Using DV Camera as webcam in MSN Messenger 6

[Andrew Beard]

I've been trying for some time to get my DV Camera (a
Sony DCR-PC120E) to act as a webcam in MSN Messenger 6.
It's connected to my laptop via Firewire and I know it's
working properly because Windows Explorer gives me a
preview of the video when I click on the Sony DV
Camcorder icon.

MSN Messenger 6 says that "either the webcam is not
connected properly or is in use by another program". I
believe that a background process is using the camera
(Windows Explorer always runs in the background, right?)

Is there any way to get MSN Messenger 6.1 to use my DV
camera as a webcam in conversations?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Andrew Beard]

Replying to my own message (couldn't find an edit button):

When I run the Audio/Video Tuning Wizard I select the
device (Sony DV Camcorder) and I can see a preview of the
video in the wizard, but still no joy with using the
webcam feature in a conversation.

Once again, any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Jonathan Kay [MVP]]

Greetings Andrew,

There is no edit button, so don't worry =).

Actually the 'Webcam' option in MSN Messenger 6.x will not allow you to use DV cameras,
instead you'll need to use the 'Video Conference' option instead. To do so, click the
Actions menu in the conversation window, and then click 'Start Video Conference'. However,
this option will only work if your contact is also using Windows XP.
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Messenger/MSN Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com