Envision WebCam, V-CAM User Manual

V-CAM

WebCam

User Manual

www.ENVISIONdisplay.com

FCC COMPLIANCE

FCC Compliance and Advisory Statement. This hardware device complies with Part 15 of the FCC

Rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions: 1) this device may not cause harmful interference, and 2) this device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation. This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection a gainst harmf ul interferen ce in a residential in stallation. This equipment gen erates, u ses, and can ra diate radio frequency ener gy a nd, if not in stalled or used in accordance with the instruc tions, may cause ha rmful int erfer ence to radio commun ication s. Howeve r, there is no gu arantee tha t interf erenc e wil l not occur in a particular installation. If this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or television reception, which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures: 1) reorient or relocate the receiving antenna; 2) increase the separation between the equipment and the receiver; 3) connect the equipment to an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected; 4) consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help. Any changes or modifications not expressly approved by the party responsible for compliance could void the user's authority to operate the equipment. Where shielded interface cables have been provided with the product or specified additional components or accessories elsewhere defin ed to be used with the instal lation of the produ ct, they must be used in order to ensu re compliance with FCC regu lations.

©2007 Envision Peripherals, Inc. All rights reserved. All specifications are subject to change without notice. Some pictures are simulations and are not actual screen shots. The Envisio n logo and V-Cam are t rademarks of Envis ion Peripherals, Inc. All other br ands are the trademarks of their respective holders.

INTRODUCTION

Thank you for purchasing the Envision V-Cam, a high-performance web c amera (webcam). The V-Cam produces high-quality images with smooth frame rates thanks to its 1.3-Megapixel CMOS image sensor and High-Speed USB 2.0 compatibility.

FEATURES AND SPECIFICATIONS

• 1.3-Megapixel CMOS image sensor

• Maximum video resolution: 1280 x 1024

• Maximum still image resolution: 2304 x 1728 (so ftware enhanced)

• Video modes: RGB24, I420

• Frame rates: 30fps at 640 x 480, 15fps at 1280 x 1024

• Interface: High-Speed USB 2.0, backwards compatible with USB 1.1

• Signal to noise ratio: >48dB

• Dynamic range: >72dB

• Image focus: 20cm to infinity

• AWB (Automatic Whiteness Balance)

• AE (Automatic Exposure)

• 5-glass element (5G) lens

• Automatic face tracking

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

• Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Vista

• Minimum: Intel Pentium 4 1.4GHz or AMD Athlon 1GHz

• Recommended: Intel Pentium 4 2.4GHz or faster

• 128MB RAM minimum, at least 256MB recommended

• 200MB free hard drive space

• CD-ROM drive

• 16-bit color display adapter

• Available USB 1.1 or High-Speed USB 2.0 port

• NOTE: Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 with DirectX 9.0 installed or

Windows XP Service Pack 2, and High-Speed USB 2.0 are required for

1.3-Megapizel video and snapshot.

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DRIVER INSTALLATION – Windows 2000 / XP

Do not plug in V-Cam into USB port before installing driver.

If V-Cam is already plugged in, please unplug it and follow the steps below.

Full-size CD can be loaded in all CD-ROM drives. Mini-CD can only be used with typical tray-loading driv es.

If you have a mini-CD, do not insert it into slot-loading CD-ROM drives; inste ad, please visit www.ENVISIONdisplay.com

to download the driver.

1. Insert the Driver/Application CD into CD-ROM. The splash screen will appear. Alternatively, open the drive directly and double-click autorun.exe to load the splash screen. From the splash screen select INSTALL DRIVER then select V-CAM.

2. At the installation wizard, click Install and follow the onscreen instructions to install driver and software applications.

NOTE: If a Digital Signature Not Found or Not Passed Windows Logo Testing dialog box appears, please choose the option to continue with

installation.

3. When the installation wizard has completed, click Finish to exit the wizard.

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DRIVER INSTALLATION – Windows 2000/XP – Continued

4. Plug V-Cam into USB port. The system will detect the device and complete the installation automatically. When installation has completed successfully, the Camera Icon in the Taskbar will show “Web Camera is plugged in”.

NOTE: If the Found New Hardware Wi zard dialog box appears when V- Cam is plugged into USB port for the first time, first s elect No, not this time when asked whether to connect to Windows Update to search for s oftware. Next, select Install the software automatically (Recommended).

