hi,

i got a miniDV firewire camcorder, Canon MV890. On the user's manual i
read that it can be used as a webcam

i connect it to my pc with win XP pro sp2 and it is recognized under
imaging device as "Canon DV".

Can someone explain me why:
1) some programs that need a video device (such as Microsoft Movie
Maker, Microsoft Media Encoder, Pinnacle studio...) recognize it as
"Canon DV"
2) other programs see it as "Microsoft DV camera and VCR"
3) other programs cannot work at all?

For example, Yahoo Messenger see "Microsoft DV camera and camcorder"
but does not work at all

On 6 Oct 2006 07:06:07 -0700, "Steff"
<radware2005-steff@yahoo.com> wrote:


In the past most "firewire" DV cams did not have appropriate
drivers for use with most webcam software. Orangemicro and
Trackercam may have the drivers needed for your application.

Steff wrote:
That is a curious point you bring up about Yahoo Messenger seeing the
camera, but it is not working. My 3 year old Canon MVX150i also works as
a webcam with programs recognising it as either Canon DV, Canon MVX150
or Microsoft DV camera and VCR.
Programs include (for webcam): Conquercam, CaptureMax.
For video chat: MSN Messenger, Skype, Eyeball Chat.
Other programs: Windows Media Encoder, Pinnacle Studio 9, Adobe Premiere
Pro.
The camera works with all of the above.
One program it WON'T work with (even though it is recognised) is Yahoo
Messenger! As I have very little use for YM, it doesn't really matter
that much, but it is curious as to why it won't work. If the program
didn't recognise the camera I could understand it, but.....
Oh, it also shows up in YM as a 'Microsoft DV camera and VCR'....the
same as in MSN Messenger....and it works in that!!! In both programs,
all the same controls are there (brightness, contrast, saturation, etc),
but in YM, they are disabled.
I would be inclined to think that it is a bug/problem with Yahoo
Messenger rather than the camera or it's drivers.
As for the different names for the device in various programs, I would
think that it depends on what drivers a particular program uses for the
camera. Some may use the Canon drivers, hence it showing up as a Canon
camera. Others may use the Microsoft 'legacy' drivers (WDM Video for
Windows Capture Driver (Win32), showing it up as 'Microsoft DV camera
and VCR'...If this is the case then it makes it even more curious as to
why it won't work under YM!! Which leads you to wonder if Yahoo are
using their own 'imitation' WDM VfWCD.
In the end, I found it all to much of a pain in the butt, so I gave up
using the Canon as webcam...much easier to have a dedicated cam that is
recognised and works with all programs. The quality is just as good if
not better as the MV890, like most 'entry level' DV cameras use a
800,000 pixel CCD sensor, while a reasonably good quality webcam these
days has 1.3M pixel sensor. The inbuilt mic on my Logitech Fusion is not
as good as the mic(s) in the MVX150, but I prefer to use a Bluetooth
headset in conjunction with the webcam for video chat anyway..that way I
can go get a beer and still talk..only disappearing out of the picture
(so to speak!) :-)