Xirlink XVP-525 User Manual Download Page 1

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C-it

Digital Video PC Camera

Model XVP-525

For Windows

User's Guide

Release 2.0

June, 1998

Xirlink, Inc.

Summary of Contents for XVP-525

Page 1: ...C it Digital Video PC Camera Model XVP 525 For Windows User s Guide Release 2 0 June 1998 Xirlink Inc ...

Page 2: ... from the original reseller during the 12 month period after the date of your original purchase of the product THIS IS C it S ONLY WARRANTY AND YOUR EXCLUSIVE REMEDY CONCERNING THE PRODUCT ALL OTHER REPRESENTATIONS WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WRITTEN OR ORAL INCLUDING ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON INFRINGEMENT ARE EXPRESSLY EXCLUDED AS A RE...

Page 3: ...mera window 25 To flip the image 25 To capture video clips 26 To open the Video Album 27 Adjusting the Video 28 To display the video settings 28 To change the various options 28 General Settings 29 Image Format 30 Video Quality 31 C it Video Conference Center 33 Getting Started 33 To start the software for videoconferencing 33 Placing the Call 33 Calling Options 34 Window Control Buttons and Featu...

Page 4: ...ote Windows 45 C it Video Album 47 To open the Video Album 47 Playing Back an exe file from Album 48 Playing Back an avi file from Album 48 Seeing a Snapshot 49 Sending a Video Mail captured video clip or Snapshot with E mail 49 Setting Video Album Options 50 The C it Video Album s Menu Commands and Tool Bar 50 File Menu 50 View Menu 51 Help Menu 51 The Video Album Tool Bar 51 Frequently Asked Que...

Page 5: ...deo mail and video conference with the C it is almost like being there in person What s In the Box Before you start the installation please check the contents of the box to make sure that all parts are included There should have one C it camera with USB cable and one C it CD If any items are missing or you notice any damage contact the dealer where you purchased the C it product What You Need Hard...

Page 6: ...or Internet Explorer open the application and then choose About the application from that application s Help menu t TIP If you don t have Microsoft Internet Explorer or NetMeeting you can download them from the Internet at http www microsoft com download OpArt Video Mail o Need to have e mail system installed such as Microsoft Outlook Netscape Commander Eudora Lotus CC mail and so on Internet and ...

Page 7: ... Good Pictures By following these simple hints you can take quality videos and pictures with the C it Digital Video Camera Composition o Aim the camera so the subject is in the center of the image o Put the camera on a flat steady surface If you have to hold the camera during the shot hold it still when shooting Lighting o Use plenty of light on the subject o Select similar types of light If possi...

Page 8: ...1MB of memory space C it Video Camera o Use this for Capture Snapshot and with its advanced design the C it USB Digital Video Camera captures video at millions of color and high resolution In addition the connection to the USB port provides high quality video at about 30 frames per second in Camera application and about 10 frames per second in Conference application C it Video Conference Center o ...

Page 9: ...rame of the video and save it as a cap bmp file in the photo album o Take captures record motions and save it as a cap avi file in the photo album o Take video mail record video and audio message and save it as a cap exe file in the photo album ...

Page 10: ...ecessary hardware and software Registering Your C it Please take the time to register your C it product Registration is very important because each participant in a videoconferencing must have an individual copy of the software Registration also entitles you to information about product upgrades and other services from C it You can register electronically or by fax phone or mail Installing the Sof...

Page 11: ...n on your PC and start Windows95 or Windows98 2 Insert the C it CD into your CD drive The Autorun starts and displays the initial screen Click Install 3 The installation procedure starts and you ll see the Welcome dialog box Click Next ...

Page 12: ...ome other drive type its letter instead such as e CitAutorun 4 This dialog box show the Software Licensing Agreement Please read this agreement carefully and click Yes if you agreed 5 In this next dialog box enter your name and company name and then click Next By the way to go back to a preceding dialog box during the setup process to change one of your choices click the Back button ...

Page 13: ...es in the Path box or select an existing directory from the list You can also type a path name of a new directory and the setup program will create it 7 The next dialog box show the C IT components to be installed Make sure that each component that you want to install has a checkmark 4 next of it Click Next The drivers must be installed in order for the camera to work properly and typically you wi...

Page 14: ...is point installation begins and progress boxes show how the installation is proceeding 10After all the files are installed the following dialog box appears Click Finish and that s it You re now ready to connect the camera ...

Page 15: ...e USB port You re now ready for video media The C it Icons Use the C it icons to start the C it applications Getting Help For technical support you can reach us at 408 474 0494 Between 9 00 a m and 6 00 p m Pacific Standard Time While logged on to the Internet you can 1 Connect directly to our home page at http www xirlink com 2 Connect directly to our product site at http www citnow com 3 Contact...

