How to Hookup Your Webcam to Your Computer

Article by kkndka (6,594 pts ) , published Sep 3, 2009

This guide will show you how to get your webcam working on your computer.

Things You Need

Before you get started, get your webcam ready along with the driver CD that it came with it. If it does not have a driver CD, you may need to download the drivers from the manufacturer's web page. Some webcams do not require a special driver.

Installing the Webcam

Step 1: Insert the driver CD into your computer and install the driver software. Do not connect your webcam yet. The CD should autorun and install the drivers.

Step 2: In some cases, your webcam will not require a driver and therefore may not have a CD. In that case, you can just plug the webcam into a USB port on your computer. Windows should recognize it and attempt to install default webcam drivers.

Step 3: Connect the webcam to a USB port. The installed software should start, or you can start the webcam software from the Start menu.

Most instant messaging software will recognize the connected webcam as the default device and automatically configure it.

Placement

Some webcams come with a clip, so you can easily place it on top of your LCD monitor. If it does not, make sure you place the webcam on a flat surface.

Keep the webcam in a well-lit place, with the light source directly behind the webcam.

Adjust the Webcam

To transmit good quality pictures, you can adjust your Webcam's image settings using the Webcam software. You may need to change the image settings for every application in which your Webcam is used.

Some of the settings are:

Brightness - This is used for compensating for the lighting of the Image based on your environment's lighting.

Hue- Adjust red, blue and yellow spectrum range.

Contrast - This setting is used to change the difference in brightness between bright and dim areas.

Saturation - To control the amount of color in the image.

Sharpness - To adjust the Image clarity. This is useful if your image seems to be out of focus.

Uses for Your Webcam

Once you have your webcam set up, you can use it for video conferencing, surveillance, playing webcam games and video blogging.

Check out this article for some more cool ideas on how you can use your webcam.

Comment

Jul 12, 2009 12:48 AM
FRANKIE R KENSINGER
web cam won't work on messinger
i just thought you could help me with the problem it works on the computor but when i try to use it for messinger it say no web cam on system so i have removed it and put it back on and i think i am going crazy with it i think it is messinger yahoo if you can advise me i would be in your dept frankie
 
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