MiriStream and LiveCamNetwork are able to delivery spectacular quality, high definition video across the Internet to end users, but it is only as good as its source. Things like your computer's speed, USB Camera or Video Camera + Capture device, Internet connection speed etc can all have adverse effects on your video quality. Here some examples:

Good Quality Video
Here is an example of perfect image quality. This kind of image is easy to broadcast when your computer is one of the more recent PC or Mac, with a good Webcam or camcorder. Your customers will see sharp, detailed images at full 30 frapes per second, without any "lossy" compression artifacts, blurring or drop outs. Expect to make lots of sales.

A fast "clean" Internet connection of at least 200 Kilobits per second upstream is required, and your computer must be free from any power robbing programs such as file sharing programs, spyware, viruses, etc.

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Jagged Video, or video containing compression artifacts such as large pixels or blocks.
This is a good example of what happens when your computer is running slower. You may have a very good camera (and capture card even), but your computer's CPU cannot compress the image fast enough to transmit the full detail of the picture. Expect to make good sales, with the occaisonal customer comment that your video quality is poor.

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Blurry Video, or video with slow frame rate or slow update rate
In this the image is blurry when the subject moves. This is usually because the camera's shutter speed is too slow. If you are using a webcam, adding more light may help as the auto settings in the webcam will increase the shutter speed to compensate for the extra light.

You may also consider buying a better camera or Camcorder & Capture card. Camcorders have a much wider lens, larger capture sensor, and better electronics. A capture card will off-load the work that your CPU normaly would do to its own internal graphics processor. A Camcorder and capture card will provide much better image detail.

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Grainy Video and Bad color
Many USB cameras the use a built-in "Light Amplifier", which is supposed to brighten dark images. This works, but also introduce alot of "video noise", which you see as random, moving dots all over the image. MiriStream has to work much harder in this situation to compress the image, resulting in bad quality once delivered over the web.

Older USB Cameras have extremely poor color reproduction. As you can see in this picture, these types of cameras tend to make skin tones as well as the overall picture very GREEN.

To fix this, use more light, and try different white balance settings if your camera's software is so equiped. If you are able to set a manual white balance, follow your camera's instructions to do so. Otherwise, try auto white balance, and improve the lighting where possible.

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If your computer is slow, try the following ideas to improve it's speed.:

Check your Camera Resolution::

Make sure that your webcam or capture card is sending the correct video resolution to MiriStream. If your camera is sending more data than is required, it can reduce the performance of your PC.

The following is instructions for the Microsoft LifeCam VX-6000. If your camera is different, instructions may be different in detail but should be close to yours.

To correc the video resolution on the LifeCam VX-6000

1. Programs -> Microsoft LifeCam -> Microsoft LifeCam.
2. Find and click on the icon for "Open Resolution Settings" - that may be on the far right near the top (might be a box with two arrows sticking out)
3. Change Video Resolution to be 320x240 , then click on the [X] to get rid of the Camera Resolution screen.
4. Click on [X] to get exit out of Microsoft LifeCam.

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Microsoft Windows Vista Users:
Turn Off Aero::

While it makes Windows Vista prettier, it can consume a lot of resources and slow things down.

To turn off Aero in Vista:

1. Right-click the Windows desktop and select Personalize
2. Click on "Window Color and Appearance" link
3. Click on "Open classic appearance properties for more color options"
4. In the Color scheme drop-down box, choose "Windows Vista Basic", and click OK.

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Set your PC's performance to MAXIMUM::

Microsoft Vista has very good power management but it can slow down your machine when want it to the least.

To set your Vista-powered machine to Maximum performance:

1. Click START
2. Click CONTROL PANEL
3. Click SYSTEM AND MAINTENANCE
4. Click POWER OPTIONS
5. Select HIGH PERFORMANCE and then click CHANGE PLAN SETTINGS
6. Set Turn Off Display to NEVER
7. Set Put Computer to Sleep to NEVER
8. Click SAVE CHANGES.

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Remove ALL locations from Search Indexing (Indexing Removal)::
(Note: Depending on your configuration of Vista, Indexing Service may or may not be present)

Hard Disk indexing is a service which runs in background, eating up lots of CPU time. It indexes all of the files on your computr to make let windows find them quicker when you search for any particular file. We suggest disabling this function if you do not search for files often.