Page 16: ...ll get the following message Click OK if you want to continue without audio device or Cancel if you want to go back to install the device first before using the application o When OpArt Video Mail window pops up you should be able to see local view Some buttons on the window will change from inactive to active after you captures your video mail Capture Click on this button when you are ready to re...

Page 17: ...corded a message Click on this button to save your message to a permanent location for future retrieval Album Click on this button to open C it Album Application if you want to view any avi or bmp file taken from the C it Video Camera Application There are three tool commands on the window bar Click on this button to minimize the OpArt Video Mail window To restore click on the icon from the task b...

Page 18: ...t send decode driver a check on this box will enable you to send only the captured video mail data file without any C it decode driver NOTE If you are sending the mail to someone who didn t have the OpArt Video Mail software previously installed DO NOT check the box If the person has OpArt Video Mail installed or has received your OpArt Video Mail with decode driver before you can check that box t...

Page 19: ...ding site 1 Capturing the mail 2 After clicking Stop notice now the OpArt is doing the compress for your video and audio Click here to capture your mail Make sure you speak nice and clear into the microphone Click here to stop the capture when you finish ...

Page 20: ...ure The playback will show you can check the quality of the video and audio This is the exact the same quality with receiving side s playback After compression all the buttons are now enabled Click here to view the mail you have just recorded ...

Page 21: ...w you to type in the recipient s E mail address and subject Here is just a sample of Microsoft Outlook E mail system Click here to Send This will open up your default E mail carrier Click here to send Type in the E mail address of the one s you want to send to Type in the subject of the E mail ...

Page 22: ...keep it Receiving site 1 Open the mail from your E mail carrier Click here to save your recorded mail to Album Notice that after you click this button it will gray out which indicates this recording has been saved Double click on the mail ...

Page 23: ...2 Open the OpArt_VM exe from the incoming mail 3 Choose the opening method Click to cancel Click to proceed Save mail to disk Open mail without saving ...

Page 24: ...by Microsoft 5 Close the OpArt_VM playback window Time control bar Microsoft movie playback control Click to stop playback or rewind Click to play or pause the playback Click here to link to our home page Click here to close this window ...

Page 25: ...con C it Video Camera The Video Camera window opens and shows the image that your camera sees To flip the image o Click the Mirror Image button on the top of the window From Left to Right 1 Minimize window 2 Maximize window 3 Double window size 4 Mirror camera horizontally 5 Display camera options 6 Close the window Take a snapshot of the video image Start Stop video recording Open Album of images...

Page 26: ...recorded Video files are captured as files with an avi name extension and automatically receive the name capn avi where the n is the next number for a video For example if the last video is named cap04 avi the one you just took is named cap05 avi Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 1 Click Capture to start recording the action 2 Watch while the action continues Notice the logo is blinking which tells you t...

Page 27: ...nces can take a lot of space on the hard drive For example thirty seconds of video captured in Camera application needs about 10 megabytes of hard disk space To open the Video Album o Click on the Album button on the Camera window Please see Chapter 6 for detail of Album operation ...

Page 28: ...the Video Camera window 2 Click the Options button on the window The Options dialog box that appears has three tabs for adjusting various elements of the video General tab Image Format tab and Video Quality tab The About tab shows information about C it To change the various options 1 Click one of the tabs to see the different options 2 Select the options you want 3 Click Apply to see the changes ...

Page 29: ...deo displayed in the Video Camera window when it is in front on your computer screen The higher the number of frames the more lifelike the video image in the window but the more processing the computer needs to do Because you normally don t need full lifelike video until you want to capture a video you should set this value to be 30 or less This reduces the processing devoted to the video which ma...

Page 30: ...numbers refers to the number of bits per pixel used to process the image The higher the number the better the image quality but the more processing required by the computer Selecting an option with a lower number of bits per pixel can also help you see more lifelike motion The third set of values refers to the video format used for processing the luminance and chrominance of the image The selectio...

Page 31: ...e highest image quality but probably also produces less lifelike motion High Quality Compression Video is compressed to produce the best quality image with adequate lifelike motion Use this setting when you are more concerned about image quality than motion such as when the camera is pointed at a presentation screen Fast Frame Rate Compression Video is compressed to produce the best lifelike motio...

Page 32: ... amount of white to black balance for your camera and surrounding lighting If the picture in the Local window looks washed out or consists solely of whites and light colors move the two sliders to the left to lower the amount of light reaching the camera If the picture looks dark or consists solely of dark colors move the sliders to the right to let in more light The Auto option has to be off unch...

