WLM & Logitech Quickcam 9000 issues

[jgibson]

I appreciate any assistance or insight that anyone can offer on this issue. I can honestly say I've spent tens of hours working on this, trying just about everything with no luck.

Problem: When completing a video call in WLM, I can see and hear the person on the other end, but my video to them is choppy/delayed and audio is pretty much nothing. The video is choppy when I see it and when they receive it.

Checked video and audio functionality with Quickcam software and it is working. In fact, the video is good in WLM until the connection is established. We were able to test showing and viewing webcam from both ends of the connection at the same time and video was GOOD on both ends, but when we introduce the audio, both audio and video are BAD.

Running Win XP on Dell Inspiron 6000. Have shutdown all programs and unnecessary services and process, no change.

We were running WLM 2009 but downgraded to 8.5 - no change.

Had updated drivers for the camera 11.90.1262 and downgraded to 10.4 - no change.

Updated Java and removed all previous versions - no change.

No windows firewall - no other firewall - no firewall at all.

This laptop is within a small LAN behind a Linksys RVS4000 router. It has UPnp enabled - but..... We have the exact same laptop hardware (also running XP but software load is not the same) also within this office and when we hook the camera up on the "other" laptop, with the updated drivers and WLM 2009, video chat works perfectly (no issues at all)- so it's something on this laptop.... a setting, software interferance, who knows.....

We ran the audio and video wizard in WLM and it all looks good....

Any suggestions - please throw them at me And if you need additional information, please let me know.

[jgibson]

Maybe this will spawn a thought.....

On this same laptop, when I check the connection in WLM Options, it says that we are connected to the internet through a non-UPnP port restricted NAT (administrator). I think this is the basis of my problem.

What I don't get is that the router has UPnP enabled and so is the PC (checked using unplug n pray). And recall, I have another laptop in the lan that does work properly (audio and video) and the connection in WLM says that i am connected to the internet through a UPnP port restricted NAT (administrator)

So, it appears to be something with the laptop, a setting, software, etc....

Running no firewall (windows firewall disabled).

Please, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[patndoris]

WLM does like UPnP to be enabled with voice and video. The easiest way to do this on XP is to use Unplug'n'Pray. I know the website has some old info on it - but the application is still the easiest way I've found to enable/disable UPnP on XP. (It does not work on Vista).

UPnP can be finicky. You may have it enabled then find it has disabled. I saved the application to my desktop so I could run it as needed. It may take a little while for your system to recognize UPnP is enabled, or possibly even a reboot.

Let me know if this helps.

[Gandalf]

I don't have any easy solution (sorry!) but here are a few questions and suggestions that might help you fix this.

First off, it's good to know that you can use the webcam with your other laptop just fine. That tells me that it's probably not a problem with the router (especially since that other laptop is using UPnP).

Now, on the laptop with the problem, has it ever worked ok on your network? If it used to work, and now it doesn't, that gives us hope for a solution.

If not, have you tried using the webcam with software other than WLM? I know that doesn't specifically fix the WLM problem, but just to eliminate the network issue, I'd try it out with Skype or Yahoo! Messenger and see if it works there. If it does, then it would seem to indicate a problem with the local configuration of WLM.

One other suggestion -- is there any chance you can test the webcam, connecting to the Internet from another location (a friend or relative's house, or even a Starbucks)?

[jgibson]

Thanks for the help and suggestions... As you can tell, I'm at a loss.

I did try using Unplug'n'pray and it indicates that uPnP is enabled.

We have never gotten WLM and video conf to work properly on the network - or other networks. We've tested at the office, his house and my house, both wired and wireless. There's been no difference. And since we have other WLM and Webcams working (same camera and WLM version) at these locations, it tells me there's something on the laptop - some software that's somehow blocking the traffic.

We have tried Skype and we experience the same issues, and I know that Skype uses different protocols - so that's strange. I'll see about trying Yahoo to see if we can different response.

One other thing - I used Mark Gillespie's (markgillespie.co.uk) UPnP test and the first 6 tests pass, with 7 & 8 failing. Again, this tells me ports, firewall, something is blocking the traffic on the PC. I started the firewall service and we have the UPnP framework exception checked, but the firewall is off. (I also tested with the firewall on and no change.) I don't see any other firewall programs installed, nor do I see anything in the registry that might be hanging around from an old program that was uninstalled.

[patndoris]

I'd just like to verify with regard to WLM:

1. Video is totally fine if there is NO sound introduced.
2. If sound is introduced - both video and audio become choppy on your cam only.

If you do a call only with no video, how is the audio quality at that point?

I have not tried this with the current version of WLM, but in older versions it was sometimes advantageous to start the cam and the call as separate functions. I might suggest trying to send your cam first, then request your contact's cam. After the video is successfully and smoothly connected, start a call and see what happens. It's not ideal but it possibly might help.

In addition to Java being updated I'd also recommend keeping Shockwave up to date as well. However, I'll say that I don't anticipate it will make any improvement in your current situation.

Can you please let me know the answer to the audio only question, as well as whether starting them separately makes any difference, and I'll keep thinking about this one. I know you've tried several versions of WLM - are you on the latest now or the older version?

[jgibson]

Doris - Sorry for the delay in response, it's been an eventful week at our house!

YES - Video is totally fine if there is no sound introduced
YES - If sound is introduced, both video and audio become choppy on my cam only.

If we do no video, just audio, audio is better than with video, but still mostly unrecognizable.

We did try starting a wecam session first and then adding video and although it's better than starting a video call, the video is GREAT but the audio is still very choppy, though not as much. This is not as good as video calls with others using the same camera with same version of WLM.

We had already updated shockwave.

We are currently on the latest version of WLM on both ends. Or so I think. WLM 2009 14.0.8064.206

We took the laptop to another location and checked connection. We got the message that we were connected to the internet through a PnP restricted NAT. Thought that we would have a successful test - but we experienced no difference in our tests.

Thanks again - we'll keep trying as well.

[patndoris]

I assume you are using the mic that's built into the cam for all this. Can you please disconnect the cam from the laptop, and test audio only using an external mic?

If the audio is still poor please stop and let me know. If the audio is fine on an external mic please continue.

Then, I'd like you to reconnect the cam and use the cam for video only, selecting the external mic for the audio portion and tell me how that works.