Live Cams Pro v2.0 Coming Soon ...

We have been indicating Live Cams Pro v1.94 would be the next version released but this is no longer the case.  There has been significant changes to Live Cams Pro that we decided that it was worthy of an increment of the major release version so we named this upcoming release Live Cams Pro v2.0.  This new release has the same underlying functionality with some enhancements such as video recording, preliminary RTSP support and a significant change was made to include an improved easy to use user interface.

Future blog posts will have more information on the timing of the Live Cams Pro v2.0 release.

Known bugs in Live Cams Pro v1.6

Apple reviewed and released the 1.6 patch yesterday and the high priority bugs were eliminated. We have now been working on the 1.7 release and can report on a few of the bugs that are being addressed:

Known 1.6 Issues - Fixed in v1.7

1. Foscam audio playback is poppy/scratchy/clicky in version 1.5 and 1.6
2. Foscam audio output quality improvements
3. Cisco/Linksys audio fails on some devices causing a crash.
4. JPEG/MJPEG URL profiles fail to allow "/" characters
5. Audio output does not work on Axis devices using HTTPS
6. Home Surveillance mode is missing an option to allow startup with favorites

Additions in 1.7

1. Linksys/Cisco audio out (tested on WVC210)
2. Advanced settings screens now use a label and a button to launch hyperlinks instead of a simple label
3. Added the ability to launch group 1 or group 2 cameras when starting in home surveillance mode (in addition to all private cameras or favorites)

Our next release should be the last update before the holidays and we hope to have it completed and tested this week.

Update (Dec 12, 2011) - The release has been submitted to Apple (followed by a review that usual takes them 6-8 days before the app appears on iTunes) 

Live Cams Pro v1.5 (+ v1.6 patch)

Our latest release is now available in the app store and it is quickly generating a lot of interest.

We'd like to report on several bugs that have been reported so far:

1) Anyone who had an unlicensed version of Live Cams Pro prior to 1.5 should wait for a patch to be released before making any in-app purchases. The app fails to recognize the purchase even though the payment is accepted by Apple. Users with licenses or new users of 1.5 have not reported any issues, this is only a problem for people who have updated an old copy before purchasing anything. If you have already run into this problem don't worry, your purchase is still valid and on record with Apple. When the 1.6 patch is released you can use the restore purchases option to resolve the issue.

2) Sort order for private cameras and favorites is not being honored. They will all appear alphabetical. Your previously assigned sort order has not been lost, it's just not being respected when the cameras are loaded.

3) URL-based camera profiles complain about protocols being present in the url when a camera is added.

4) Editing group names for private cameras always changes the name of the first group instead of the one originally selected.

5) Private cameras cannot be deleted from the list mode.

6) Control button sometimes doesn't appear (or never appears) for a PTZ device.

7) Audio no longer works for Apexis or Wansview cameras (this has been resolved without the need for a patch. Simply shut down the app and restart it to obtain the new configuration).

8) Astak Mole cameras fail to display video. This can be resolved by shutting down the app and restarting to fetch the latest config.

9) SecuritySpy camera import complains about requiring a camera name but the field is disabled.

All of these have been reproduced and resolved on our development systems but we will need to release a quick patch to Apple in order to get the software out to the customers. This can sometimes take 2-3 days.
The patch will be labelled as the 1.6 release and it was submitted to Apple on Sunday Dec 4 at 11:12am EST.

As always, please report bugs to our support@eggmantechnologies.com email account. Thanks!

Foscam Audio (1-way) coming in Live Cams Pro v1.2, Panasonic and Sony in v1.3

We've finally cracked the issues with decoding Foscam audio and have submitted Live Cams Pro version 1.2 to the app store. It was submitted on June 3rd (5 days ago) and is still listed as "Waiting for review" by Apple. Hopefully this will be released soon!

A word of caution, Foscam uses a highly compressed audio format which results in poor quality playback (although if you've heard it in Internet Explorer then you already know what to expect). Also we've noticed that the built-in microphone on these cameras is either of poor quality or poorly placed within the housing. As a result the volume of the audio is very low. We tested our 8918 unit with an external microphone and noticed a substantial improvement. If you are using these cameras as baby monitors then the external microphone is a good investment in peace of mind :)

Two-way audio will be under development after we add audio for a few more brands. At the time this article is being written we have completed one-way audio for Panasonic Profile 1 (non-iPro devices) and the first 2 Sony profiles. These will be released as v1.3 shortly after v1.2 is approved.

