Ask Slashdot: Fixing UVC Camera Issues Under Windows?

Khyber writes: I bought some cheap Chinese camera glasses with built-in microphones. These are (supposedly) UVC cameras manufactured in 2015. Under Windows XP, these cameras are seen perfectly fine and work as web cameras; even the microphones work. Under Windows 7, the camera appears to install just fine, however I get the 'This device can perform faster if you connect to USB 2.0' (which it is connected to) and when I try to load it up with any camera viewer such as manycam or any chat program's built-in previewer, I cannot receive any video from the camera. I can get audio from the camera microphones under Windows 7, so I am wondering if the camera device is having problems enumerating as a USB 2.0 device due to some change in Windows 7 (which it doesn't seem to have issues doing under XP,) or if the UVC driver for Windows 7 is missing something in comparison to the one used for Windows XP. Anybody else had issues getting newer UVC cameras to work in newer operating systems?

Comments

Since when has /. become tech support?

[jfdavis668]

I don't think that technical support for your driver issue is a good reason to post on /.

Re:Since when has /. become tech support?

[Khyber]

You must be new here. :)

Anyways, this is not a driver issue, per se. I believe this is a Windows issue. I have seen reprts of other UVC devices in laptops (their built-in webcams) having the exact same issue.

Turns out, those devices are UVC 1.0, and Microsoft, in their infinite wisdom, changed something in their newer USB Video Camera driver that breaks devices following the UVC 1.0 spec, despite Microsoft claiming that Windows 7 has full support for UVC 1.0 devices.

For those people with laptop issues, usually they could fix it by finding the (semi-rare) updated driver from the manufacturer website.

This manufacturer has no driver. It is a claimed plug and play. And funnily enough, it works under Linux and OSX 10.4+ as advertised!

This is what leads me to believe that this is not a driver issue on my end, but a MS driver issue.

And I really, REALLY don't feel like having to constantly run in Test Mode to run a modified driver that's protected by WFP.

Device compatability / driver problems ...

[Alain Williams]

You must be running Linux, why don't you just be safe and come back to Microsoft, all hardware vendors make sure that their kit works with Microsoft Windows. Oh, wait .....

Re:Device compatability / driver problems ...

[Anon-Admin]

Ok, I laughed at this one.

Because I have that same camera and it works perfect under Linux. LOL

Re:Device compatability / driver problems ...

[Junta]

There's a crapton of stuff that works only well under Linux out of the box now.

In our lab, there are like a bucket of USB serial adapters. All of them work with every linux device. But almost none of them work well with windows.

Welp...

[Lab Rat Jason]

cheap Chinese

there's your problem...

USB 3.0 chipset, 2.0-only cable/connector

[Todd Knarr]

I've gotten this a lot with devices besides cameras (eg. an LG G3 phone), even when plugged into a 3.0 port. It seems to be caused only by devices with a standard micro-USB connector, not a full-sized one. My thought is that the device's USB chip is 3.0-capable, but the connector and/or cable don't have the extra pins/wires for 3.0 so the device is reporting itself as 3.0 but can only run as 2.0 which makes Windows complain. I haven't seen any problems because of it, even under Windows (I normally connect the devices to Linux machines).

Have you tried turning it off and on again?

[celeb8]

yes this forum is totally windows tech support I just hope your post feels welcome

You need the right cable

[OzPeter]

Once you get the right cable you won't have to worry about your camera issues anymore!

Ask Slashdot: How Can We Improve Slashdot?

[abelenky17]

By not posting stupid tech-support questions... some random guy's hare-brained scheme... or pseudo-science that isn't backed up by common sense.

Re:compatibility mode

[Khyber]

There are no consumption applications for the camera. If there were, I'd have mentioned trying them and them not working.

Don't you find it the least fucking bit odd that a camera made in 2015 will work with XP, works under Linux, Even works in OSX 10.4 or higher (I checked) yet it won't work in Windows 7?

I suspect the UVC driver has changed between XP and 7.

Maybe you need to upgrade

[Barlo_Mung_42]

Windows 10 probably fixes this.
I'd just go ahead and upgrade if I were you.
Couldn't hurt...

Re:More info needed

[Khyber]

" there's literally nothing to go on in your description"

Incorrect. As stated, it is a UVC camera. That means it's a USB Video Camera universal device which means no drivers are required - it's the same standard that almost every single laptop webcamera uses and has used for a long time, even OSX and Linux support it.

Then I provide information that it works under XP, and half works under 7. I describe what does and does not work (Everything works in XP, only the video feed does not work in 7.)

Mentioning that it is a UVC camera, you would logically think to check for UVC versions, right? This is a UVC 1.0 camera.

Going to the Microsoft site, it shows that UVC 1.0 is fully supported from 2000/XP on up including in Windows 10.

  Any other device plugged into that port operates at USB 2.0 speed. Same port under Windows XP sees the camera just fine. Under 7? It sees the camera, it simply refuses to acquire a video feed from it.

Re:More info needed

[Red Herring]

OK, since you're asking Slashdot... how about posting the USB Device descriptors, along with the USB port debug information from windbg (!usb2tree)?

It should work under 32 bit...

[Grog6]

...and will fail 64 bit versions.

I have a couple of older video capture card that won't work under 64 bit, either xp or 7.

Both work fine in 32 bit.

The only other thing I could suggest is a utility to switch the usb mode, or force a different speed.

Making a custom Linux or XP virtual session might be easier to do.
Good luck!