Thursday, April 13, 2017

Hey All it has been a while, life kept getting in the way =)

Hey All it has been a while, life kept getting in the way =)

Anyway, I have an off the wall request for help. I bought a decent video cam that stated it worked with windows as a webcam. Then when it arrives and I start looking into using it as a webcam it turns out it needs to be used on Windows XP operating system to work that way. And this camera is a current active and supported device by manufacturer. (Not a legacy device)

So, I was wondering if someone knew where a generic app or program that might allow the connection with Win 10 as the manufacturer is not offering a modern solution on a modern product.

32 comments:

  1. Nope tried it and they mean XP. Win 10 sees it but can't find drivers so it won't allow it as an active device.

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  2. Tim Longwell I would send it back after talking to customer support first.

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  3. uhmm.... what's the manufacturer and model?

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  4. bellhowellcameras.com - BellHowellCameras.com | DV30 Fun-Flix - blue
    looks like they took the windows streaming capability out of the description after I contacted them. Imaging is beautiful, will have to pass this off to wifey I guess.

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  5. Good luck. My guy said he didn't have anything for it...
    I suppose you've tried running it in compatability mode?

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  6. it direct loads as new hardware not through a software interface. So compatibility mode isn't available.
    Looks like the only way to use it will be a video capture card that supports streaming.
    No simple adapter that I can find, takes in HDMI and puts it to USB on the PC. They all turn a USB port into a HDMI port.

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  7. Tim, what is the mfr/model of the camera (so we can get a look at the specs and user guise?)

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  8. John the link above to the camera lists all that in one place at least what they make available

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  9. The HDMI cable was one of my questions. Does your machine have an HDMI port? Or can you add one?

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  10. I would have to arrange for the purchase of an HDMI capture card/device Stan. Currently I only have HDMI out available.

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  11. Tim Longwell
    As most know- I'm no techie... but could you somehow run an XP emulator that would allow you to use the camera?

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  12. I considered that as a possible option before I plugged in the camera to my PC the emulator would have to be at least turn on at the hardware load level of windows and bypass Win 10 protocols. I will have to look into what is available.

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  13. Tim, As soon as I hit "POST" your model info popped onto my screen. Sadly Bell & Howell's website does not offer a manual for your camera. I presume you got one with the camera. How did it describe the proscribed method of using the camera as a webcam? Connecting via USB?

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  14. yes John connecting with the USB. As I posted earlier, Win 10 sees the camera but disables it as it cannot find a driver

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  15. Program to detect your hardware specifications for Digital Blue cameras:
    http://www.driverscape.com/download

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  16. I would assume you could get an HDMI to USB device that would certainly work at a cost.

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  17. Tim, judging from some of the other cameras that connect via USB there might be a setting within the camera about the default use of the USB connection. Most assume you want to either "charge" or copy pics and vids to your PC hard drive (remote media device ala hard drive). I'm just guessing here but I'd think Windows 10 would be able to use anything XP did.

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  18. Tim, what a pain in the keester! I was able to find the camera listed on the B&H website after searching category video camera with USB as the search term. It is shown as a "discontinued" model. When I attempted to download a manual I thought might be for it, it was a corrupted PDF file that my PDF readers (plural) couldn't "repair."
    Good luck with this. B&H sure has fallen downhill.

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  19. Well this camera is now working with the PC in OBS. Now to figure out how to tell hangouts to use OBS as the video source.
    How I got it working:
    After Andrew Hatchett's question about using an emulator, I remembered sometimes you can assign virtual containers. So I did research on virtual machine setup in Windows and learned Win 10 has a bunch of "hidden" options to run if you have Pro or above version. I went in and enabled VM and was auto updated to Creators version of Win 10. When all the rebooting was finished, the video camera worked in OBS without ever setting up the VM to use a container or virtual drive. More information on VM go here https://goo.gl/jqyPwm
    To look over those hidden optional installs hit winkey+r and type in optionalfeatures.exe then press OK
    groovypost.com - Setup a Virtual Machine with Windows 10 Hyper-V

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  20. You mean like that old Windows XP mode? I thought it was unsupported? What you did is a bit different I guess.

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  21. similar Craig, except this VM is built into the OS instead of using an added software making it faster and doesn't enable XP vulnerabilities. MS Dev Network actually put me onto it, through one of their KB articles. So no deed to even put XP in a container.

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  22. Why did you buy this cheap camera you only get what you pay for. Watching those Midnight infomercial s again.
    Return it if you can and next time do your research before you buy.

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  23. Tim, in OBS File | Settings | Stream | You Tube/You Tube Gaming
    enter your "stream key" which is from your You Tube channel's info.
    If you are unfamiliar with streaming via You Tube Live Event see:
    support.google.com - YouTube live FAQs - YouTube Help

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  24. Thanks John Brown, I have been trying to find that information, of the 2nd link. Somehow i overlooked it.. Looks like I just add an additional encoder address with each camera. Will look into this more.

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  25. Tim, I don't think you need to add more than one encoder link. The cameras come into OBS and only one encoder key is required to stream the composite output from OBS to the YT Live Event.
    It is possible to create an event with multiple streams (Terry and I did so about a year ago just to test) but there is no reason to if your multiple camera sources are local to you.

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  26. Thanks John Brown I figured out they were talking about using multi cams without something like OBS. Now I am fighting an issue with a common logitech issue of not wanting to run more than one of their cameras at a time. Logitech changed something that no longer allows that ability in their camera controller and drivers. Will be experimenting with a couple of ideas I have along with some suggestions I found over on the OBS forum

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  27. Split Cam allows you to use your webcam in multiple applications.
    But in Classic OBS (not really familiar with OBS Studio yet) you use Global Sources for your webcam then you can open it in multiple OBS scenes. I don't use Global Sources however.

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  28. Xsplit Broadcaster using the Xsplit virtual camera feature can be run in a Hangout but not OBS.

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  29. Tim Longwell I had to buy a Magewell capture card for mine to be compatible with my Dell motherboard Call the boys at B&H they were a huge help. These guys are the ones I call for IT

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