Our price remains at $1.99 US for the private camera license in Live Cams Pro. This is essentially the $2 upgrade fee we would have charged for audio and other enhancements if they had been introduced into the two separate apps in the past. The new app is a universal binary, requiring us to release it as a new product. Having a single application binary that works on all devices is better for our customers and easier for us to test and roll out as well. Our full-time efforts are still focused on producing the most powerful IP camera product on the iOS platform, we appreciate your support!

Updates to our Live Cams Pro Product

After our launch this weekend we have found that a change to our approach is necessary. Our intention with the latest software release was to get into a "freemium" business model. This allows everyone to see our product and experience it without having to blindly purchase it first. We know that our product quality and features stand out from the crowd and that we simply needed better exposure so that we could continue to sell our software. Unfortunately since we were one of the first apps in the app store we produced our software before in-app purchases were available, forcing us to charge for the app up-front and spend money on advertising to get everyone interested. This is a very restrictive approach. We cannot simply upgrade our existing application because there is no way for us to detect or guarantee that a user has already purchased it. This necessitated the release of a brand new app.

Our recent release of Live Cams Pro was aimed at new business from users who needed advanced features not available in our existing products. After receiving our initial feedback we have found that so many of our customers love our software that many existing users wanted these expanded features but did not like the higher price. In order to continue to run a viable business we cannot simply release the expanded capabilities for free (some users have been using our 99 cent (US)  Live Cams product for over 2.5 years now without any additional costs). Our Live Cams HD product was created before universal apps were common and we felt that we also needed to put out a release which would allow someone to install a single licensed copy on all of their devices.

In both an apology and a compromise we have lowered our private camera purchase in Live Cams Pro to $1.99 US in the hopes that we can get enough volume sales to make up the difference. We also intend to eliminate the "Unlicensed" banner on public cameras and retain the 99 cent (US) fee to eliminate the advertising banners. A new release is being generated and submitted to Apple for review which will implement this approach.

In the coming days we will be communicating with Apple in order to find out how customers can be reimbursed for the difference in price from their initial purchase of private camera licenses. If you wish to ask them for a refund now in order to purchase again later at a lower price, please contact iTunes via the links on your email receipts. 

This change is a recognition that the recent outcry was primarily from existing customers who love our products and are frustrated with a higher cost to update. Live Cams Pro is the product we wanted to create initially 2.5 years ago but the infrastructure and payment mechanisms were not possible at the time. Going forward we will continue to push out regular product updates of Live Cams Pro with enhanced menus and features at no additional cost (Live Cams received over 40 updates in the past 2 years). For many existing customers our Live Cams and Live Cams HD products are sufficient and will continue to give them the features that they need most. In this case there will be no need to upgrade to the new software.

Live Cams Pro now available!

You've probably noticed a slowdown in the updates for Live Cams in 2011. This was due to our intense efforts to produce an entirely new product - Live Cams Pro!

What's new with this app? Why should you get it? Here's the scoop:

1. It's a FREE download. You no longer have to purchase the app to see what it can do. If you try it out and like what you see, in-app purchases are available to unlock the license for public or private camera features. Any purchase will also remove the advertising banner from the main screen.
2. It's a UNIVERSAL BINARY. In simple terms, this means a single version of the program can be installed on all of your iPhone/iPod/iPad devices. If you've purchased a license and then install the app on another device that you own, simply go to the settings screen and tell the app to "Restore Purchases".
3. AUDIO SUPPORT (private cameras only) for many models of Axis, TRENDnet and DLink cameras. We are expanding this offering and as we add support for additional brands and models you will receive free updates.
4. MAP and LIST view modes! If you want to save bandwidth on 3G connections you can switch away from the thumbnail viewing mode and change to a simple text-based list to select cameras from. If you are viewing public cameras and want to select them from a map, that's also supported!
5. GPS features! One of the new built-in camera lists is called "Nearby" and it will find the nearest 100 cameras to your current location. Keep in mind that there are roughly 5000 cameras in the app but they won't necessarily be in your neighborhood or even your city. We will continue to add more content as time goes on.
6. Advanced camera settings. If you enter your own private camera information and it uses one of the camera profiles that support these features, a new menu option will be available that lets you adjust camera properties like contrast, brightness, motion detection on/off, night mode, etc. See this feature matrix to determine what the current features are for each profile.
7. Push notifications. The app supports push notifications so that we can transmit messages to individual devices. Currently this feature is unused but in the future we intend to add additional capabilities to take advantage of it!
8. URL launching. Other applications can launch Live Cams Pro by opening URLs with the "livecamspro://" prefix. This could be used by more complex configurations to automatically launch the app (perhaps when your camera's motion sensor is triggered). We'll talk more about this in a future release :)
9. Full orientation support. All device orientations are handled for every single screen in the application. This means you are free to choose if you hold your device on the side or in portrait mode.
10. Optional thumbnail titles. Swipe up or down on thumbnails to toggle the visibility of the thumbnail titles. On iPhones and iPods this is vital so that you can see the entire thumbnail and not have it obscured by text.

