Hello, I have been experimenting with the Creative Web Cam NX Pro., a product listed as having reached "end of life".
I felt that this obsolete camera merits continued discussion as a great many were made, are available very cheaply on Ebay, etc., and because at least Some versions of the 32 bit version of Windows 7, as well as several older Linux distros, will still work with the NX Pro, despite the "XP Only" driver.
First, the good news. After acquiring three of these cameras for cheap on Ebay, I installed two of them on professionally refurbished 2005 model year H-P DC7100 computers that I acquired from NewEgg.com. The computers were used "off-lease" units supplied with the professional refurbisher's version of Windows 7 32 bit operating system, but, they had been originally built for Windows XP.
I chose to try an install from the original disk than came with the camera, but you can also Google for a file named "wcnx_pcdrv_2_00_04_00.exe", it is the last driver Creative released for it. There is also an earlier driver circulating that works fine: "WCNP_PCDrv_US_1_03_03_0326" and, an app pack with driver: 'WCC_PCApp_US_1_71_02". Try pasting these file names into Google to get right to the downloads.
The installation was not smooth, it threw up many extra dialog boxes and repeatedly asked for permission to continue. Some of the dialog was hidden by the old style Creative install screen and could only be brought up by waving the mouse cursor around near the bottom of the screen. However, I did find them and clicked yes / OK as needed. The software also tried to install a badly outdated version of Adobe Reader that I aborted. The abort did not stop the rest of the install. Also, in my case, I had the camera plugged in before installing. They tell you not to do that, but, I got away with it.
When it was over, I clicked the Creative web cam monitor applet and the NX Pro camera and it's microphone were working. I installed the latest Skype software and Skype found the camera and mike. Good to go!
Now the bad news: I also tested an install on a 4 year old Dell Dimension laptop that was loaded with the 64 BIT version of Windows. DON'T DO IT! Unless, of course you know exactly what you are doing. In my case it damaged Windows enough that I had to roll back windows to a previous restore point. Had that not worked, I would have had to pull my files off of the machine and reinstall Windows. Doable, but time consuming.
So, if you have some basic computer ability, are sure you have 32 bit Windows, and know how to rescue your files in a worst case situation (I use a live linux disk and an empty USB drive), then go for it and keep those adequate web cams out of the landfill.
Good Luck and enjoy your experimenting!
.
I felt that this obsolete camera merits continued discussion as a great many were made, are available very cheaply on Ebay, etc., and because at least Some versions of the 32 bit version of Windows 7, as well as several older Linux distros, will still work with the NX Pro, despite the "XP Only" driver.
First, the good news. After acquiring three of these cameras for cheap on Ebay, I installed two of them on professionally refurbished 2005 model year H-P DC7100 computers that I acquired from NewEgg.com. The computers were used "off-lease" units supplied with the professional refurbisher's version of Windows 7 32 bit operating system, but, they had been originally built for Windows XP.
I chose to try an install from the original disk than came with the camera, but you can also Google for a file named "wcnx_pcdrv_2_00_04_00.exe", it is the last driver Creative released for it. There is also an earlier driver circulating that works fine: "WCNP_PCDrv_US_1_03_03_0326" and, an app pack with driver: 'WCC_PCApp_US_1_71_02". Try pasting these file names into Google to get right to the downloads.
The installation was not smooth, it threw up many extra dialog boxes and repeatedly asked for permission to continue. Some of the dialog was hidden by the old style Creative install screen and could only be brought up by waving the mouse cursor around near the bottom of the screen. However, I did find them and clicked yes / OK as needed. The software also tried to install a badly outdated version of Adobe Reader that I aborted. The abort did not stop the rest of the install. Also, in my case, I had the camera plugged in before installing. They tell you not to do that, but, I got away with it.
When it was over, I clicked the Creative web cam monitor applet and the NX Pro camera and it's microphone were working. I installed the latest Skype software and Skype found the camera and mike. Good to go!
Now the bad news: I also tested an install on a 4 year old Dell Dimension laptop that was loaded with the 64 BIT version of Windows. DON'T DO IT! Unless, of course you know exactly what you are doing. In my case it damaged Windows enough that I had to roll back windows to a previous restore point. Had that not worked, I would have had to pull my files off of the machine and reinstall Windows. Doable, but time consuming.
So, if you have some basic computer ability, are sure you have 32 bit Windows, and know how to rescue your files in a worst case situation (I use a live linux disk and an empty USB drive), then go for it and keep those adequate web cams out of the landfill.
Good Luck and enjoy your experimenting!
.
