OK, just found this: http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/08/windows-10-anniversary-update-breaks-most-webcams/
It is an issue with something they did in the Win10 anniversary update to allow sharing the video stream. Take off your tin foil hat it is not a conspiracy.
It will be interesting to see how long before they have a solution and if that solution is generally effective -- time will tell.
Until a proper fix is developed, affected users can disable the frame server feature and revert to the older behavior in which each application takes exclusive control of the camera. Rafael Rivera determined that some registry keys can be modified to prevent use of the frame server.
Specifically, a DWORD named EnableFrameServerMode at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Media Foundation\Platform (for 32-bit Windows, and 64-bit applications on 64-bit Windows) and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows Media Foundation\Platform (for 32-bit applications on 64-bit Windows) set to the value zero will restore expected camera functionality.
I don't suppose this so called "Frame Server" is actually something that was created to make it easier for them to intercept or copy the video stream for their own purposes?
It sounds like someone thought webcams would just allow uncompressed video to be sent which is not the case with most for some reason. Good intention, bad result.
... the Windows Camera Frame Server connects to the data streams from the webcams. Regular applications connect not to the camera hardware directly, but to this new frame server component. The frame server supports multiple connections from applications and shares the video data from the camera to every connected app. This puts an end to the "exclusive" use of devices...
I have watched a lot of videos on Channel 9 where the MS guys explain the compatibility testing they do. Given the scope of the task, i.e. an infinite combination of PC hardware, with perhaps tens of thousands of applications that 'might' be affected it would be too easy to miss something like this. This is not an attempt at an excuse for them, just thinking out loud about the scope of the problem.
MS, like google, has 'more money than god'. they have zero excuse for major fark-ups like this.
a 100 man company, yeah, they can invoke that excuse. 'manpower limits'. yeah, sure.
MS and google and large companies like that, crying that they don't have enough *resources* to test something major and no one who *wrote* the code could envision this?
we are not talking about really old hardware - old SCSI or IDE drives or ISA bus sound cards these are modern enough webcams, not some windows 95 era hardware.
didn't see it coming, or could not test for before releasing patch - pure 'bull cookies'.
is MS evil, stupid or just under staffed? yeah, right
MS, like google, has 'more money than god'. they have zero excuse for major fark-ups like this.
a 100 man company, yeah, they can invoke that excuse. 'manpower limits'. yeah, sure.
MS and google and large companies like that, crying that they don't have enough *resources* to test something major and no one who *wrote* the code could envision this?
we are not talking about really old hardware - old SCSI or IDE drives or ISA bus sound cards these are modern enough webcams, not some windows 95 era hardware.
didn't see it coming, or could not test for before releasing patch - pure 'bull cookies'.
is MS evil, stupid or just under staffed? yeah, right
horses for courses ! it's why you should keep your old computer, IMO along with its working OS . so IF you need to get images from an Old 2004 CompactFlash card or maybe run OLD 2002 PC Games, you have a OffLine computer & working MS OS that will run them. or use it to run a 2004 - 2007 webcam for video recording / old webcam moding FX esc esc- haveing more than one computer is not a bad thing .
horses for courses ! it's why you should keep your old computer, IMO along with its working OS . so IF you need to get images from an Old 2004 CompactFlash card or maybe run OLD 2002 PC Games, you have a OffLine computer & working MS OS that will run them. or use it to run a 2004 - 2007 webcam for video recording / old webcam moding FX esc esc- haveing more than one computer is not a bad thing .
Agree. As impressed as I am with my new PC, I am equally unimpressed with Windows 10. Everything I run into, I do a search and it seems like everyone else is having the same problem. Basic stuff that I took for granted, like email. So I still run my XP P4 machine. Sad, very sad!
Using a mail client built into your os in this day and age is very sad lol, I'm amazed anyone still does it.
Using a mail client built into your os in this day and age is very sad lol, I'm amazed anyone still does it.
Using a mail client built into your os in this day and age is very sad lol, I'm amazed anyone still does it.
I use the mail client built into iOS, as I'm sure do countless millions of others. Why so strange?
...having more than one computer is not a bad thing .
Using a mail client built into your os in this day and age is very sad lol, I'm amazed anyone still does it.
I use the mail client built into iOS, as I'm sure do countless millions of others. Why so strange?
A mobile device is another story altogether, but still using something like outlook when there are vastly superior options you can access from any browser just make more sense on a desktop. I gave the windows 10 mail app a try but it was just a mess compared to the straightforward setup gmail uses.
Dedicated email clients, especially ones that save emails locally, are a throwback to the days when you didn't have gigabytes of storage provided to you, or it would take too long to fetch the email you needed from the server.
Whenever I encounter someone who has an issue with their outlook it still baffles me as to why they use it, but generally they are in that age range where you would expect it.
I suspect MS does not give a crap about my webcam feed or yours. I'm always amazed how folks can generate conspiracy theory's.
sorry, but this is now post-snowden era and you don't get off that easily.
the new default is to assume malice, and you are usually going to be right, when it comes to anything privacy or security related.
the governments are like drug addicts, they have a monkey on their backs. once they tasted this spy-power of theirs, they are hooked. they don't want to give up that sweet, sweet power they now have.
the new default - when it comes to obvious use-cases, is to assume that there was pressure to have some feature there and this usually will not come via user requests. even parallel construction is now known, so we have to look thru excuses and see the real intent on feature A or B.
we are waking up. its not 'tin foil hat'. please stop with the BS. many of us have a systems/network security background and can see the power-grabs happening daily in the computer field. its very possible that there was pressure to do anything that supplies 'data' to those who have an insatiable need for such 'data'.
I suspect what google does, too. anyone who can be a source of mass data is ripe for power-abuse. many changes in win10 were not there for the user's benefit. we are not children anymore. this is post-snowden. stop with the 'tin foil hat' bullshit. we know this crap happens all the time, now.
...having more than one computer is not a bad thing .
Yeah, agreed. They stick them on the curb, I pick them up. Very rarely is there anything wrong with them, aside from being bloated with malware, startup filled with nonsense, the usual user caused Windows problems. And if they do have a hardware failure of some sort, I just part them out, which usually results in more ram and HD's to stick in the good ones. And the power supplies and such an be reworked for other stuff. Yeah, I like to hoard obsolete PC's.