Radio Shack 3Com Bigpicture manual

This manual covers installation and operating instructions for the following 3Com ® Bigpicture TM products: • Videophone Camera & Capture Card 3Com, the 3Com logo, and U.S. Robotics are registered trademarks; Bigpicture and the Bigpicture logo are trademarks of 3Com Corporation or its subsidiaries. Windows and NetMeeting are registered trade[...]

T ABLE OF C ONTENTS ii Introduction 1 Installation 2 Determining Your Version of Windows 95 2 Inserting the Video Capture Card into Your Computer 4 Connecting Your NTSC Camera to Your Video Capture Card 8 Connecting a Camcorder or Other NTSC Device to Your Video Capture Card 9 Installing the Video Capture Card’s Drivers 10 Software Installation 1[...]

T ABLE OF C ONTENTS Glossary 45 Specifications 50 Video Capture Card 50 NTSC Camera 51 Regulatory Information and Limited Warranty 5 3[...]

I NTRODUCTION 1 ongratulations! You have purchased a powerful (and fun!) video communications tool. 3Com is known worldwide for reliable and easy-to-use networking and data communications tools. Now you can count on 3Com for the same quality in digital video applications. 3Com, the leader in networking, now puts digital video right inside your PC. [...]

I NSTALLATION 2 You’ll need these items from your Bigpicture TM box: NTSC camera video capture card Bigpicture CD-ROM Plus: screwdriver (not included) This section will guide you through installation of the hardware and software in your Bigpicture Videophone package. The hardware (video capture card and camera) must be installed before the softwa[...]

I NSTALLATION 3 3. In the “System Properties” screen, look at the system information under the General tab (circled in the following screen image). The number following the text “Microsoft Windows 95” will end with “950”, “950a”, or “950b”. This indicates your version of Windows 95. Write this number on the blank below for futur[...]

I NSTALLATION 4 Inserting the Video Capture Card into Your Computer NOTE: Before installing your capture card, write down the card’s serial number in this space: ________________________________ You will find the serial number underneath the bar code on the white sticker on the capture card and on your Bigpicture package. If you ever need to call[...]

I NSTALLATION 5 CAUTION : To avoid risk of electric shock, make sure your computer and all peripheral devices are turned off and unplugged from electrical outlets. 3. Remove the screws from your computer’s cover and then remove the cover. Your computer may not resemble the computer in the following diagrams, but the basic principle for removing t[...]

I NSTALLATION 6 5. There should be two types of expansion slot inside your computer, ISA and PCI (see the following diagrams). Find an empty PCI slot inside your computer. PCI slots are usually white plastic grooves lined with silver metal. ISA slots are usually longer black plastic grooves lined with silver metal.[...]

I NSTALLATION 7 PCI ISA 6. Unscrew and remove the expansion slot cover (the long, narrow piece of metal that keeps dust from entering through the opening perpendicular to the slot). Be careful not to drop the screw into the PC. 7. Holding the video capture card at each corner, with the gold edge facing the slot, push the card down as gently as poss[...]

I NSTALLATION 8 8. Screw the video capture card firmly into place using the screw you removed in step 6. 9. Replace the computer’s cover. Fasten it with the screws you removed in step 3. 10. Plug the computer’s power cord back into the computer and reattach your peripherals to the computer. Connecting Your NTSC Camera to Your Video Capture Card[...]

I NSTALLATION 9 1. Plug the Bigpicture camera’s yellow RCA- type video plug into the yellow RCA-type video jack on the capture card. 2. Plug the camera’s power cord into the power jack located just under the video jack on the capture card. 3. Plug the camera’s 1/8-inch audio output plug into the sound card’s MIC or AUDIO IN jack. Refer to y[...]

I NSTALLATION 10 consult your device’s manual if this configuration does not apply. The power jack on the capture card is of no concern when you are using a device other than the NTSC camera included in your Bigpicture kit. To connect your device’s audio out to your sound card, connect a phono plug to miniature 1/8-inch (3.5 mm) phone plug adap[...]

I NSTALLATION 11 NOTE: If you do not see the preceding screen, your Plug and Play installation was not successful. See “ If Plug and Play Does Not Detect Your Capture Card ” (page 43). 2. Click Driver from disk provided by hardware manufacturer . 3. Click OK and insert the Bigpicture CD into your CD-ROM drive. 4. When you see the “Install Fro[...]

