Connectix QuickCam Software Version 2.1 Windows 3.1, Windows 95 and Windows NT (Grayscale Only) This README.TXT file contains the following sections: 1. Important Notes 2. Getting the Best Picture and Frame Rate from QuickCam 3. Known Issues 4. Windows NT Notes 5. Installing both QuickCam and Color QuickCam with Windows 95 6. How to Contact Connectix --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Important Notes --------------------------------------------------------------------------- We strongly recommend that you turn your computer off anytime you connect or disconnect the QuickCam from either the parallel port or the keyboard port. Don't attach more than one QuickCam (grayscale or color) to a computer. This won't damage your computer but they won't work together with this version of the QuickCam software. If you are a Windows 95 user, your computer may crash if you try to run both QuickPICT and QuickMovie at the same time. Be sure your monitor is displaying at least 16 bit (high) color. (See Control Panels:Display:Settings in Windows 95 or consult your manual for Windows 3.1-based computers.) Do not plug the keyboard power adapter into one computer and the parallel port connector into a different computer. Doing this will void your warranty. We are constantly improving our QuickCam software. Updates to our software can be found on our Web site and other online forums including America Online (Keyword: Connectix). --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Getting the Best Picture and Frame Rate from QuickCam --------------------------------------------------------------------------- To get the best image from your QuickCam, first make sure that you have adequate lighting. All of the other image adjustments depend on the presence of an adequate amount of light. As a rule of thumb, if the lighting is such that you would use a flash with a normal 35mm camera, you need to add more light for your QuickCam. This is probably true in most home environments where illumination is provided by a single light source. One of the most important factors in getting the highest possible frame rate is having enough illumination. The less light there is, the longer the shutter will have to stay open to capture each frame, which results in lower frame rate. Simply by increasing the light level, you can decrease the necessary shutter speed (the Brightness setting) and increase the frame rate. If you are using a Color QuickCam, make sure that your monitor is set to display the same number of colors or grays as the QuickCam is capturing. For example, if you capture video at thousands of colors, make sure your video display adapter is set to display thousands of colors. If the QuickCam has to dither the image to match your display, frame rates will decrease. If you are using a Color QuickCam, use the Thousands (VIDEC) setting (the default setting). In this mode, Color QuickCam implements VIDEC, which will increase frame rates. If you are using a Color QuickCam and there is enough light, you may get increased frame rates if you turn off the Low-Light Image Filter checkbox in the Camera Adjustments dialog. If you are using a Color QuickCam and do not need the maximum amount of detail in each frame, choose a reduced Sharpness level. If you choose the middle or the lowest value for Sharpness, you will get higher frame rates than if you choose the highest Sharpness value. To increase your frame rates, choose a smaller image size. Capturing a smaller image size results in faster frame rates. Make sure you’re running only QuickMovie. Close any other application that may take processing time away from QuickMovie. When recording a movie your on-screen frame rate will appear to drop. This is because QuickMovie is making sure that you get the full rate saved to disk first; screen updates are secondary to captured frame rates. When you play back your saved movie, you will see the full frame rate captured by QuickMovie. To playback a movie recorded using VIDEC compression on a different computer, you will need to install the VIDEC decompression software (VIDEC.DLL). This software is available on the Connectix Web page and Connectix online service forums. See How to Contact Connectix Corporation. