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AgentPete  
#1 Posted : Saturday, May 13, 2017 11:46:53 AM(UTC)
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Hi- I've just moved to VMix from Vidblaster.

Trying to get reasonable quality input from a Microsoft LifeCam, with project and camera to set to 1280x720. Several problems:

1) Very poor video quality. Lifecam "TrueColor" settings don't seem to be working.

2) Very slow frame rate, I'd guess about 10fps.

Have searched the forums for answers. Any help appreciated.
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DWAM  
#2 Posted : Saturday, May 13, 2017 2:13:45 PM(UTC)
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Hi Pete

did you try the different video formats available for USB webcams? vMix now defaults to MJPG but some webcams prefer other video formats, like UVC for example.

Check this topic : https://forums.vmix.com/....aspx?g=posts&t=8652

Guillaume
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mjgraves  
#3 Posted : Saturday, May 13, 2017 2:22:06 PM(UTC)
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I just took a LifeCam from the closet and gave it a try on my Windows 10 desktop.

Left to "default" encoding at 1280x720 it seems to be working normally. vMix reports it operating at YUY2.

Any attempt to set it for MJPEG explicitly failed, reporting that only YUY2 is supported.
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AgentPete  
#4 Posted : Saturday, May 13, 2017 3:33:02 PM(UTC)
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DWAM wrote:
Hi Pete

did you try the different video formats available for USB webcams? vMix now defaults to MJPG but some webcams prefer other video formats, like UVC for example.

Check this topic : https://forums.vmix.com/....aspx?g=posts&t=8652

Guillaume


Thanks! Changing to MJPG has drastically improved the frame rate!

The picture quality is still muddy, but at least frame rate is back to 25fps.




mjgraves wrote:
I just took a LifeCam from the closet and gave it a try on my Windows 10 desktop.

Left to "default" encoding at 1280x720 it seems to be working normally. vMix reports it operating at YUY2.

Any attempt to set it for MJPEG explicitly failed, reporting that only YUY2 is supported.



I'm using Win7. MJPG def works with my setup, see above. In fact, it's the only option that makes the frame rate acceptable. Looks like TrueColor may not be supported by VMIx, sadly.
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mjgraves  
#5 Posted : Saturday, May 13, 2017 6:54:13 PM(UTC)
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TrueColor is a function of the MS driver. The driver is what makes the LifeCam so odd. Some people have noted that the LifeCam is capable of 1080p30, although most never find it so capable.

I wrote a blog post about this some time ago. A developer familiar with the driver put some good detail into the comments.

https://www.mgraves.org/...t-lifecam-studio-webcam/

It also gets strange on Windows 10, since MS added a webcam server last summer. It didn't support MJPEG or H264 at first, which broke all apps that tried to use any webcam at 1080p30.

That issue was resolved a few months later.
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AgentPete on 5/13/2017(UTC)
AgentPete  
#6 Posted : Saturday, May 13, 2017 7:35:47 PM(UTC)
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Thanks, fascinating insight. Vidblaster, for all its other sins, somehow managed to extract a post-TrueColor processed signal, i.e. it looked a whole lot better than the raw image does in VMix. Maybe it’s time to get some better hardware... :)
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mjgraves  
#7 Posted : Tuesday, May 16, 2017 12:36:26 PM(UTC)
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AgentPete wrote:
Maybe it’s time to get some better hardware... :)


If a webcam is really what you need, it's hard to beat the Logitech C920. Most especially since it's price has dropped with the introduction of the C922 & Brio models.
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AgentPete on 5/16/2017(UTC)
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