I NSTALLATION 12 5. Next, you will see the following screen on your desktop. Click OK . Windows will install the additional software. 6. Once the additional software is installed, you will see your normal desktop. You should now verify that the installation was a success. Click the Windows Start button and point to Settings . Then click Control Pan[...]

I NSTALLATION 13 7. Double-click the System icon (circled in the screen image below). 8. Click the Device Manager tab.[...]

I NSTALLATION 14 9. Double-click Sound, Video and Game Controllers . 10. You should see “U.S. Robotics Video Capture” in the Sound, Video and Game Controllers listing. This indicates that the installation was successful.[...]

I NSTALLATION 15 NOTE: If you do not see your video capture card listed in the preceding screen, your Plug and Play installation was not successful. See “ If Plug and Play Does Not Detect Your Capture Card ” (page 43). You are now ready to install the software for Bigpicture. Turn to “Software Installation” on page 20. Video Capture Card Dr[...]

I NSTALLATION 16 2. When you see the following screen, click Finish . 3. Next, you will see the following screen on your desktop. Click OK . Windows will install the additional software. 4. Once the additional software is installed, you will see your normal desktop. You should now verify that the installation was a success. Click the Windows Start [...]

I NSTALLATION 17 5. Double-click the System icon (circled in the screen image below).[...]

I NSTALLATION 18 6. Click the Device Manager tab. 7. Double-click Sound, Video and Game Controllers .[...]

I NSTALLATION 19 8. You should see “U.S. Robotics Video Capture” in the Sound, Video and Game Controllers listing. This indicates that the installation was successful. NOTE: If you do not see your video capture card listed in the preceding screen, your Plug and Play installation was not successful. See “ If Plug and Play Does Not Detect Your [...]

I NSTALLATION 20 This section will guide you through installing the Bigpicture Setup Wizard, which installs your Bigpicture software applications. 1. Click Windows 95 Start . 2. Then click Run . 3. Your Bigpicture CD-ROM should be inserted into your CD-ROM drive. If it is not, insert it now. Type D:setup.exe (If your CD-ROM drive has a letter name[...]

I NSTALLATION 21 4. You will see the following screen. The Setup Wizard is preparing your system for installation. 5. After you read the “Welcome” screen, click Next .[...]

I NSTALLATION 22 6. Fill in the blanks on the next screen with your information, using the TAB key to move between the fields. Then click Next . 7. The next screen allows you to choose a typical or custom installation. We recommend that you click Typical . If you click Custom , you can choose which software applications will install and determine o[...]

I NSTALLATION 23 On the following page is a summary of the software available on the Bigpicture CD- ROM. Review each item to familiarize yourself with the applications. Keep in mind that your Bigpicture system will be easier to use if you install all of the software included on the CD-ROM by choosing the Typical installation.[...]

I NSTALLATION 24 Bigpicture Software Summary Bigpicture - This is the application launcher that you use to quickly access any of the software in the Bigpicture program group. It also provides easy access to help files for some applications. Kai’s Photo Soap Special Edition - Photo Soap Special Edition is a fun tool for manipulating and editing di[...]

I NSTALLATION 25 8. When you see the following screen, click Yes . 9. This is the first screen of the Registration Wizard. After reading the screen, click Next .[...]

I NSTALLATION 26 10. When you see the next screen, type the appropriate information. Then click Next . 11. When you see the following screen, you are asked which Bigpicture product you purchased. Scroll down and select 3Com Bigpicture Video Capture Card and Camera. Fill in the rest of the information as required. Then click Next . 12. The next scre[...]

I NSTALLATION 27 NOTE: You can also register by fax or e-mail if you have those options. We explain the By Mail option to ensure that everyone can register, regardless of their system’s capabilities. 13. When the following screen appears, make sure the printer selected is the correct destination for your registration information. Then click OK . [...]

I NSTALLATION 28 14. This screen marks the end of the registration process. Click OK . Continue with the next section, which provides an overview of the Bigpicture application launcher. The Bigpicture Application Launcher The Bigpicture application launcher is a quick and easy way for you to access the software programs installed to your computer f[...]

I NSTALLATION 29 Here is a synopsis of the launcher: Click Video Phone and a menu appears allowing you to launch VDOnet’s VDOPhone Profession al H.324 & Internet videophone software, BoxTop Interactive’s iVisit Internet chat software, or Microsoft’s NetMeeting H.323 Internet software. Click Video Mail and VDOnet’s VDOMail launches autom[...]