Follow the onscreen inst ructions. If a Digital Signature Not Found or Not Passed Windows Logo Testing dialog box appears, please choose the option to co ntinue with installation. When the wizard has completed, click Finish to exit .

When installation has completed successfully, the Camera Icon in the Taskbar will show “Web Camera is plugged in”.

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DRIVER INSTALLA TION – Windows Vista

Do not plug in V-Cam into USB port before installing driver.

If V-Cam is already plugged in, please unplug it and follow the steps below.

Full-size CD can be loaded in all CD-ROM drives. Mini-CD can only be used with typical tray-loading driv es.

If you have a mini-CD, do not insert it into slot-loading CD-ROM drives; inste ad, please visit www.ENVISIONdisplay.com

to download the driver.

2. At the installation wizard, click Install and follow the onscreen instructions to install driver and software applications.

3. When the installation wizard has completed, click Finish to exit the wizard.

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DRIVER INSTALLATION – Windows Vista – Continued

NOTE: If a dialog box appears asking Would you like to install this device software?, choose Install.

NOTE: If a dialog box appears informing you Windows needs to install driver software for you ENVISION V-VAM, choose Locate and install driver software (recommended ). If a Windows needs your permission to continue

dialog box appears, choose Continue. When d river in stall ation is comp leted, the I nstal lation Ic on in the Taskb ar

will show, “ENVISION V-CAM, Devise driver software installed successfully.”

The Camera Icon in the Taskbar will also show “Web Camera is plugged in”.

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VERIFYING INSTALLATION

Windows 2000 / XP

1. Plug in V-Cam into USB port. The Camera Icon in the Taskbar should show “Web Camera is plugged in”.

2. Right-click on the My C omp ut e r icon in the desktop or Windows Start menu. From the menu that appears, select Properties.

3. In the System Properties dialog box, click on the Hardware tab, then click on Device Manager.

4. Click on the (+) sign next to Imaging devices icon, and make sure there is an entry for “ENVISION V-CAM”

Windows Vista

1. Plug in V-Cam into USB port. The Camera Icon in the Taskbar should show “Web Camera is plugged in”.

2. Right-click on the Computer icon in the desktop or Windows Start menu. From the menu that appears, select Properties.

3. In windo w that appears, loo k in the left pan e under Tasks and click on Device Manager.

4. Click on the (+) sign next to Imaging devices icon, and make sure there is an entry for “ENVISION V-CAM”

USING THE ENVISION V-CAM

1. Left-double-click on the Camera Icon in the Taskbar to launch the video playback application. Alternatively:

Windows 2000/XP: click Start → Programs → ENVISION V-CAM → AMCap Windows Vista: click Start → All Pro grams or Programs → ENVISION V- CAM → AMCap

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USING THE ENVISION V-CAM – Continued

2. If no video appears, make sure Options → Preview is checked to enable live video playback.

NOTE: If you wish to use V-Cam with internet chat programs such as Yahoo!® Messenger, Windows Live

or M SN® Messe nger, or SkypeTM, please close the AMCap video playback application by selecting File → Exit. Follow the instructions of your chat application for enabling webcam functions.

ADJUSTING FOCUS

The focus of the camera lens can be manually adjusted by turning the silver focus ring clockwise or counter-clockwise. The lens can focus from 8” (20cm) to infinity .

CHANGING VIDEO RESOLUTION

To chang e the li ve video resoluti on, select Options → Video Capture Pin. In the Properties dialog box, select the desired resoluti on from the Output Size drop-

down box

NOTE: Windows 2000 Service P ack 4 with DirectX 9.0 installed or Windo ws XP Service Pack 2, and High-Speed USB 2.0 are required for resolutions above 640 x 480.

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TAKING A PHOTO

1. With the video playback application running, ri ght -cli ck on the Cam era I con

in the Taskbar, select Snapshot, then select the desired snapshot resolution.

NOTE: The available snapshot resolution depends on the currently selected video resolution. You can always take a snapshot at the same resolution as the current video resolution. Furthermore, higher snapshot resolutions via software enhancement may be available for certain video resolutions.

2. Still Image application opens when a snap shot is taken. To save the

image, from the top menu, select File → Save As.

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RECORDING A VIDEO

1. Make sure the live video playback application is running. Next, set the file

to which the video will be saved. From the top menu, select File → Set Capture File.

