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Summary of Contents for Philips PCA635VC
- Page 1 PCA635VC PC Camera U s e r G u i d e...
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Page 2: About This Manual
Videogram Creator software. If you install the Videogram Creator software to its default folder then you may access this by clicking on “Start,” followed by “Programs,” then the “Philips PCA635VC Camera” program group and finally click on “Read Me.” The “Read Me” file contains information that was not available at the time this manual was created. -
Page 3: Table Of Contents
Table Of Contents About This Manual Manual Conventions Table Of Contents About Your Philips PCA635VC Bundled Software Videogram Creator Chapter 1 B e f o r e Yo u B e g i n Check the Package Contents Minimum System Configuration... - Page 4 Chapter 4 V i d e o g r a m C r e a t o r S o f t w a r e Opening the Videogram Creator application Video & Audio Settings Settings Control Panel OK & CANCEL Buttons Format Quality Size...
- Page 5 Chapter 7 G r a b b i n g S n a p s h o t I m a g e s Capturing a Snapshot STEP 1: Preview Video Live Video STEP 2: Grab Still Live Video STEP 3: View the Bit Mapped Image STEP 4: Save and Send Grabbing Snapshot Images from Pre-Recorded Video Picturegram...
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Page 6: About Your Philips Pca635Vc
About Your Philips PCA635VC Your Philips PCA635VC Camera is the easiest way to capture and send video from your desktop or laptop computer. The Philips PCA635VC along with Videogram Creator Software, incorporates the latest in video capture and playback technol- ogy into a high quality, compact video camera. -
Page 7: Before You Begin
(“System Requirements”). Check the Package Contents Please check your Philips PCA635VC package for the items shown below. If any of the items are missing, contact immedi- ately at one of the numbers or addresses listed at the beginning of this manual. -
Page 8: Safety Tips
Safety Tips Before you install this product, be sure to safeguard yourself, your computer system and the Philips PCA635VC. It is recommended that you follow these precautions in addition to any precautions you may have found in other documents for your computer. -
Page 9: Setup & Installation
Setup & Installation This chapter walks you through the installation and setup process for your Philips PCA635VC unit. Some of the diagrams in this section may look different than your system. This user’s guide is designed to be used along with any existing docu- mentation that you have collected for your computer. -
Page 10: S O F T W A R E I N S T A L L A T I O
If the system does not power on, make sure no connections came loose during installation of the Philips PCA635VC. If something is loose, reconnect it and try powering on again. Be sure to pay special attention to the monitor and power cords-check to see that they are still connected to the back of the computer and/or plugged in to the power strip. -
Page 11: Quickvideo Software On System
Philips PCA635VC Program Group Philips PCA635VC Program Group Window Videogram Creator - Application to easily capture and create Videograms. Read Me - Text file that contains the latest release updates. Uninstall Philips PCA635VC - Application to remove Philips PCA635VC software from computer. -
Page 12: Videogram Player Group
Philips PCA635VC Setup Wizard - Walks you through the installation and set-up of your Philips PCA635VC, including properly configuring your parallel port. Philips PCA635VC Electronic User Guide - Online User Guide in Adobe Acrobat format. Videogram Player Group Videogram Program Group Videogram Player - Standalone player that is installed on the system hard drive and allows for the creation and sending of Videgrams without a player built into the file. - Page 13 Then, the Wizard will help you configure the audio on your Philips PCA635VC. Enter Internet settings, then you’re ready to begin recording with Philips PCA635VC.
- Page 14 If the following message appears, then a valid sound card is NOT installed. The Philips PCA635VC captures sound by using an existing sound card in the system. If you do not have a sound card, then simply click “OK” and ignore this message. Ignoring this message does not affect video capture, however it will disa- ble sound capability in the Philips PCA635VC application.
