iBOT FireWire Web Cam for the Windows

Last updated: January 16, 2003

Index of Questions:



The Sun Microsystems web site states that the iBot FireWire camera is compatible with the Solaris operating system. What level of support do you provide for the Solaris operating system? What software is required to view captured video by the iBot?

Sun Microsystems has Certified the iBOT hardware to be compatible with the below software which is available from Sun Microsystems for Solaris 8 10/00 and later operating systems. If the user has trouble with the iBOT camera, the user may try the iBOT in a Windows 98 SE or newer based Windows system. If it works, contact Sun Microsystems for additional assistance under Solaris. If it does not work, contact Orange Micro to confirm iBOT functionality under Windows. Otherwise, Sun will support their software and determine functionality of the iBOT. If Sun Microsystems determines iBOT hardware is defective, Orange Micro will repair or replace the iBOT hardware under Orange Micro's warranty guidelines.


Here is the platform Sun Microsystems will support:
* Sun Solaris 8 10/00 and later operating systems on UltraSPARCTM platforms only
* iBOT is only supported when using Sun SunForum Collaboration Software and the Sun DCam1394_ tool (video viewing utility).
http://www.sun.com/io_technologies/1394/1394.html

I cannot get Yahoo Messenger Webcam to work under Windows XP. What can I do.

Yahoo Messenger 5.5 or newer, now works with the iBOT FireWire web cam.

I am running Windows XP and I can't find AMCAP.

To use AMCAP, click on Windows Start/Programs/Orange Micro iBOT/AMCAP.EXE.

iBOT Performance Tips for the PC

Set the desktop color to 16 bit. To do this, right click on an open area of your desktop and select properties, select the Settings tab, and change the color depth to 16 bit.

If you are running Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP, install DirectX 9. You can download DirectX 9 from http://www.microsoft.com/directx/

Make sure you computer has a minimum of 128 MB of RAM. To find out how much RAM your computer has, find the My Computer icon, then right click on it, and select properties. It will be listed in the General tab.

Make sure you have the latest drivers for your video card. Contact the manufacturer of your video card for driver updates.

Make sure you have plenty of lighting. Have a good overhead light, and a light source to light up the subject.

Make sure you have the latest iBOT drivers. Drivers for the iBOT, iBOTpro and iBOT PC Kit can be downloaded from http://www.orangemicro.com/updateibotwin.html. Drivers for the iBOT 2.0 are available here: http://www.orangemicro.com/updateibot2win.html. If you are using the iBOT 2.0 USB web cam, make sure you have the latest drivers for your USB 2.0 card.

Open AMCAP.exe, go to the Capture menu, and select Set Capture Frame Rate. Make sure that the frame rate is set to desired frame rate.

Q: I have the latest drivers installed for the iBOT but I am only getting a black and white image.

From within one of the applications used with the iBOT, open the Camera properties Dialog. Locate the saturation adjustment slide and increase the saturation value to half. After increasing the saturation you should have a colored picture.

Q: The video from the iBOT is very dark. What can I do to brighten it up?

Launch the Amcap application by clicking on the Windows Start/Programs menu and selecting Orange Micro iBOT/Amcap. After the Amcap application launches, drop down the Options menu and select the "Video Capture Filter..." menu item. Click on the "Backlight" tab and choose the appropriate backlight option (Mode 0 will usably yield the brightest video). Click on the "Camera Properties" tab and put a check in the box next to the "Exposure" option. Now click on the "Video Proc Amp" tab and make sure the Gamma option is set to "1" and saturation is about in the center. Click the "Ok" button and the video should look normal.

Most web cam applications will allow the above adjustments in their respective video settings menus

Q: How do I get video from the iBOT in Yahoo Messenger WebCam when using Win98 SE, WinMe or Win2000?

Set the iBOT camera Output Size to display at 160x120.
Click on the Windows Start menu and select Programs/Orange Micro iBOT/AMCAP. In the AMCAP Options menu, select Video Capture Pin and set the Output Size to 160x120. Quit AMCAP. Then return to Yahoo Messenger you should be able to view video in the Yahoo Messenger WebCam.

Q: When I connect my iBOT to a 1394 port of an Adaptec HotConnect 1394 Host Controller, the iBOT is not detected. Why?

The Adaptec Hot Connect models AHA-8945, AHA-8940, AHA-8920 use older 1394 technology that is not IEEE 1394 OHCI compliant. As a result they are not compatible with FireWire web cameras, FireWire hard drives, FireWire Scanners and many other new FireWire devices available today. The OrangeLink FireWire/1394 PCI board works well with the iBOT and IEEE 1394 OHCI compliant.devices.

Q: I purchased an iBOT and the video is fuzzy. What can I do?

Rotate the blue part of the iBOT to the right or left until the video is clear and crisp.

Q: Where can I get the iBOT driver for Windows XP.

Microsoft Windows XP has a built-in iBOT driver. Windows XP will automatically install the built-in iBOT driver. The Windows XP iBot driver has a very limited set of features.  We highly recommend you install the latest Orange Micro iBOT driver.

Q: I have an iBOT running under Windows XP. I cannot find a way to adjust color for the iBOT. What can I do?

