Prey not able to use HP laptop webcam

[J Brown]

Upgraded to 4.3 and still having problems with HP laptop and its built
in video camera. The pictures are still black with small colored specs
in the corners of the picture.

[J Brown]

Well I upgraded to 4.4 of Prey and no difference regarding web cam
pictures I get a back picture with colored dots in the corners of the
picture or a green colored blob in the entire picture that seems to
have a circular green and black area. Webcam worked fine normally and
web browser was shutdown.

[ghostknife]

I get the same thing with the Webcam built into my Dell SP2309W
Monitor, pretty sure it's because it doesnt power up
long enough for it to work properly. when it's used with Skye etc the
webcam light on the monitor flashes a couple of times before
the webcam powers up and works properly, when Prey activates it the
light only flashes once and thats when it tries to capture
the image (which doesn't work). If prey could activate the webcam and
then wait a few seconds I'm pretty sure it would work,
but maybe this is a function of the webcam and not Prey, I don't
know..

[MKHCB]

I am trying to create a webcam version that waits a bit before
capturing the photo.

[J Brown]

Is there any further updates for Prey in order to get a built in
webcam to work rather than a yellow blob with colors in it?


On Oct 2, 11:40 pm, MKHCB <mkhcb...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I am trying to create awebcamversion that waits a bit before

> capturing the photo.
>
> On Oct 3, 1:13 am, ghostknife <beanroast...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

> > I get the same thing with theWebcambuilt into my Dell SP2309W

> > Monitor, pretty sure it's because it doesnt power up
> > long enough for it to work properly. when it's used with Skye etc the

> >webcamlight on the monitor flashes a couple of times before
> > thewebcampowers up and works properly, when Prey activates it the

> > light only flashes once and thats when it tries to capture
> > the image (which doesn't work). If prey could activate thewebcamand
> > then wait a few seconds I'm pretty sure it would work,

> > but maybe this is a function of thewebcamand not Prey, I don't

> > know..
>
> > On Oct 3, 7:20 am, J Brown <keyboar...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > Well I upgraded to 4.4 of Prey and no difference regarding web cam
> > > pictures I get a back picture with colored dots in the corners of the
> > > picture or a green colored blob in the entire picture that seems to

> > > have a circular green and black area.Webcamworked fine normally and

[J Brown]

Well now Prey instead of taking a screen shot via the web cam it shows a message saying "HP MediaSmart Webcam.. Please Start HP MediaSmart Webcam". If I do start the mediasmart software the preview software opens up and Prey takes a proper picture. However this is not what a thief will do. 


Attached is the log file from when the MediaSmart webcam software is NOT running.

[Drew Reece]

Yes this is a known issue.

People are working on fixing it http://groups.google.com/group/prey-security/browse_thread/thread/236d717379690a02

But there is no solution other than making sure the mediasmart application is running.

Drew

On 24 Jun 2011, at 05:10, J Brown wrote:

Well now Prey instead of taking a screen shot via the web cam it shows a message saying "HP MediaSmart Webcam.. Please Start HP MediaSmart Webcam". If I do start the mediasmart software the preview software opens up and Prey takes a proper picture. However this is not what a thief will do. 


Attached is the log file from when the MediaSmart webcam software is NOT running.

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[J Brown]

The only way that getting MediaSmart software running is if the thief starts up the software themselves and Prey happens to take a picture during that timeframe.

[Drew Reece]

Yes that's correct. That is why it is a known issue.

I believe that thread (or another recent one) has a workaround that starts the MediaSmart application & hides it. That is less than ideal, but you can ask the original poster for the info on how to set it up if you want to do so.

The fix is to work out how to make the snapshot.exe detect the camera without MediaSmart, which I believe people are working on, it's open source - so patches are welcome.

Drew

On 24 Jun 2011, at 15:16, J Brown wrote:

The only way that getting MediaSmart software running is if the thief starts up the software themselves and Prey happens to take a picture during that timeframe.