NOTE TO EXISTING LIVE CAMS CUSTOMERS:

This application is primarily geared to new users and private camera owners who wish to take advantage of the extra features. The public camera list is identical to that of the Live Cams and Live Cams HD applications. It is your choice to purchase the public license again for this application or to continue using the older product line. The application was built and released as a free download so that we can increase visibility in the competitive app store marketplace. 

Here's the link to the app in the US app store: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/live-cams-pro/id428145132?mt=8

iCamView Profile broken in v4.90 and v4.91

It has been brought to our attention that the iCamView camera profile is no longer working (the last working release if v4.8). We have verified this and have fixed the problem but will not be able to release another update until Apple reopens after the holidays.

For now, you can get video using the 4.9/4.91 release by adding your camera using the JPEG image via URL profile and the following syntax:
http://HOST:PORT/pda.cgi?user=USERNAME&password=PASSWORD&page=image&cam=1

Replace all of the words in CAPS with your own values.

Again, we're very sorry and hope to have the fix released as soon as Apple reopens for business in a week or two.

Live Cams HD 1.9 - Image size change!

As requested by many of our Live Cams HD users, the iPad release now shows cameras at their native resolution by default. This means that after selecting a thumbnail and launching the video screen the cameras will often load as a smaller size than before. This is because the camera may be sending 320x240 or 640x480 video and the iPad is using a 1024x768 screen.

For now you can simply pinch-zoom the images to stretch them and get the same result as the previous release. We are adding a settings option in the 2.0 release which will allow you to control the default behaviour. In this way you can decide if you prefer the native resolution (which makes the video look crisper, yet often smaller) or the stretched images that will always fill the screen.

We were hoping to add the toggle switch at the same time as we introduced this feature but we ran out of time to submit the app to Apple before the holiday shutdown. Version 2.0 will complete the feature and hopefully offer some additional goodies!

UPDATE - Due to overwhelming response we have reversed this change and released a patch to Apple. The Live Cams HD release is v1.91 and the Live Cams release is v4.91
We will re-introduce the feature in the next major release along with the toggle option to turn it on or off.

New features arriving soon!

We are still waiting for the 4.80 and 1.80 releases of Live Cams and Live Cams HD to be approved by Apple. With these releases come several exciting new features (among other enhancements)!

TV OUT
For those using an iPad or iPhone 4 with a component video cable or a VGA cable you will be able to view the fullscreen video for a camera on your HDTV. This is currently a very simple implementation (nothing is shown for any screens other than the video screen) but should get the ball rolling as we start to figure out how far we can take this!

REORDER PRIVATE CAMERAS AND FAVORITES
This one has been on our to-do list for a long time and we've finally got it ready. We have replaced the "Add Camera" button with a new title, "Manage". If you select either "My Cameras" or "Favorites" the button will become enabled. After selecting this you will see a table which lists all of the cameras in text form and it will allow you to delete them (or remove from favorites) or reorder them. Simple drag and drop allows you to change the order of items in the list. Pressing the "back" button will repaint the screen with the new sequence.

We do not currently have support for assigning cameras to groups (and we know many have asked for this) . We hope that this initial step gives our users better control over their camera lists.

IMAGE ORIENTATION
From the video screen for a given camera you can now choose the tool icon and select "Image Orientation". This will give you several choices such as "Normal", "Flip", "Mirror" and "Flip + Mirror". If you change the orientation you will notice that Live Cams remembers this setting on subsequent loads of the app. Each camera can be configured independently using this option.

