought they should be. It was suggested that I make this program available to the public, so I am. The demo version of this program will not expire and only has a few features disabled. There are no nag screens or 'unregistered' tags placed anywhere on your photos. Once registered, you can unlock the 'history' and 'guest-cam' features. If you like this program and can afford it, I am asking that you send $15 US to help me to purchase the tools to keep it evolving. See the registration page for details. Of course if you *really* feel the need to send $90, feel free :)

How do I setup SpyCam?

First off, SpyCam has context sensitive help for each field and button. To use this feature, press the '?' in the upper right corner, then select the field you want more information on. A dialog will appear giving you the information you require. If you have Microsoft Agent and the Merlin character with sound effects installed, Merlin will give you the desired information. Information on how to get the free Microsoft Agent and Merlin characters can be found on the SpyCam homepage.

Just to get you going, here is a field by field explanation:

Remote Machine Name: The Remote Host field contains the machine name of the computer that holds your SpyCam web page. If the remote host has a ftp address associated with it, use this ftp address. For example, if your web site is named www.bogus.com, your ftp site is probably named ftp.bogus.com .

Upload Directory: The Upload Directory field contains the directory on the remote host machine where SpyCam will store the uploaded image file. The best was to figure out what goes in this field is to login to your remote host computer via a FTP program, then use the CD command to go to the directory where you want the image to be stored. Whatever you typed after the CD is what goes in this field.

Local Directory: The Local Directory field contains the directory on the local machine where the image file is stored before uploading to the remote host machine. Note that this file is not deleted after being transferred to the remote host machine.

Filename: The Filename field contains the name of the image file that SpyCam creates.

FTP Login: The FTP Login field contains the login that is used to log into the remote host machine to do a FTP transfer.

FTP Password: The FTP Password field contains the password associated with the FTP login used on the remote host machine. Note that when you type into this field, only asterisks are displayed. This is done for security reasons.

Dialup Login: The Dialup Login field contains the username that is used to log into the remote host machine.

Dialup Password: The Dialup Password field contains the password associated with the Dialup Login used on the remote host machine. Note that when you type into this field, only asterisks are displayed. This is done for security reasons.

Upload Interval: The Upload Interval field contains the delay time, in minutes and seconds, to delay in between image updates.

YUV Device: The YUV Device check box is used to tell SpyCam that your video capture device only supports the YUV format and not RGB. If you get a 'Invalid Bitmap Header' error from SpyCam when this check box is disabled, then you should set it and try again.

Sound Effects: The Sound Effects check box tells SpyCam whether or not you wish it to play sound effects during the image capture sequence. If this box is checked, SpyCam will play a sound 5 seconds before capturing the image, then play another sound immediately after capturing the image. Note that the 5 second warning will only happen for automatic updates. A detailed web page for setting up SpyCam can be found here.

The preview image is fine, but when I press the Upload Now pushbutton I get an error stating "Invalid bitmap header from video capture device driver."

This is caused when your capture device generates something called a YUV frame instead of a RGB frame. If your capture device can be setup to generate RGB frames then you are all set. Otherwise, select the YUV Device checkbox on the Setup page in SpyCam and you should be fine. Capturing images in YUV format takes a bit more processing time, otherwise you will not notice a difference.

The preview image is fine, but when I upload the image to my site, the colors look all wrong?

This is caused when your computer systems video is configured for 256 colors and you have SpyCam configured to put one or more captions on the image. You will need to either configure your systems video for at least 16 million colors, or turn off both of the captions in SpyCam.

SpyCam works fine as long as the Control page is open. However, when it is closed and the image file is updated, the timestamp on the image changes properly but the image itself is not updated. What's up with this?

Apparently some of the Video For Windows drivers out there do not allow the image to change if the preview window is not open. The preview window, in SpyCams case, is the Control page. There is nothing SpyCam can do about this. In some cases people have downloaded driver updates from their camera/video card manufacturer and the problem was corrected. In other cases they have reported the error to their respective manufacturers and in the mean time keep the Control page open. This is annoying I know, but there isn't anything I can do about it.

I am an AOL user. Will SpyCam work for me?

Only if you're using AOL software for dial-up connections. You need the latest AOL software. Specific instructions can be found here. Please read section 9 'How about using a different FTP/WEB-update programs while on AOL?'.
But, here is my take on what you need to do:

Remote Machine Name: members.aol.com

FTP Login: ftp

FTP Password: yourscreenname@aol.com

I am a Geocities user. Will SpyCam work for me?

Setup info for Geocities can be found here.

Every time I try to capture an image, the error message "The buffer is invalid." gets displayed. Whats wrong?

This appears to be related to the Dialup Networking of Windows.

I have had a report that doing this will clear up the problem:

For some reason, I think SpyCam needs it's own DUN account if you have other programs that use it. I would suggest that people just make a copy of their existing DUN account, rename it, and ONLY use it for SpyCam. Why this works? I have no idea. If you try this, please email me with the results.

If this doesn't work for you, a work-around is to connect manually to your ISP and change SpyCams connection method to Assume Active.

How can I get SpyCam translated into my native language?

If you wish to translate SpyCam into a different language and you have access to Microsoft Visual C++ Version 6.0. Email me at woatman@rochester.rr.com and I will be happy to supply the required files and information.