To turn off Search Indexing :

1. Click on Start button.
2. Click on Control Panel.
3. Click on System and Maintenance.
4. Click on Indexing Options.
5. Remove/uncheck ALL locations (this step varies from machine to machine)
   
   - To remove an Included Location, simply click on Modify button, and then untick the checkbox for respective folders under the "Change selected locations" box.
   
   - To remove indexing on Start Menu and/or Users folder, click on "Advanced" button at Indexing Options dialog or "Show all locations" in Indexed Locations dialog. UAC access request continue required. Click on Start Menu and Users once at "Summary of selected locations" box if you do not see the checkbox for them.

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Turn off Windows Search Service::

Hard Disk indexing is a service which runs in background, eating up lots of CPU time. It indexes all of the files on your computr to make let windows find them quicker when you search for any particular file. We suggest disabling this function if you do not search for files often.

Turn off Windows Search Service :

1. Click on Start button, then select Control Panel -> System and Maintenance -> Administrative Tools, and double click on Services OR: simply type "Services" (without quotes) in Start Search box.
2. If User Account Control asks for permission, click Continue.
3. Locate an service named Windows Search. Right click on Windows Search, and then select Properties
4. Click on Stop button to stop the indexing service immediately.
5. On the Startup Type dropdown box, select Disabled.
6. Click on OK button.

De-Select Drive Indexing:

1. Open Windows Explorer from Accessories
2. Right click on the drive (or drive letter) that you want to turn off the indexing (usually Drive C, but you may have more than one hard drive).
3. Select Properties on the contextual menu.
4. Unselect (untick) the "Index this drive for faster searching option"
5. Click OK. Process may take a while.
6. Some errors are normal, as temporary & locked files can cause them; If you get an error click on Ignore or Ignore All to continue

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If your Vista is breaking network communications, you can try this

1. Click Start -> All Programs -> Accessories
2. Right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as Administrator
3. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation
4. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER: netsh interface tcp set global autotuninglevel=disabled
5. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER: netsh interface tcp set global rss=disabled
6. Close the Command Prompt window.
7. Restart the computer.

If you want to turn it back on / reverse the changes, do the following:

1. Click Start -> All Programs -> Accessories
2. Right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as Administrator
3. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation
4. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER: netsh interface tcp set global autotuninglevel=normal
5. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER: netsh interface tcp set global rss=normal
6. Close the Command Prompt window.
7. Restart the computer.

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To speed up your hard disk filesystem, you can turn off Last Access Time:

1. Click Start -> All Programs -> Accessories
2. Right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as Administrator
3. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation
4. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER: FSUTIL behavior set disablelastaccess 1
5. Close the Command Prompt window.
6. Restart the computer.

If you want to turn it back on again: Turn on NTFS Last Access Time: :

1. Click Start -> All Programs -> Accessories
2. Right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as Administrator
3. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation
4. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER: FSUTIL behavior set disablelastaccess 0
5. Close the Command Prompt window.
6. Restart the computer.

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Turn off automatic hard disk defrag:

1. Click on Start button
2. Click on Control Panel
3. Click on Performance information and tools
4. Click on Advanced Tools
5. Open Disk Defragmenter
6. Uncheck/untick "Run on a schedule"

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NOTEBOOK / LAPTOP USERS:


Laptop computers tend to run much slower than their desktop counterparts due to power saving features. These features extend battery time by slowing down your CPU, disabling components such as they network card, etc, each of which will prevent MiriStream from running correctly. To fix known issues with laptops and to improve performance, please follow the following instructions:

Turn Off CPU Power Management::

While it makes Windows Vista prettier, it can consume a lot of resources and slow things down.

To turn off Aero in Vista:

1. Click the battery icon in your start bar
2. Change profile to "High performance"
3. Click More Power Options
4. In the Power Options, Select "High Performance"
   If you run your laptop on battery, it will not use full CPU (bad for MiriStream) unless you change Advanced Options for High Performance profile, like this:
   • While your "High Performance" is selected, click on "Change plan settings"
   • Then click on "Change advanced power settings"
   • Click on the [+] to expand "Processor power management"
   • Change Minimum Processor State "On Battery" from 5% to 100%
     (Note: This will drain your battery quicker, but provide full CPU)

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Prevent Vista from turning off network cards::

1. Click Control Panel
2. Click System
3. Click Device Manager
4. Click Network Adapters
5. For each Network Adapter, go into Power Management tab. Then uncheck/untick ""Allow Windows to shut off this device to save power"

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