Live Cams 4.71 approved and back in the store shortly!

Apple has approved the release of Live Cams 4.71 and we are happy to announce that it will be live in the App Store in the next hour or so. We removed the 4.7 release after hearing that owners of devices with OS3.0 and OS3.1 were experiencing crashes. Unfortunately due to the way that the app store works we were forced to remove the app for all customers even though it worked fine on newer firmware.

We apologize for the delay but we remain committed to having only the highest quality releases available for sale. Live Cams HD v1.7 is still waiting for review by Apple but should also be available in a few days if there aren't any issues.

Development continues on Live Cams v4.8 (allowing you to re-order your private cameras, and more!).

Live Cams 4.7 - Removed from the App Store

Apple has just approved Live Cams 4.7 after it sat in the review queue for the past 10 days.  Within an hour of the app being approved and going live on the app store we have received 5 emails about the app crashing when a thumbnail is clicked.

We have decided to pull the app from the store until we can reproduce it and identify the issue. At the moment we have tried unsuccessfully to reproduce the issue on iPhone4, iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch 2nd gen. (running iOS 4.x)

UPDATE: We have reproduced the issue on an iPhone 3G running OS 3.0
The crash is caused by the use of an API that was introduced in OS 3.2 which means than any OS older than 3.2 would experience this issue. We have fixed the bug and have resubmitted the application to Apple. We now await their review process (usually 6-10 days) to get the fix out. The app will re-appear in the store once this is complete.

Thank you,

Live Cams Support
support@barryegerter.com

Light My Way - Approved

It appears that a week later Apple has approved our second application, "Light My Way". It's free!

At the moment it's very simplistic but we will be adding a large number of enhancements as usual :)

Live Cams 4.7 undergoing testing

We have had a fantastic response to the latest 4.6 and 1.6 releases of the Live Cams product line. We are approaching the two-year anniversary of the creation of Live Cams and we are very excited to see that it is still a very popular app in the iTunes App Store. Currently Live Cams is in the top 100 paid apps in the UK.

That doesn't mean we rest! We have been busy with our usual bugfixes and enhancements and are performing our last few days of testing on the 4.7 and 1.7 releases.

Live Cams 4.7 and Live Cams HD 1.7 contain a number of significant enhancements, including:

- Fix for "hanging" app caused by moving the app to the background and then resuming it on a different network (ie, pause the app on Wifi and resume on 3G)
- More reliable thumbnail generation from camera profiles which can only load snapshots
- Streamlined UI with new slider images, new toolbar images (instead of button text) and a new look for the PTZ preset list
- Eliminated the customized battery status indicator on the video screen and replaced it with the official iPhone status bar (which shows your true network connection and the realtime battery indicator). This can be toggled offscreen just like the titlebar and lower toolbar
- Memory leaks resolved relating to PTZ button presses
- Select Trendnet devices can now be rebooted from the advanced controls menu
- DLink DCS 2121 and DCS 5635 PTZ and preset support added
- Planet ICA-H610 profile with PTZ controls added

Update available, Android port underway!

After being under "review" for 7 days, Apple has finally released the 4.6 and 1.6 versions of Live Cams and Live Cams HD. The major change in these releases are the fixes for crashes caused by sliders and Canon camera profiles. If you continue to experience crashing when using the app, please contact support@barryegerter.com as soon as possible so that we can examine the issue. The application appears to be very stable on our test devices so we hope that it behaves as well for our customers :)

On another note, there have been a lot of requests for an Android version of Live Cams in the past few months. I'm happy to report that Google has now opened up the marketplace to Canadian developers and we are going to start porting the app to the Android platform. From first glance we will likely target the 2.1 OS as our lowest supported device. Development will be underway in a week or two and we are hoping to have a release near the end of the year. We may scale back a few features in order to get the first version out but we will definitely continue to enhance it once completed!

Live Cams 4.6 and Live Cams HD 1.6 submitted to Apple

We have released another minor update to Apple while we undergo some major engine updates (to be labelled as a 5.0 release and 2.0 HD release). Here are the details.....