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Page 15: Opening The Videogram Creator Application
Video & Audio Settings Before you begin using the Videogram Creator, it’s important that you learn how to control video and audio. You may want to experiment with these settings later to optimize video capture for your system. More information regar- ding “Optimizing System for Video Capture”... -
Page 16: Size
• Fast (VGPixel) - Select this option to capture video at a higher frame rate; color and overall definition of the video will be less than the High or Medium settings. This is your best choice for most Videograms and the default setting. Size Select one of these options to adjust the size of the video captured. -
Page 17: Video
duction is as follows: put the Auto White Balance switch on, hold a white paper in front of the camera and switch over after a few seconds from auto to fixed mode. Now the color settings are stored in the camera, even when you switch off the power of the camera. -
Page 18: Capture Audio
Capture Audio This box must be checked before attempting to capture any audio. Frequency Select one of these options to choose the audio frequency for sound capture. The settings offer you the ability to balance sound quality with the size of your sound file. A low frequency setting (8KHz) will produce lower sound quality in a much smaller file size whereas a high frequency setting (44KHz) would mimic CD quality but produce a much larger file size. -
Page 19: Quality
High - Use this setting when compression speed is not an issue and the highest possible quality is required. The Main Window This section explains the user interface of the Philips PCA635VC Videogram Creator software. Featuring a standard title bar used by all Windows applications, this not only informs you that you’re looking at the “Videogram Creator”... -
Page 20: Edit Menu
• Play Videograms - Plays the most recently created Videograms. • Exit - Closes the Videogram Creator application Edit Menu Here you’ll find sound and video settings. • Go to In Mark* - Jumps to marked In-point in the selected video •... -
Page 21: Sound Toolbar
Fast Forward - Active only after a video clip has been captured, hold button down for fast forward, click button once to move the video clip forward one frame at a time. Slider Control - Active only after a video clip has been captured, this displays the current position of the video/sound clip and allows users to move to different points within the clip by clicking and dragging the slider handle;... -
Page 22: C R E A T I N G & S Av I N G V I D E O G R A M
Videogram (.VGM) that can be viewed with the Videogram Player Application (de- scribed in following Chapter). Before you start capturing make sure the Philips PCA635VC is positioned correctly and there’s plenty of lighting (see Chapter 2, Step 5). -
Page 23: Step 2 - Record & Play Video
P r e v i e w V i d e o When you first open the Videogram Creator application you will be in the “Preview” mode. In the “Preview” mode, video displays from the Philips PCA635VC. Videogram Creator Window If video is not displayed when you click on the preview button AND all the connectors are tightly plugged in, then go back to Chapter 5 and make sure that all of the Vital Settings are correctly set. -
Page 24: Sending Videograms
A DVA N C E D Dropping frames is normal and will vary from system to system depending on the system performance, as well as the type and size of video being captured. Experiment with different settings as described in Chapter 4, you can improve the system performance and drop fewer frames. -
Page 25: Saving Videograms
Once the Videogram is created, an e-mail window will appear (in this example, the window is from Microsoft Exchange). Simply type in the e-mail address of your recipients, the file is already attached. Saving Videograms An alternative to sending the Videogram directly is to Save the Videogram. This allows you to post the Videogram to a Webpage, send it out using an e-mail system that is not MAPI-compliant, copy it to a floppy disk, etc. -
Page 26: Send Videogram Dialog Box Settings
A DVA N C E D Before starting the Videogram compression process by clicking on the “Internet Send” button, you can set the start and end points of the video by using the Mark In and Mark Out buttons (shown at left) on the Video Toolbar. Simply find the Mark In Mark Out desired starting point on the video then click the Mark In button. -
Page 27: Helpful Hints For Sending Videograms
A u d i o Ty p e Select one of these options to indicate the sound optimization. • Generic - This setting saves the maximum amount of information to reproduce a wide range of sounds and is optimi- zed for music and other demanding audio files. This setting will cause the file to consume more space on the hard drive. -
Page 28: Using Videograms With Non-Mapi Email Programs
Videogram Player folder), or they can download it from the Alaris Website (http://www.alaris.com). Creating Videograms without the Player will not only save file space, but upload and download times. Using Videograms With Non-MAPI Email Programs With non-MAPI email programs such as America Online (AOL), you cannot launch the email program directly from the Videogram Creator application. -
Page 29: P L Ay I N G V I D E O G R A M
Playing Videograms There are two types of Videograms that you can play: self-executing Videograms that include the Player in the file, and Videograms that require the Player to be installed on the playing system. Playback for both of these files is described in this chapter. - Page 30 Clicking on the menu button in the lower left hand corner of the Videogram Player software, will make the following “Application” menu will appear: Menu Button Streaming Vediogram Player Menu Use the Streaming Videogram Player Menu to access the following functions: •...
- Page 31 • Skip Frames if behind (checkbox) - By default this is left checked to optimize the viewing speed and to keep the sound synchronized. When this option is not checked, all frames will be played back in the Videogram regardless Skip Frames Option of sound synchronization.