Page 33: ...t have to be C it although of course we recommend it t To start the software for videoconferencing o Double click the icon C it Video Conference Center t HINT Make sure the camera is ready to go Click the Local button to see the window for the image from your camera Click Preview to see the image Point the camera where you want To adjust the camera s settings click the Options button at the top of...

Page 34: ... window shows what your camera The remote window shows the view Sees It s the image transmitted to the other from the other person s camera conference participants That s it you re now set up to videoconference To add others to the conference click Call again on the Conference Center panel and repeat the process for dialing other numbers Each participant s name is added to the Conference Center pa...

Page 35: ...ww four11 com You can access several servers quickly at the Microsoft site by adding a number after the ULS for example ULS1 micorsoft com ULS2 microsoft com and so on The ULS servers not only list people by name they also show the Person s current IP address to call to videoconference Window Control Buttons and Features From Left to Right 7 Minimize window 8 Reduce window size 9 Increase window s...

Page 36: ... 10 and 15 frames of video every second The frame rate and the frame quality are subject to network bandwidth you obtain while conferencing A video frame is just like the individual frames on a strip of movie film This is a tremendous amount of data to send over a network and if the network is running slowly the video motion may start to become jerky or to get out of synch with the audio the sound...

Page 37: ...cker while the camera and software adjusts to the new settings t NOTE The other tabs on the Options dialog box offer features and settings available from Microsoft NetMeeting Please see the documentation for NetMeeting for a description of those features and settings You also need to set Full Duplex in the Audio Option Adjusting Window Size The Local and Remote windows can be enlarged and reduced ...

Page 38: ... of participants That person is selected You can also click the up or down arrows to move through the list of participants 2 Click the A V button on the Video Conference Center to switch to that person The Remote window displays the image from that Person s camera You can also use the right mouse menu on the Conference Center to switch to others Sharing Work While conferencing the other participan...

Page 39: ...that shows who is sharing the application Everyone in the videoconference will see the entire application window even if they don t have the application on their computer The share tap shows who owns the application and is sharing it 4 Click on the application s window to bring it to the front This helps the other participants see the shared application better 5 To end the sharing click the Share ...

Page 40: ...lication but only Helen G is able to work on it because she is the one in control Changes made by the collaborator appear on both computers in this example on both Helen s and Daniel s The pointer moves on both computers as the person in charge moves it The pointer has the initials of the person in charge like this H G 3 Double click to get control back from the other person Now the pointer on tha...

Page 41: ...he Local window to take a picture from your camera Click Snapshot to take picture of the video Because this is the Remote Video widow the snapshot is the image from the other person s camera The Album window appears It shows snapshots you ve already taken Snapshots are captured as bit mapped images and automatically receive the name cap0n bmp where the n is the next number for an image For example...

Page 42: ...rts 2 From the File menu choose Open and open the graphic that you want the other participants to see The Whiteboard and graphic appear on the screens of all the other conference participants Here s a sample Everyone in the conference can work on the Whiteboard t NOTE The Whiteboard is the Microsoft NetMeeting Whiteboard feature Please see the documentation that you received for NetMeeting for exp...

Page 43: ...ample showing messages already sent back and forth 2 In the Send to box click the down arrow menu and select who you want to chat with To chat with everyone in the conference select Everyone in Chat 3 Type the message in the Message box 4 Press Enter or click the Send button to send the message t NOTE The Chat box is the Microsoft NetMeeting Chat box feature Please see the documentation that you r...

Page 44: ...k the SF button on the Video Conference Center A dialog box appears so you can select the file to send Select the file or type its name in the File Name box You can also select the type of files to see listed from the Files of type menu 3 Click Open to send the file t NOTE If you select yourself on the Video Conference Center and click SF a window opens and shows files You ve already received duri...

Page 45: ...te window equivalent to clicking the Stop button on your Local window A checkmark next to pause indicates the video not transmitting Select Pause again to begin sending video again or just click the Preview button on the Local window 3 Select Open Send Received Files Folder This option varies depending on the name selected in the Video Conference Center If you select your name the option is Open R...

Page 46: ... screen Window Size shows a popup menu with window enlargement options The one with the dot next to it is the current window enlargement factor Select one to resize the window This is equivalent to clicking the right and left arrow buttons on the window Properties equivalent to clicking the Options button on the window The Options dialog box appears and the Video tab is already selected ...

Page 47: ...e run with no other additional software required o snapshots single frame images their names end with bmp which stands for bit mapped image o video clips motion picture sequences their names end with avi which are C it video camera recordings Capture snapshots by clicking the Snapshot button on any one of the video windows Camera Local or Remote Capture video clips by clicking the Capture button o...

