Feb 17, 2009

So, after about a month of wrestling with Ustream.tv and any other web site that imbeds interactive Adobe Flash or Shockwave videos, I decided I should actually take a good look at the error reports that Firefox and Chrome create on crash. I discovered that a module called IPCamera_MJPEG.ax was causing an issue. Normally, IPCamera_MJPEG.ax is found in C:\Windows\system32, but mine wasn’t there. I read on Ustream’s official forums, though, that other encoders and camera capture utilities from other cam streaming sites will cause an issue. One user reported the encoder for Justin.tv was the issue. Mine? The Camstreams encoder was the culprit. Once I uninstalled it (I wasn’t using it anyway), Ustream.tv behaved like an angel!

Just in case your issue isn’t with Camstreams or any other encoder, here’s some other ideas:

Windows Media Encoder (the Camstreams encoder is based off of WME, so WME might cause an issue too)
Outdated or corrupted video drivers. Update or reinstall the drivers any chipset or add-on graphics card you have.
Outdated Flash or Shockwave. Completely uninstall Flash and Shockwave. Adobe provides uninstall programs to clean all traces. Reinstall.
Other browser plugins. Though, less likely, it is possible that other plugins in your browser of choice are causing conflicts. Disable all of them, and renable them one-by-one while reloading Ustream (or any other site giving you trouble) to catch the culprit.
format c:
(disclaimer: It’s a joke ^…. I don’t want to be responsible for a wiped drive!)

13 Comments

V March 14, 2009 at 11:53 am

If that file doesn’t work, try looking for BtwVdpCapFilter.dll. This is a file used for sharing webcams over bluetooth or something dumb like that. You can rename it without problems
goke August 20, 2009 at 10:02 pm

I’m having the same issue w/ vista 32bit
i can’t find either file on system32

what do you mean by camstreams encoder…a little more specific please?
Justin Marty August 21, 2009 at 12:02 am

The Camstreams encoder is the program provided by camstreams.com to use with their service. If you don’t know who Camstreams is, then that’s not the problem you’re having.

Try removing any programs the utilize Flash to broadcast video. If you’ve downloaded any browser “helpers” or “viewers” to view Flash video, try untinstalling those. If you’ve ever downloaded any programs from Ustream, Stickam, Camstreams, Justin.tv, or any other of the dozens of video broadcasting sites, try uninstalling their respective programs they use to broadcast.
goke August 22, 2009 at 12:16 am

thanks for the quick response…how would i remove the justin.tv program?
goke August 22, 2009 at 12:53 am

I finally fixed it…I took the initiative to install the Camstreams encoder…then renamed the ax file restart…now it works
psychodd September 20, 2009 at 4:05 am

I renamed BtwVdpCapFilter.dll and now ustream seems to be working… aswesome!
Justin Marty September 20, 2009 at 9:15 am

Great! I’m glad it worked out!
Dave March 18, 2010 at 6:26 am

I have been struggling to find the FireFox crashing issue when using TinyChat on my forum.
I was searching for info on IPCamera_MJPEG.ax and came across this thread.
I had used Camstreams in the past but un-installed it long agao. But it got me thinking. I do use webcamXP. I had a look in the webcamXP folders and there is was.
I renamed the file and ‘bingo’. No more crashes.

Thanks for helping me look in the right direction.
Dave March 18, 2010 at 6:31 am

Further to the last post. I realised there were two instances of the same file listed. One a year older than the other with the newer being a slightly bigger files size. I deleted the oldest one and undid the rename on the remaining one.
Tried TinyChat again and still works without crashing.

Hope this helps anyone who’s been chasing the problem for hours like I was.
Justin Marty March 27, 2010 at 8:52 pm

Nice find!

Adobe likes to claim their beloved Flash doesn’t cause crashed, but… behold! Then again, you probably could blame the programmers for these flash-based webcasting web sites for files that don’t update properly (as in your case, Dave).

I’ve only had these issues in Vista and XP. Anyone had them in Windows 7?
Laurad April 25, 2010 at 5:34 pm

It’s April 2010 and I have Windows 7 Professional. I could not get the Ustream cams to work – I kept getting a message saying that Flash had “crashed” no matter what browser I used. Chrome said it “crashed”, IE 8 just shut down after giving me an error message and I could not figure out why. I installed and uninstalled and re-installed Shockwave Flash, but to no avail. I read what you said about the Camstreams encoder and realised I had recently installed it. I uninstalled it and now Ustream works like a dream.

Thanks so much.
Laura
asd May 11, 2010 at 3:20 pm

This was troubling me for days but I removed BtwVdpCapFilter.dll like the first guy said and it works now. Thanks so much for figuring it out
Elian May 13, 2010 at 3:44 pm

I have windows XP and the problem was the driver (a dll library too) of the webcam (creative webcam). Thanks for the help and sorry for my english