I NTERNET S ECURITY I SSUES 30 The Internet is an amazing new frontier of human interaction. Almost anyone and anything can be found there in one form or another. This is part of the appeal of gaining access to the Internet and the World Wide Web. It’s like having the world’s largest library in your own home. However, the public and free nature[...]

I NTERNET S ECURITY I SSUES 31 communications path. It should be considered a public “ place .” Therefore , you should assume that a ny information that you send over the I nternet can be viewed by strangers . If the software you are using includes security measures, we recommend that you take advantage of them. • Use a dynamic IP address whe[...]

I NTERNET S ECURITY I SSUES 32 The information that you provide here will be available to anyone accessing the VDO directory while the VDOPhone software is running on your PC . Adding information to the VDOPhone “Identity” section might help friends and family identify who you are for practical reasons . However, keep in mind that someone you d[...]

I NTERNET S ECURITY I SSUES 33 than your real name to ensure that no one will know who you really are. • Use a password your children don’t know. If you have children who use your computer, you may want to keep your VDOPhone password a secret from them to ensure that they don’t have access to the software. Unsupervised, a child could access v[...]

I NTERNET S ECURITY I SSUES 34 can protect your identity and that of your family. • Do not use “ Auto Answer ” when using VDOPhone. This setting automatically brings up any video images that enter the VDOPhone directory, regardless of whether you want to see them or not. By disabling this feature, you reduce the risk of seeing something that [...]

T ROUBLESHOOTING AND O NLINE H ELP R ESOURCES 35 PROBLEM DIAGNOSIS POSSIBLE SOLUTION The computer or software You may have a conflict between Check to make sure you will not recognize the video your COM and IRQ ports. have the correct COM port capture card. and IRQ settings in your software and/or in the Windows Control Panel . You do not see video[...]

T ROUBLESHOOTING AND O NLINE H ELP R ESOURCES 36 PROBLEM DIAGNOSIS POSSIBLE SOLUTION You do not see video… (cont.) The application may be set Set the video source to accept video from a option in the software non-existent source. to “co mposite.” Your software may be set to Change the video format the wrong video format. to 160 x 120 pixels a[...]

T ROUBLESHOOTING AND O NLINE H ELP R ESOURCES 37 IRQ Conflicts: Freeing an IRQ Your video capture card requires two system resources: an interrupt and a memory segment. If your system is not immediately detecting the card, there is a high probability that there is an IRQ conflict involving the video capture card. In the Windows Device Manager , dou[...]

T ROUBLESHOOTING AND O NLINE H ELP R ESOURCES 38 NOTE: If your PC is loaded with many devices, there may not be a free interrupt available for the video capture card. If this is the case, you’ll need to find an unused device which has a reserved interrupt and free that interrupt for use by the capture card. Many PCs reserve an interrupt for a PS/[...]

T ROUBLESHOOTING AND O NLINE H ELP R ESOURCES 39 IRQ Conflicts: Altering PCI BIOS Settings Your Bigpicture  package is a PCI-based system. While most PCI-based systems configure themselves automatically via a Plug and Play compliant chip set and BIOS, there are occasional problems. Some of these systems require you to configure some or all of th[...]

T ROUBLESHOOTING AND O NLINE H ELP R ESOURCES 40 System Locking: Readjusting the Video Capture Card’s Memory Address If your PCI video capture card installed correctly, yet your system locks up when attempting to access video applications, there may be a Plug and Play memory overlap between your capture card and an existing video card with a S3/9[...]

T ROUBLESHOOTING AND O NLINE H ELP R ESOURCES 41 If Plug and Play Does Not Detect Your Capture Card 1. Click Windows 95 Start and click Shut Down . When asked if you wish to shut down your computer, click Yes . When Windows 95 indicates that it is safe to turn off your computer, turn it off and wait 15 seconds. Then turn the computer back on. Windo[...]

T ROUBLESHOOTING AND O NLINE H ELP R ESOURCES 42 Online Help Resources 3Com offers a number of online technical support options. Choose any one of the following if you need help with your new Bigpicture system or want to learn more about it. Bigpicture 90-Day Installation Support Line If you need further assistance with your Bigpicture product, cal[...]

T ROUBLESHOOTING AND O NLINE H ELP R ESOURCES 43 of our Web page. Log on to http://www.3com.com . CompuServe Connect to the 3Com forum with the command GO THREECOM. Leave a message on one of our message boards or e-mail us through CompuServe Mail for a response within 24 hours. Modem vendor forum address is GO THREECOM . Address messages to 76711,7[...]