2. In the Set Capture File dialog box enter a filename with the extension AVI,

for example “samplevideo.avi”, then click Open. In the Set File Si ze dialog box, enter the amount of disk space to set asid e for the video capture and then click OK.

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RECORDIN G A VIDEO – Cont inued

3. To start recording, select Capture → Start Capture. If a file was not set in

Steps 1 and 2 above, enter a file name and se t the amount of disk space as described above. Clic k OK in the Ready to Capture dia log box to start recording.

4. Recording will stop when the file has reached the size limit that was set in

Step 2.

5. To stop the recording early before the file size limit has been reached,

select Capture → Stop Capture.

6. The recorded video can be viewed using Windows Media Player .

7. To record another video, follow Steps 1 and 2 above to set another file name.

Otherwise, the new re cor din g will o verw rite th e previou sly saved vide o.

NOTE: Recording a video can take up a significant percentage of system resources, including the CPU, memory, and hard disk usage. Select ing a lower resolution will help reduce resource usage and result in a smoother recorded video.

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ADVANCED FEATURES

To access the advanced featur es, sele ct Options → Video Fil ter Pin

Settings Tab

djust the Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, Sharpness, etc. to suit your personal preferences

Set the Flicker to 60Hz if in North Americ a and 50Hz if in Europe.

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ADVANCED FEATURES – Settings Tab – Continued

• Image Mirror – Changes into mirror image.

• Image Flip – Turns the image upside down.

• Low Light – Optimizes the image in low-light situations

• In/Out Door – Optimizes the image for indoor or outdoor lighting.

• USB Bandwidth – Decreasing the value will leave more bandwidth for

other USB devices, but will slow down frame rate. Leaving the Auto box checked is recommended.

• Exposure – Adjusts the ex posure time o f the image s ensor. Increasing

exposure will slow down frame rate. Leaving the Auto box checked is recommended.

• White Balance – Increase/decrease the amount of Red color and

increase/decrease the am ount o f Blue color in the image for manual white balance adjustment. Leaving the Auto box checked is recommended.

• Flicker – Helps to reduce image flicker when V-Cam is used under

fluorescent lighting. Select the value that most closely matches you r local electrical AC frequency. For North America, choose 60Hz.

• Backlight Comp. – Check this bo x to enable backlight compensation in

situations where there is strong light in the background, such as when there is a sun-lit window behind you.

• B/W Mode – Check this box to set the image in black and white mode.

• Auto LED Mode – Changing these settings will have no effect since this

particular webcam model does not have LED functions.

• Default – Click on this button to restore all values in the Settings tab to

default factory settings.

• Save – Saves the current settings to the camera. Previously saved settings

will be overwritten.

• Load – Loads the most recently saved settings.

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ADVANCED FEATURES –Effects Tab – Continued

Effects Tab

• Customized Frame – Use a custom g raphic overlay on the video image.

Select the Frame File radio button, clic k on (…) to brows e for your graphic file, and then click on the Load File button. The graphic file should be a bitmap (BMP) and VGA (640 x 480) or lower in resolution.

• Auto C ha nge – Automatically cycle through each of the Effect and Frame

selections every few seconds.

• No effect & frame – turns off any selected Effect or Frame.

Select special effects and picture dis tortions.

Selec t frames and graphic overlay s to add to the video image.

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ADVANCED FEATURES –Zoom Tab – Continued

Zoom T ab

NOTE: Certain advanced features are not available at higher video resolutions.

Effect, Frame, Zoom Control, and Fac e Tracking are enabled only in re solutions 640x480 and below. Furthermore, Effect and Frame settings are not available if Zoom Control or Face Tracking is enabled.

Enables digital z oom. Use the arrow buttons to pan around the image, and the slider bar to zoom in and out.

Enables face tracking. The camera w ill detect your face and digitally zoom in and automatically pans the image to keep y ou face within view.

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ADVANCED FEATURES – Continued

The advanced settings can also be accomplished simply by right -clicking on the Camera Icon in the Taskbar.

CAUTION

• If V-Cam becomes hot after being on for a long period of time, please stop the camera for a short while.

• Avoid touching the len s with your hands or with sha rp or coarse objects. Use a clean soft cloth for cleaning.

• Do not use V-Cam in extremely hot, cold, dusty, or humid environments.

• Avoid dropping V-Cam as much as possible. Severe drops may damage

the lens, cause camera malfunction, or scratch the surface.

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Envision WebCam, V-CAM User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual