AZcendant^®

Vista Tips

In November 2007, we migrated our development systems to Vista.  We needed faster machines and all the new machines now come with one of the Vista operating systems installed.  Our experience so far has been good overall.  (We've been using both Vista Ultimate and Vista Home Premium with good results.)

HandyAvi has been working well in Vista and we have been using it here in Vista for astronomy, time-lapse and other purposes.

Help Files changed from .HLP to .CHM

We completed the changeover to HTML help files which work on Vista and also on previous operating systems such as XP and WIN2K.  Vista no longer supports the older .HLP files. The new .chm help file is included as part of the HandyAvi download.

ToUcam 740K Driver Installation on Vista

We really like the ToUcam 740K and it has been a favorite of amateur astronomers worldwide.  (We also really like its successor, the Philips SPC 900 NC/00 PC Camera.  It is also a worldwide favorite among amateur astronomers.)

We got a surprise though when we tried to install the software for the ToUcam 740K.  We went to the Philips ToUcam support site and found this message:

"Where are the Vista drivers for this webcam?

Answer

There are no Vista drivers for this product and there never will be Vista drivers for this product due to it's age.

There is a work around to get your webcam to work under Vista.
Goto

 http://www.home.zonnet.nl/m.m.j.meijer/D_I_Y/spc900nc.htm

and read section 6 titled Convert a ToUcam Pro to a SPC900NC.

This will void warranty though, so if you do this it is at you own risk."

Actually there ARE drivers that work on Vista.  The Windows XP drivers work just fine on Vista.  We are using them here right now on Vista.  It is just that the Philips installation system does not work on Vista so the install fails. 

So the problem is how to install the ToUcam 740K drivers on Vista.  We solved that problem.  We sent Email to Philips and said that if we didn't hear from them in two days that we would assume we had their permission to post the solution. 

The solution is rather more involved than we would like it to be but it works and doesn't involve doing a risky firmware camera update.  (A better solution would be for us to package up an installation system and make it available to you but that would require software redistribution rights that we currently don't have...)

Click here to see how to install the XP drivers for the ToUcam 740K on Vista.

"USB 2.0 Video Adapter with Audio" Driver Installation on Vista

We also tried to install our "USB 2.0 Video Adapter with Audio" drivers on Vista.  Again, the installation failed.  Could not find any software updates on the internet. 

However, the Windows XP drivers work just fine on Vista.  We are using them here right now on Vista.  It is just that the vendor's installation system does not work on Vista so the install fails. 

We solved the problem of how to get the XP drivers installed on Vista.

The solution is rather more involved than we would like it to be but it works and there doesn't seem to be any alternative.  (A better solution would be for us to package up an installation system and make it available to you but that would require software redistribution rights that we currently don't have...)

Click here to see how to install the XP drivers for the "USB 2.0 Video Adapter with Audio" on Vista.

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Last modified: 08/30/09