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Known Issues --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Do not attempt to use the Full Screen mode in QuickPICT, QuickMovie or the QuickCam Screen Saver in low memory configurations (12 megabytes or less). The image may freeze or produce unexpected results. If you take a picture to the clipboard using thousands mode (Windows 3.1 only), you will not be able to view the picture using Microsoft Paint or the Clipboard Viewer. The image is, however, available to other applications which support 16 bit images. If you are a Windows 95 user, your computer may crash if you try to run both QuickPICT and QuickMovie at the same time. In the QuickPICT Save dialog box, changing the File Type in the pop-up menu does not change the extension of the file name. You need to change the extension manually. If you select Bitmap use .BMP, JPEG use .JPG, TIFF use .TIF, AOL ART use .ART. If you have a grayscale QuickCam the Color Camera installer will disable the original QuickCam driver. You'll have to reinstall the original software to use the grayscale camera again. Do not use the screen saver and auto capture at the same time. There is not enough processing power available for the same camera to display a full screen moving image while also saving a still image to disk. If you've ever added a PC speaker driver (speaker.drv) to your system, it is possible your computer will crash if you try to use the QuickCam software with the driver installed. We highly recommend uninstalling the PC speaker driver before attempting to use the QuickCam. VIDEC compression is not available in QuickPICT or many other applications that use the QuickCam to take a still picture. It is designed primarily for video capture and is available only in QuickMovie. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Windows NT Notes --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Windows NT driver for the Color QuickCam was not ready in time for this release. A beta version of the Color QuickCam Windows NT driver will be available in the 1st Quarter of 1997 from our Web Site. The Grayscale QuickCam Windows NT driver is included in this version. Under Windows NT, the grayscale QuickCam may playback a movie at double speed. Disabling audio in QuickMovie will correct the problem. If you choose to install SeeMail under Windows 3.1 or Window NT, the ReadMe file may not appear after installation. To view the SeeMail ReadMe file, open the SeeMail directory and double click the ReadMe.txt file. We strongly recomend that Windows NT 3.51 users install Microsoft Service Pack #5 or later and Windows NT 4.0 users install Microsoft Service Pack #2 or later. The QuickCam software is not designed for Windows NT 3.50 or earlier and will not be supported. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. Installing both QuickCam and Color QuickCam with Windows 95 (Advanced Users Only) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: You only need to read this section if you have a Grayscale QuickCam and a Color QuickCam AND want to switch between both cameras on the fly. This installer will disable previous versions of the QuickCam driver that may have been installed. It is possible to install both Color QuickCam and Grayscale QuickCam and switch between the two in the Multimedia Control Panel. 1) Run the QuickCam Installer twice, selecting the Grayscale QuickCam first and Color QuickCam/Color QuickCam2 the second time. 2) Open the Windows\System.ini file and make sure the following lines are in your [Drivers] section: MSVIDEO=qccolor.drv MSVIDEO1=quickcam.drv (Note, if you have other video input devices you can set them to MSVIDEO2, MSVIDEO3, etc.) 3) Reboot the computer. You should now have both cameras entered in the Multimedia Control Panel, Advanced Tab under Video Capture Devices. To switch between cameras, select the driver for the current active camera and click properties. Click the "Do not use this video capture device." and click "OK. Select the camera you would like to use and click properties. Click the "Use this video capture device." and click "OK. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. How to Contact Connectix Corporation --------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you find problems that occur after QuickCam is installed that did not occur prior to installation, we want to hear from you. Please be sure to try to reproduce the problem without any other applications running in the background. Connectix Corporation 2655 Campus Drive San Mateo, CA 94403-2520 (415) 571-5100 Main Phone Number (800) 650-8857 Technical Support (US and Canada only) (800) 571-7558 Faxback System (US and Canada only) (800) 950-5880 Sales and Administration (US and Canada only) (415) 571-5195 Fax number for queries E-MAIL: Internet: cqcwsupp@connectix.com (Color QuickCam) Internet: qcwsupp@connectix.com (Grayscale QuickCam) America Online: CONNECTIX (All Products) CompuServe: 75300.1546 (All Products) Connectix maintains forums on many popular on-line services: America Online: Keyword: Connectix CompuServe: Type: GO CONNECTIX Web Page: http://www.connectix.com FTP Site: ftp://ftp.connectix.com We're interested in your suggestions and comments. Email QuickCam@connectix.com. QuickCam, QuickPICT, QuickMovie, VIDEC are trademarks of Connectix Corporation. Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. JPEG support software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group.