Webcam Jerky in Local Mode

I want to demonstrate the use of a webcam with MSN Messenger at a school
tech fair this week. I will not be able to have someone at the other end,
so can only do a local (off-line) demo. I thought I'd simply use the webcam
settings option to at least show a picture.

With my laptop (ThinkPad T22 with 40 GB hard drive and 512 MB of memory) the
picture, using the webcam settings option, is giving a frame refresh rate is
6-15 seconds! With a similarly equipped desktop (40 GB hard drive and 512
MB of memory), the motion is perfectly smooth and continuous.

The laptop is running Windows XP Professional SP2 and MSN Messenger
6.2.0205. The desktop is running Windows 2000 SP4 and MSN Messenger
6.2.0205. I notice that where the W2K system shows Tools...Audio Tuning
Wizard, the XP system shows Tools...Audio/Video Tuning Wizard, and shows in
the first screen a video window.

The CPU usage on the laptop varies between 2-25% and seems to fluctuate
slightly as I wave my hand in front of the camera. The CPU usage on the
esktop (with continuous video motion) is somewhat higher.

Finally, the behavior is identical whether I'm using an Intel CS780 Pocket
PC Camera or a Logitech QuickCam Express.

Any ideas on how to get a smooth picture motion on the laptop (XP
Professional)?

Jack
Mon Apr 25 14:13:39 CDT 2005

What is the CPU speed from laptop vs desktop?


"Paul DeVivo" <pdevivo@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:uKsGlvFSFHA.1996@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
>I want to demonstrate the use of a webcam with MSN Messenger at a school
> tech fair this week. I will not be able to have someone at the other end,
> so can only do a local (off-line) demo. I thought I'd simply use the
> webcam
> settings option to at least show a picture.
>
> With my laptop (ThinkPad T22 with 40 GB hard drive and 512 MB of memory)
> the
> picture, using the webcam settings option, is giving a frame refresh rate
> is
> 6-15 seconds! With a similarly equipped desktop (40 GB hard drive and 512
> MB of memory), the motion is perfectly smooth and continuous.
>
> The laptop is running Windows XP Professional SP2 and MSN Messenger
> 6.2.0205. The desktop is running Windows 2000 SP4 and MSN Messenger
> 6.2.0205. I notice that where the W2K system shows Tools...Audio Tuning
> Wizard, the XP system shows Tools...Audio/Video Tuning Wizard, and shows
> in
> the first screen a video window.
>
> The CPU usage on the laptop varies between 2-25% and seems to fluctuate
> slightly as I wave my hand in front of the camera. The CPU usage on the
> esktop (with continuous video motion) is somewhat higher.
>
> Finally, the behavior is identical whether I'm using an Intel CS780 Pocket
> PC Camera or a Logitech QuickCam Express.
>
> Any ideas on how to get a smooth picture motion on the laptop (XP
> Professional)?
>
>

Paul
Mon Apr 25 22:27:27 CDT 2005



> What is the CPU speed from laptop vs desktop?
>
The laptop has a Pentium III (M) at 950 Mhz, and the desktop has a Pentium
III at 750 Mhz.

The laptop runs everything else at normal speed. Only the video is bogged
down.