App to switch to webcam driver

App to switch to webcam driver
After a lot of lurking around the forums and trial and error, I put togeather an app to switch between the normal drivers and the webcam drivers mentioned in this thread: http://camerahacks.10.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=3352 The app is written in VC++ in VS2005. I copied the unlock code from from the ops source so it handles switching to the libusb driver to unlock before switching to the web-cam driver. It works best if you've already installed both drivers and confirmed that they work by manually switching them. I put up a doc explaining the whole thing at: http://www.glhtools.com/index.html Hopefully this might be of use to someone. Glen.

great work cant wiat to try it out

I did some experimenting with sending API calls through UI43Api.dll in VB. I was able to get an unlocked camcorder to shut off. I'm sure with some dissassembly of UI43Api.dll, it should be possible to send the response code and unlock the camcorder through the IS-DV drivers. And my bounty still stands, I'll mail a free, unlocked camcorder to whomever is first with a working solution to unlocking the camcorder through UI43Api.dll.

How about sharing the source to your shutdown app? It sounds like this would be a good starting point for others.

Source code link
OK - just keep in mind that I'm not a VC++ guy. (Aside from taking two C++ classes back in the early 90's.) :) The link is: http://www.glhtools.com/CamFuncSwitch-source.zip Glh

How about sharing the source to your shutdown app? It sounds like this would be a good starting point for others. It's VB6 so I don't know what good it would do anyone... There's just some declares that aren't accurate (I don't know the params) and I shut the camcorder down by calling the shutdown API. declares:

Declare Function I43_PowerOff Lib "UI43Api.dll" () As Long
Declare Function I43IO_UsbComOpen Lib "UI43Api.dll" () As Long
Declare Function I43IO_ComOpen Lib "UI43Api.dll" () As Long
Declare Function I43_StartVideoCapture Lib "UI43Api.dll" () As Long
Declare Function I43_SetLong Lib "UI43Api.dll" () As Long
Declare Function I43_GetVideoCaptureImageSize Lib "UI43Api.dll" () As Long
Declare Function I43_GetCOACHVersion Lib "UI43Api.dll" () As Long

shutdown:

Private Sub Command1_Click()
Dim result As Long
result = I43IO_ComOpen()
result = I43_PowerOff()
End Sub

As I said, fairly simple and not a very good starting point since that's as far as I got. I'm sure with more reverse engineering of UI43Api.dll (there's a LOT of exported functions in it!), it would be very possible to unlock the camcorder through the IS-DV drivers entirely. The idea was just to prove that there's more to the IS-DV drivers than meets the eye.

I guess I was under the impression that it was an either/or situation with the camcorder/webcam modes. Would unlocking using UI43Api.dll give us both with one driver? G.

Unlocking with UI43Api.dll would allow you to use a camcorder in webcam mode without doing the swtch, so long as you remain in webcam mode. If you wanted to connect to the cam in Ops again, you'd have to switch drivers first (and then switch again afterwards) Mr.MP3: I took a look and I think it's not entirely as straightforward as translating one of our apps' unlock to UI43'ese, as there is no equivalent to the 0xfe and 0xff commands. Check out morcheeba's page for a summary of the USB commands and unlock process: http://www.maushammer.com/systems/cvscamcorder/usb.html (it's worth noting that he lists 0xff as I43_GetLong, but the UI43Api.dll he linked to actually uses 0xfb for that command) It may be possible to unlock by just by assuming a reset key and sending a reset-key response via a bunch of I43_SetWord/I43_SetLong commands (0xfa) without anything else. I'm not 100% sure that this would work with all firmwares, as I haven't looked at the disassembly of the unlock mechanism for months. If 0xff and 0xfe are required, then there might be an out by using the I43_DebugOtr command, which seems to send whatever USB command index was passed to it as an argument.

Looks great. I tried it and I got a "Unable to render the video preview stream" when I try to preview the video. do I have to reboot after install? That is one thing I did not do, but i don't plan to reboot until Friday :)

I'd like to -*test*-('") this out with my cams but the site appears down. Anyone have a mirror?

Site back up
I'm not sure what happened by my provider - but the site is back up now. As far as rebooting, on the two machines I -*test*-('")ed with I had to reboot the first time I installed the webcam drivers but haven't since. I've seen a similar message when the camcorder is not unlocked. I'm in the process of streamlining the user interface so that it sits in the system tray and you can right-click to select the mode. I'll post an update - probably tomorrow. Also, any feedback as to if it did/didn't work is appreciated. I'd like to make it a useable tool. G.

I got it to work. I had to add in some alternate drivers for the xp sp2 to get the dv800 device to work properly. It works now. Good job. I look forward to the next version.

What drivers did you end up using? I've just ran into a PC that the drivers I had been using don't seem to work on. Thanks, G

I used the drivers mentioned in the other webcam thread. BobBarker posted the link, and I hope he doesn't mind me re-posting it here: http://www.laurasteele.net/cvs/WinXP.zip If you object Bob, I will remove the link. Either way, I used the drivers there and it worked after that.

kewl, those are my modified drivers! I'm glad they work for other ppl!

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