New overall features:
- Corrected pinch-zoom issues with JPEG camera profile (the video frame was shifting after a new frame arrived)
- Fixed crashes related to the use of Canon cameras and PTZ slider controls

New camera profiles:
- Hawking HNC290G
- Sanyo VDC-DP9584N with PTZ and presets

New camera-specific features:
- Corrected zoom in/out increments for Axis 241S and 240Q servers using RS-485 port for PTZ control
- Fixed PTZ and presets for Trendnet IP400 and IP600 models, as well as their Airlink equivalents
- Corrected the aspect ratio display issues for the Dedicated Micros camera profile
- Added auto pan/tilt features for DLink camera profiles that were previously missing this
- Added PTZ and preset support for Compro IP530 and IP540

Live Cams 4.2 is out - but problems exist!

Apple has finally approved the sale of Live Cams 4.2, but within hours of release there have been several reports of loading issues. It seems that devices running 3.1.2 (and possibly older versions) of the iPhone OS will not load the app properly. Phones that have iOS4 installed seem to work fine. A patch is currently under development and will be submitted to Apple for emergency release shortly.

For those of you who failed to read this in time, your options are to either upgrade to iOS4 or wait a couple of days for Apple to release the patch. You could also restore a previous backup of Live Cams if you have one synced with iTunes.

UPDATE (July 25th):
The fix has been submitted to Apple and a request for emergency release has been issued to them. The cause of the crash was due to some changes in the latest Apple SDK. These changes (unknown to us) caused the app to attempt to load features only available on the iPad when running on OS 3.x
We hope that the update is released as soon as possible.

Live Cams 4.1 and HD 1.1 now submitted for review

All bugfixes to date have been built into the next version of Live Cams and submitted to Apple for review. No major changes other than a few camera profiles added (3xLOGIC and Axis Q6032), some PTZ controls for LILIN devices and the PTZ buttons and window are refined. It will likely be several days before Apple has a chance to review this.

Live Cams HD is now available on the App Store!

Finally, the time has arrived and Live Cams HD has been live on the App Store for a few hours.

In just a few hours the ranks for the app are incredible:

#59 iPad app overall in the United States (#5 utility)

#8 utility in Canada
#8 utility in Australia
#10 utility in the UK
#11 utility in Spain
#13 utility in France
#16 utility in Deutschland
#16 utility in Chile
#18 utility in Japan

There are a few bugs that have been reported in Live Cams 4.0 and these have already been corrected in our development release. We will complete testing and release a patch for both the iPhone and the iPad shortly.

Please remember that there is a new import feature available (find it under the settings screen). If you have Live Cams installed on more than one device it's very handy to be able to pull your favorites and private cameras to the other devices without having to type anything in. On the master device you simply click "Allow others to import" and then on your secondary device you just click import.

Live Cams HD - get it now! :)

EDIT:
New ranks as of 1:49pm EST:

Top 100 Paid Apps (iPad)
#22 in Turkey (#2 util)
#42 in the US (#3 util)
#46 in Canada (#3 util)
#73 in Norway (#6 util)
#88 in Australia (#8 util)
#98 in the UK (#6 util)

Top 100 Paid Utilities
#7 in Deutschland
#7 in Japan
#7 in Nederland
#9 in Espana
#13 in France
(and many more)

Live Cams 4.0 and Live Cams HD ready for submission

Live Cams releases for both iPhone and iPad are now ready for Apple to review. During the past two days we have resolved the interface glitches that we discovered during testing and we also took time to add an important new feature.

Using Bluetooth radio the app will be able to transfer private cameras and favorites to other devices. This will be handy if you have an iPad and want to pull your camera settings from an iPhone or iPod touch. It will also allow you to use one device as a master and then pull the data to other devices (perhaps you have dozens of private cameras and a team of people who need to have the same data). Simply bring the devices within range (for bluetooth signal) and with one click on each one it will transfer the data.

We understand that it has been about two months since our last release and that many have been waiting patiently for various fixes. Now that the laborious process of implementing these engine changes is complete we will be able to return to our frequent smaller updates on both platforms.

Expect a week or so before Apple (hopefully) approves the two releases.

Live Cams HD - Delayed

We have a few more user interface glitches to resolve before we are satisfied with the quality of the release. We expect a few more days of development and testing before we submit the software to Apple for review.

This delay also applies to Live Cams 4.0 which is partly tied to the same source code and therefore subject to a similar timeline. The products are feature-complete and are being held back due to display issues during orientation changes.

Thanks again for your support and patience!