Page 48: ...ow Playing Back an avi file from Album 1 Click the captured avi file icon on the album to select it 2 Choose Open from the View menu You can also just double click on the icon itself Then the Microsoft Video Player plays the video Here is an example of the playback window Time control bar Microsoft movie playback control Click to stop playback or rewind Click to play or pause the playback Click he...

Page 49: ... clip or Snapshot with E mail After capturing videos and snapshots with your C it Digital PC Video Camera you can send them as attachments to e mail messages 1 In the Video Album click on the exe avi or bmp file that you want to send 2 Choose Send from the File menu Your e mail message application opens The snapshot or video that you selected in step 1 is attached to the message 3 Type the e mail ...

Page 50: ... checked the images will still be captured and saved but the album won t open until you click the Album button on the camera window or run the C it Video Album application Keep Album on top Click on the box if you want the album always on top of any other application windows The C it Video Album s Menu Commands and Tool Bar The Video Album s menu commands are for playing back and working with the ...

Page 51: ... deleted from the Album folder Print Prints a copy of the selected file on your printer You can print snapshot files but not video clip files If you select a video clip file the Print command is not available Exit Closes the Video Album View Menu Select All Selects all the files that are stored in the Album Invert Selection Selects the inverted file of the previously selected one Large icons Small...

Page 52: ...er telephony integration is expected to be a big growth area for PCs USB will provide a low cost interface for Integrated Services Digital Network ISDN and digital PBXs Q How do I know if my computer has a USB port A Check on the back of your computer to see if it has a USB connector See the picture on page 17 to see what a USB port looks like Q What is a Digital Video Camera A A video camera desi...

Page 53: ...the Options O button in the upper right corner of the Camera window This will open the Options dialog box Click the Video Format button to see the dialog box where you can adjust camera contrast saturation hue etc Q Can I zoom in or out A Yes While using the Internet Video Conference Center you can easily zoom in or zoom out the image by clicking the Ò Ò and Ò Ó buttons in the upper right corner o...

Page 54: ...r specifically for improving multimedia and communications With MMX the visual media on your computer will play faster smoother and appear more realistic Q Is it compatible with my TV A Normally no The C it Digital Video PC Camera is supposed to work with your desktop PC not a TV The only time it might work with a TV is when you are using a TV set as a big monitor for your computer Q Why isn t the...

Page 55: ...video conferencing Q OK so which image compression algorithm do I choose A Compression is a tradeoff between life like motion and image quality More compression means more frames can be transmitted per second but at lower image quality So the basic question becomes Do you want a clearer image or more life like motion You have to choose which is the most appropriate combination of compression and i...

Page 56: ...rnet videoconferencing Q What communications protocols does C it support A The C it software supports video conferencing standards H 323 standard for the Internet videoconferencing Q How do I know what the other person is seeing on the other end A The person on the other side will see exactly what you can see in your local view window which shows what your camera is transmitting to the other perso...

Page 57: ...30 people can connect to the videoconference at the same time All these people can access raw data simultaneously This means that everyone sees chat text the whiteboard transferred files and shared applications However audio and video channels can be connected only on one to one basis In particular this means that you select one person at a time to talk to directly To talk to another person you di...

Page 58: ...ocess 113 Solution If you have already installed the C it Digital Video PC Camera software unplug camera and un install the software Reinstall the software If the problem persists check the hard disk s integrity using the Window s ScanDisk utility See your MS Windows 95 User s Manual for more information about the ScanDisk program Problem Installation does not finish properly Solution Unplug the c...

Page 59: ... Performance à under Graphics set the Hardware Acceleration to None à keep choosing OK to close all the windows and restart the computer Remember to do the above procedures again after changing the display settings i e 16bit 24bit 32bit Problem Camera LCD light is on but shows a pink screen Solution Reduce the acceleration of the graphic card to None like what is described above or upgrade the ope...

Page 60: ... audio option bar in Video Conferencing Center Problem The power light doesn t come on when the camera is plug in Solution The light will come on when you run any of the C it applications Problem There is no update files available on your home web page Solution Our upgrade drivers are located at ftp xirlink com and all the posting files will be updated without further notice ...

Page 61: ...over camera settings n Supports DirectDraw graphic cards n Captures high quality still images and real time audio video n Create edit preview and stores image in Video Album n Built in video e mail feature allows you to send a still image or digital audio video clips n Stores in BMP and AVI formats with optional H 263 and G 723 compression Camera drivers for Windows 95 OSR2 Windows 98 and Windows ...

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