There is some adjustment available for the Windows XP driver if you are using an application that allows access to it. Such as AMCAP.exe which is supplied with the iBOT. The following adjustments are available in AMCAP:
Windows XP (AMCAP Options\Video Capture Filter)
Video Proc Amp tab
* Brightness
* Saturation
* Sharpness
* White Balance

Q: I cannot find the NetMeeting command on the Communications Menu in Windows XP.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q298327

This issue can occur because the NetMeeting functionality has been combined with the Windows Messenger Service in Windows XP. To resolve this issue, use the Windows Messenger Service to communicate with others over the Internet or on your intranet.

To start Windows Messenger Service:
Click Start on the taskbar. Point to Accessories, point to Communications, and then click Windows Messenger Service.

To work around this issue:
Run NetMeeting manually. Click Start on the taskbar, and then click Run. In the Open box, type conf.exe, and then press ENTER.

Q: I have the latest drivers installed for the iBOT but I am only getting a black and white image.

From within one of the applications used with the iBOT, open the Camera properties Dialog. Locate the saturation adjustment slide and increase the saturation value to half. After increasing the saturation you should have a colored picture.

Q: I am running Windows Me and after connecting the iBOT to my computer I receive the error: "The file camera.exe was not found."

To resolve this issue, first cancel the above mentioned error dialog. Download and install the updated Windows iBOT drivers . 

Q: Does the iBOT camera support Linux?

Orange Micro has no plans to develop and support Linux drivers for the iBOT Camera. However, we will publish links to known Linux web sites that have drivers that support the iBOT.

IEEE 1394 for Linux

Q: Does the iBOT camera support the 1394 TA Digital Camera Specification 1.3?

The iBOT camera meets the Digital Camera specification v1.04. It is compatible with Digital Camera specification v1.3, but doesn't provide features specific to that version.

Q: I am a software developer and I am interested in developing a custom application for the iBOT camera. Does Orange Micro have a developers kit for the iBOT camera?

MicrosoftÆ DirectShowÆ is the interface that most developers use to capture video from DVCAMs and Desktop Cameras, including USB and FireWire Web Cams. We have no developer kit for this purpose. All the required information is available from Microsoft.
MicrosoftÆ DirectShowÆ

Q: Why is using a FireWire desktop camera better than a USB 1.1 desktop camera?

The main benefit of using the iBOT is that the video coming from the iBOT is Uncompressed. Other cameras compress video before it leaves the camera. Then the program that receives the video must decompress and then recompress the video using a different type of compression before the video is usable. This technique tends to dramatically degrade the quality and color of the video. Because the iBOT sends uncompressed video the program does not have to uncompress and then recompress the video before it can be used. It will simply take the uncompressed video from the iBOT and compress it using the appropriate compression. This will both allow for better quality video along with alleviating the demand on the CPU to process more frames.

When using the iBOT for DV editing there are a few system requirements you should keep in mind. The first thing is the transfer rate. This number will vary depending on the resolution and frame rate you capture. The formula used to determine the transfer rate is:

horizontal resolution x vertical resolution x 2 x frames per second = transfer rate

. If you capture 640x480 at 30 Frames/sec you simply multiply 640x480x2x30, which equals 18,432,000 Bytes/Sec or 18MB/s. If you intended to capture 640x480 at 30 Frames/sec you need a hard drive that can sustain a transfer rate of 18 MB/s.

There are other factors to keep in mind other than hard drive speed. To properly perform video editing on a PC using the iBOT you will need at lease a Pentium 233MMX, 64 MB of RAM and a defragmented hard drive.

Q: I am running Windows 98 SE and my iBOT image will only appear in monochrome, not color. What can I do to get a color image?

This will happen if you are running Windows 98 SE and do not install the iBOT software before attaching the iBOT cable to your system's 1394 port. To correct this situation perform the following steps:
1) Install latest iBOT drivers. Restart Windows 98 SE.
2) Right-Click on the "My Computer" icon. Select Properties in the pop-up menu.
3) Click on the Device Manager tab.
4) Double click on the Imaging Device item. Then, select Sony Camera (normally it will be "Orange Micro iBOT") and click on the Properties button. Click on the Driver tab.
5) Click on Update Driver button.
6) Click Next, then select " Search for a better driver&". Click the Next button again.
7) Click on the Browse button
8) Double click on the "Local Disk C". Double click on the Windows folder, then the Drivers folder and the iBOT98 folder, then Click OK.
9) Click Next twice, then Finish.
10) Close all windows then restart Windows.

Q: I cannot get my iBOT to work through an otherwise functioning 1394 PC Card in my PC laptop. What can I do?

The iBOT is powered from the FireWire bus. Because the PC Card slot does not supply power to the FireWire bus, an external source for power must be used. A good candidate for that power would be the OrangeLink FireWire Hub. If you happen to have a recent OrangeLink FireWire CardBus PC Card, it comes with a jack for an optional power supply between the two FireWire ports. You can purchase it at the 1394FireStation.

Q: My computer has a 4-pin 1394/FireWire port. The iBOT has a 6-pin port. What can I do?

A 4-pin FireWire port does not have to two additional wires that can potentially provide power for the FireWire bus. The iBOT gets its power from the FireWire bus. As a result, an external source for power must be used. A good candidate for that power would be the OrangeLink FireWire Hub.

© Orange Micro, Inc. 2003. All rights reserved.