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Page 32: G R A B B I N G S N A P S H O T I M A G E
Grabbing Snapshot Images One of the great things about the Philips PCA635VC is that, in addition to capturing video clips, it also captures single images, or snapshots. Snapshots are great for everything from wallpaper for the Windows desktop to images for Internet web pages and they’re extremely easy to grab with the Philips PCA635VC. -
Page 33: Live Video
STEP 2: G r a b S t i l l Capturing & Processing Image Live Video Watch the motion video carefully for a scene that you would like to capture a snapshot of. Click on the “Grab Still” Button to freeze this image. Depending on the image size (described in Chapter 4) and system performance (Chapter 10) this could take a few seconds to a few minutes. -
Page 34: Grabbing Snapshot Images From Pre-Recorded Video
STEP 3: V i e w t h e B i t M a p p e d I m a g e The Video Window in the Videogram Creator application provides a preview of the image captured. For closer inspection of the image, you can pull up a separate window containing your BMP. -
Page 35: Add Live Sound
Adding Narration & Audio A great way to enhance any video capture is to add sound. This is not limited to just video. It is easy to add music or nar- ration to a snapshot as well. This Chapter walks you through a step-by-step procedure on adding sound to a snapshot or video capture. -
Page 36: U S I N G V I D E O G R A M
Using Videograms The Videogram Creator application makes it easier than ever to share information. Capture a picture and send a thousand words or simply send a self-running and compact Videogram. Join us as we attempt to document a few new ways to share information. -
Page 37: Stand-Alone Videogram Presentations
To begin you’ll need a standard AVI video and sound editing software package to import AVI files created using the Philips PCA635VC Videogram Creator application. After you’re satisfied with your production, save this presentation to a Microsoft standard AVI file on your hard drive. Load this AVI file into the Videogram Creator application and click on the Videogram Creator “Send”... -
Page 38: A D V A N C E D F E A T U R E
Advanced Features Video Streaming Videogram Streaming is basically a standard Internet file download taken one step further. A standard file download on the Internet may be accomplished by simply clicking on a link to a file. For example, by clicking on a link to http://www.yoursite.com/file.exe, the FILE.EXE will be transferred to your hard drive. -
Page 39: Viewing Videograms On Internet Sites
There are a couple of tricks to turning your computer into an optimized video-capturing & playing system. We’ve docu- mented a few here in order to help you get the most out of your new Philips PCA635VC. V i d e o C a p t u r e O p t i m i z a t i o n The Philips PCA635VC capture system offers hardware compression in addition to software compression. -
Page 40: Parallel Port Recommendations
Parallel Port Recommendations The parallel port is the first contact a computer system has with the video information using the Philips PCA635VC. You can have the fastest hard drive, hard drive controller, computer processor and RAM and still not see an improvement in video capture if the video originated at a slow Parallel Port. -
Page 41: System Recommendations
System Recommendations Increase your windows display resolution from 256 colors to 64,000 or 16.7 million colors to greatly enhance video vie- wing. In general, we recommend that you use a Pentium 90 or faster computer with a Hicolor (64,000 color, 16-bits per pixel) or Truecolor (16.7 million color, 24-bits per pixel) display to view Videograms. -
Page 42: F R E Q U E N T L Y A S Ke D Q U E S T I O N
You will need a minimum of a Pentium 75 Windows 95 PC or notebook. You must have an ECP or bi-direc- tional parallel port to connect the Philips PCA635VC. To record and play back sound, you need to have a sound card. - Page 43 Videogram as an e-mail attachment. I already have a printer (or Zip drive) attached to my parallel port, can I still use a Philips PCA635VC? How do I connect Philips PCA635VC if my printer port is already in use? You can use the Philips PCA635VC with other devices requiring a parallel port simply by adding a mechanical switch box.
- Page 44 Will a faster system improve video capture quality? If the Philips PCA635VC is used in a Pentium 90 system, you should be able to capture video without problems up to 320x240 resolution. When using a slower machine there is the possibility that your system will drop fra- mes during video capture (if the system is not fast enough to transfer the captured data to your hard disk, frames will be dropped from the video stream).
- Page 45 In what formats can I save video clips captured with the Philips PCA635VC Camera? Philips PCA635VC capture video in a standard AVI format. Only after the captured video has been compressed into a Videogram is the file saved as an ‘.EXE’ or ‘.VGM’. The captured video can also be saved as an AVI file.
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Page 46: S P E C I F I C A T I O N
Power consumption Standby Temperature Power supply Humidity Operating Storage © Alaris, Inc. 1995 - 1998 / © Philips Consumer Electronics BV 1998 1/4” CCD 512x582 512x492 10 - 100000 lux 3.8mm, F2.0 320x240 / 240x180 / 160x120 352x288 / 264x216 / 176x144... -
Page 47: Glossar Y Of Terms
Glossar y Of Terms Active Video Area The section, or region, of the application that displays live motion video. Aspect Ratio The length compared to the width of the video window. For example, a standard television has a 3 to 4 aspect ratio (for every 3 pixels of height there are 4 pixels for length). The Microsoft standard file format for combined video and sound files on the PC.