T ROUBLESHOOTING AND O NLINE H ELP R ESOURCES 44 ∗ NOTE: 888-877-4VID is a 90-day installation support number. After 90 days, please call 847- 982-5151. Priority “ No Hold ” Service 3Com staffs a 900 toll number for immediate assistance. These lines are staffed from 8 a.m. - 6 p.m. CST Monday through Friday. “No Hold” line 900-555-8771 Th[...]

G LOSSARY 45 Cross references are printed in boldface . application A computer program designed to perform a specific function, such as word processing or organizing data into a spreadsheet. . avi (audio-video interleaved) Developed by Microsoft Corporation, . avi is a digital video architecture for use in the Windows operating system. It is a comm[...]

G LOSSARY 46 bits per second ( bps) The bits ( binary digits ) per second rate. Thousands of bits per second are expressed as kilobits per second or Kbps. . bmp This DOS three-character extension at the end of a file name identifies the file contents as bit-mapped graphics (FILENAME.BMP). byte A group of binary digits stored and operated upon as a [...]

G LOSSARY 47 composite video A video signal in which all the image information (color, brightness, line, field, sync, etc.) are mixed together. Cross-color artifacts become apparent in composite video. dynamic IP address A dynamic IP address is an address that changes every time a user logs into their ISP (Internet service provider). This makes the[...]

G LOSSARY 48 ISP Internet Service Provider. A company that provides users with Internet access for a set fee. ITU-T An international organization that defines standards for telegraphic and telephone equipment. The initials ITU-T represent the French name. In English it is known as the International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee. NT[...]

G LOSSARY 49 RAM Random Access Memory. Memory that is available for use when the modem is turned on, but that does not retain information when the power is turned off. The modem's RAM holds the current operational settings, a flow control buffer, and a command buffer. ROM Read Only Memory. Permanent memory, not user-programmable. V.80 An ITU-T[...]

S PECIFICATIONS 50 V IDEO C APTURE C ARD Physical Properties Internal PCI half card Resolution 640x 480 (NTSC standard), supports burst PCI bus transfers Maximum Frame Rate 30 frames/sec at full resolution in overlay mode Power Output jack: +5V, 1A limit[...]

S PECIFICATIONS 51 NTSC C AMERA Physical Properties Integrated 3.8mm lens mount Built-in microphone Dimensions: 77 x 62 x 84 mm Switches: Power on/off, WB auto/fixed, BLC, contrast, image neg./ pos (or flicker reduction). Interface: One cable (video and audio cinch., DC power jack) Operating temp.: 0 to 40 degrees Celsius ambient Resolution 512 x 4[...]

S PECIFICATIONS 52 Audio Signal to noise ratio: 48dB Audio output: 400 mV RMS in 10k Ω Power Power input: DC 5V + 5% Power consumption: <2.5W (may be labeled FL )[...]

R EGULATORY I NFORMATION AND L IMITED W ARRANTY 53 Manufacturer’s Declaration of Conformity 3Com declares that the product Bigpicture TM Videophone Camera & Capture Card (model 1689) conforms to the FCC’s specifications: Part 15: Operation is subject to the following two conditions: (1) this device may not cause harmful electromagnetic inte[...]

REGULATORY INFORMATION 54 UL Listing/CUL Listing This information technology equipment is UL- Listed and CUL-Listed for use with UL- Listed personal computers that have installation instructions detailing user installation of card cage accessories. Radio and Television Interference This equipment generates and uses radio frequency energy and if not[...]

REGULATORY INFORMATION 55 • Relocate the computer and/or the receiver so that they are on separate branch circuits. If necessary, consult your dealer or an experienced radio/television technician for additional suggestions. You may find the following booklet, prepared by the Federal Communications Commission, helpful: How to Identify and Resolve [...]

REGULATORY INFORMATION 56 working conditions (including, but not limited to, lightning and water damage). THIS LIMITED WARRANTY DOES NOT GUARANTEE YOU UNINTERRUPTED SERVICE. REPAIR OR REPLACEMENT AS PROVIDED UNDER THIS LIMITED WARRANTY IS THE EXCLUSIVE REMEDY OF THE PURCHASER. THIS LIMITED WARRANTY IS IN LIEU OF ALL OTHER WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMP[...]

REGULATORY INFORMATION 57 vary from state to state. Some states do not allow limitations on duration of an implied warranty, or the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages, so the above exclusion or limitation may not apply to you. To obtain service under this limited warranty, contact the 3Com Technical Support Department at[...]