[IOXperts Video-Discuss] IOXperts WebCam Driver 1.1b24

[Steve Sisak]

At 6:15 PM -0400 10/19/03, Joe  Di Dio wrote:

>I have 2 different webcam models and have had some significant problems
>with this beta.  I have tested each camera in BTV, and alone and
>simultaneously in SecuritySpy and ImageCaster.  The cameras are a
>Logitech QuickCam Zoom and Zoom ZoomCamUSB 1596.



>In all cases, the applications identify both cameras as "Philips 
>Vesta Scan"; no matter that I gave them names in the installation.

We'll look into that -- sounds like an installer issue.

>In BTV aside from the name, the Logitech works fine.  The Zoom appears as
>if it has a purple filter over it, which then switches to red and then
>green after about 2 seconds then stays on green.  Strange.

I've seen that here on a ZoomCamUSB 1595 -- the interesting thing is 
that it only happens on Mac OS X on my dual-processor G4/450 -- it 
does not happen on Mac OS 9.1.

(We're still working on installer issues for 9, but all of our 
drivers work on Mac OS 9 because the development tools are better 
there -- we'll have 9 support in one of the next few betas)

I'm trying to figure out if it is a camera firmware issue, a driver 
issue or a Mac OS issue, my camera, or my machine -- the behavior 
looks like one or more of the red/green/blue channels being lost in 
the camera, but as yet, I'm the only one inside IOXperts who's seen 
it and it only happens on one machine.

(The 9 and X share all of their camera control logic, so this is puzzling)

Oh, well, I guess it's a real bug.

Cam you send an Apple System Profiler report of your machine (off 
list) to <support at ioxperts.com>?

>In SecuritySpy, I get the following error for either camera: "There was
>an error from one of the local devices. It will be disabled.  Device:
>Philips Vesta Scan  Error Code: 800".  Nothing is displayed.  Same effect
>for both cameras at the same time.

We have a similar report -- it appears to be a problem when switching 
between devices.

>In ImageCaster, the purple-red-green thing happens to the Zoom.  The
>Logitech works fine.

Please let us know if you see any compatibility problems other than 
the color shift.

>For simultaneous cameras, only the Logitech shows up.

This may be related to the other bug (switching inputs).

>In both cases, the settings for brightness, contrast, etc. were set around
>50%, but generally not 50%... one said 50.4%, one 50.79%, even 62.5%.
>Pressing the "default" button does nothing for these values with the
>Logitech.  For the Zoom, pressing "default" sets all values to 50.0%, as
>expected.  Also, entering a numerical value for the percentage has no
>effect on the sliders in the "Image" tab.  It works fine in the "IOXpers"
>tab.

What version of QuickTime are you using.

(We recently discovered that Apple changed something in QuickTime 6.4 
that caused problems with our SGPanels -- we've filed bug reports, 
but don't have a workaround yet))

>However, the ZoomCam has many fewer control options than the
>Logitech QuickCam Zoom, including no support for shutter or gain control.

The two cameras use vastly different chip sets and have different 
capabilities -- the controls just expose what the cameras do in 
hardware, to the features will vary by device.

We're working on a way to provide image processiong plug-ins so it's 
possible to implement some of these features in software.

>I hope this information is helpful to your efforts.

Very -- thanks for the detailed report.

-Steve
-- 
_________________________________________________________________________
Steve Sisak, CTO                                 steve.sisak at ioxperts.com
IOXperts, Inc.                                     voice: +1 617 876-2572
87 Bristol St #3A                                    fax: +1 617 876-2337
Cambridge, MA 02139                               mobile: +1 617 388-6476