Netcam Blues

[Deepdoc1]

Hello. Just got a Sharp MiniDV VL-WD450U & Pinnacle Studio 7 IEEE-1394 card w/software. Studio 7 works fine. XP Scanner & Camera wizard sees the camera and works fine. NetMeeting 3.01 and MS Messenger don't see the camera, unless I need to enable them somehow.

Do I need additional driver support to use FireWire-attached DV camera with NetMeeting or Windows Messenger?

OS is XP Pro, P4 1.5GHz, 512 RAM, ATA-100, NVIDIA GeForce 32MB video card.

Is there another product that will let me use my camera for NetMeeting type things? Or am I doomed to get one of those little "monitor top" Netcam's?

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!

[Deepdoc1]

Found some stuff here (http://www.meetingbywire.com/NetMeeting102.htm#6). I will try the suggested sw.

IEEE1394 Firewire cards and NetMeeting

IEEE1394(Firewire) cards ( and DV cameras) do not provide the required drivers for NetMeeting capture and thus cannot normally be used as video conferencing cameras.

At least one correspondent has found a (perhaps clumsy but usable) solution to the problem -- his comment is in response to my standard - it doesn't work response:

"Actually, this is not true. I have such a configuration and I have managed to use the camera with netmeeting, with help of a product named "SoftCam" from Luminosity Software (www.softcam.com), together with the "AMCAP.EXE" program, which is part of Microsoft's DirectShow SDK. Here's the setting: -amcap.exe runs in a corner of the screen and displays a real-time preview of the DV cam. It can be resized at will -When running Netmeeting, I choose the "SoftCam" video source. -In the SoftCam control panel, I select "live" mode, and make sure that the capture frame matches amcap's preview area.

As far as I can tell, it works as well as a "native" VfW device. The only thing is that you must remember not to clutter the capture area with another window. I agree that the setting is not very straightforward, and I would like to see a little piece of software that combines amcap and softcam into a single VfW driver that takes its source from any WDM video device. I don't see any technical problem in that, and I am surprised that it doesn't exist yet. Microsoft claims that it supplies a VfW-to-WDM mapper that is supposed to do exactly this, but it requires additional software from the hardware vendor."

I have no direct knowledge that this works but it is worth experimenting with and might present some other solutions.

[bassman]

Hello Deepdoc,
The problem seems to be with the Firewire connection. Yes/No?
Does this camera support other connections? USB. S-Video Serial? And if so, do you have these options available on your PC?

Good luck http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/cool.gif

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My site has moved, please update your link

[Deepdoc1]

Thanks for the call-back, Bassman. The camera only has FireWire or serial output to the PC. Has S-Video output, but I don't have S-Video on the PC.

The more I look into it, the more I think NetMeeting is being phased out by Big Bad Bill. It is being replaced by XP Messenger. I am still in hopes of finding FireWire driver support for NetMeeting, but I'll bet the support won't be coming from MS http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/mad.gif

Net pages are frequently a bit behind the times, so I keep hopes up that someone in the crowd has stumbled across a fix.

Thanks again.

[sea69]

ok, why do you insist on using netmeeting??

what are your online video requirements??

what do you want to actually do??

there are many programs much better than netmeeting and free.



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[Deepdoc1]

I don't insist on NetMeeting. I have had infrequent occasion to use it at work. As a conferencing tool, it is widely available throughout the enterprise, and familiarity with it would be a good thing.

After my next previous post, I found out that XP Messenger v4.6 works well with the FireWire setup, so I can geek-out with other folks that are compatible. I will test XP Messenger to see if I can hook-up with NetMeeting at work.

As for the other products that work with FireWire and are free, which ones do you suggest? Are they cross-compatible with other products? As for online video requirements, other than as stated above, and a desire to play with new toys, can't say I have much of a requirement. Got the camera to take pics of the Granddaughter http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif and dog. It seems like it will fit some niches in the VTC world, too, just gotta get doin' it http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif .

Thanks much!

[sea69]

yep

http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif

supposedly:

Windows Messenger. I didn't write about Windows Messenger when Microsoft released a press release about it a few weeks ago. It's an interesting product that was demonstrated twice during my day in Manhattan. Think of Windows Messenger as a half step between MSN Messenger and NetMeeting. Windows Messenger integrates online presence, text, voice, and video messaging in a simple user interface. It only works in point-to-point mode (between two people) not multipoint (among three or more people). It makes use of SIP (Session Initiation Protocol), which is capable of multipoint support, however. So it may some day replace NetMeeting. Put simply, Windows Messenger is Microsoft's first real attempt to leap ahead of AOL Instant Messenger. Windows Messenger can also do what many other collaboration products do: Whiteboarding, application sharing, and PC-to-phone audio calls.

there is ICU (http://oss.software.ibm.com/icu/)

and:

Free copies of EnLiten Basic and EnVideo Basic are now available for downloading on CEI’s (Morrisville, NC; www.ensight.com) (http://www.ensight.com)) website. The two products enable engineering and research organizations to use the Internet and corporate intranets to share high-end visualizations throughout the enterprise.

EnLiten and EnVideo work in conjunction with EnSight and EnSight Gold, used by organizations worldwide to analyze, visualize, and communicate computer-aided engineering and scientific research results.

and a few hundred others available, doing a search on google (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=free+online+cam+apps) turned up over 10 pages of them.

http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif

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[This message has been edited by sea69 (edited 02-03-2002).]

[sea69]

ok

when I posted the above- I hadn't seen this:

Netmeeting
Written By: Nicos | Authors Website: Visit | Views: 8601 | Print Tweak | 11/30/2001


Miss netmeeting? Simply go to start/run and type "conf". You will get the setup for netmeeting and it will even add desktop and taskbar icons for you.


Copyright © 2001 TweakXP.com OR the author if not written by TweakXP.com Staff



WoW- I tried it and it really works!


That should do something for ya' my fellow Marylander.


http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif


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sea1_69@hotmail.com

homepage (http://www.seanweb1.homestead.com/3.html)

[This message has been edited by sea69 (edited 02-03-2002).]

[bassman]

Hey Sea, it works in ME also http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/eek.gif http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif
Gonna set it up later and try it.

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Waiting patiently for the future to arrive Frank's Place (http://dreamwater.net/tech/frankscomp/)
My site has moved, please update your link

[sea69]

I never was able to use it well in win9x when it was supposed to be there.

thought that those that do though would like to know how to get to it.

http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif



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