Please Note: This is an older article, and some of the information in this article may now be outdated. Our latest camera software is compatible with Windows 7, 8, and 10.
SUMMARY:
This article presents Pixelink official support for Windows 7 and the known issues users may encounter.
ANSWER:
One of the advantages of Windows 7 is that, using its standard IEEE-1394 driver stack, users can operate Pixelink PL-C IEEE-1394b cameras at full S800 speed in conjunction with other devices on the same host adapter card. Windows XP Service Pack 2 and Service Pack 3 low-level drivers used to limit 1394b devices to S100 speed, while the Windows Vista drivers limited devices to S400 speed. This limitation has been removed from Windows 7.
Supported Products
The following table shows the Pixelink product releases that support Windows 7. Releases can be accessed from the Pixelink Site.
| Software | Release (32- and 64-bit) |
uScope Essentials | v 3.1 and above |
uScope Standard | v 3.1 and above |
uScope PRO | v 3.1 and above |
Capture OEM | v 7.25 and above |
PixeLINK SDK | v 7.25 and above |
Pixelink support for these products include the following:
Signed drivers that have been fully tested against Windows 7
Technical support for customers using Windows 7
Note: All PL-D cameras need v9.2 or higher to operate on any OS.
Current Known Issues
Testing has highlighted the following problems and incompatibilities on Windows 7 systems with current Pixelink software releases:
| Issue Description | Recommended Solution | Components Affected |
Occasional BSODs under both x32 and x64 and bandwidth issues. This is an issue related to the Microsoft driver stack. We are awaiting an update from Microsoft regarding this issue. | We recommend you install Windows 7 Service Pack 1, Switch to Windows Legacy driver. | 1394 Devices |
Power management. Similar to Vista, power management features may enable CPU sleep states or throttling. A typically observed effect of these features is image tearing or slow refresh rate on preview window. | We recommend that users configure their system to use the least aggressive power management schemes as a first step to debugging observed issues. To disable Windows 7 from enabling the sleep state on your 1394 card, run "PxLProcessorIdle.exe disable" found in the following folder "C:\Program Files\PixeLINK\Tools" or "C:\ProgramFiles (x86)\PixeLINK\Tools". | 1394 Devices |
Performance issues when using 1394 cameras on some computers (such as HP) with Windows 7. When attempting to stream the camera at high data rates, image loss can occur. When this occurs, the camera strobe its LED red (as opposed to the typical green), and continues to preview the most recent correctly received image (resulting in a slower/'choppy' preview). | Should this problem occur, you can specify a gap count that should be used on the 1394 bus by using the following registry entry: HKCU\Software\PixeLINK\1394\GapCount". It is a DWORD value that you can set to any number between 2 and 63. A value like 16 should work in most applications. | 1394 Devices |
Aero themes. Early testing indicates these themes are resource intensive. | We recommend disabling Aero themes as a first step when debugging any observed issues. | All products |
TWAIN performance issues. | None at this time. | All products |