The following applications are new in BeOS Release 4.5:

• Camera
• CodyCam
• MediaPlayer
• SoundRecorder
• TV
• 3D Mixer

Camera

Camera lets you download and view digital pictures—fast—on the BeOS. Look at About Camera in the File menu to find out if your digital camera is currently supported; for the most up to date compatibility information, see .

To use Camera:

1. Shoot as many pictures as you want, then use the cable that comes with your camera to connect it to your computer's serial port.

2. Click Auto-Probe; it will try to set your connection and serial port speed (the transfer rate between your camera and computer) automatically. If Auto-Probe doesn't work, an alert tells you it "Failed to connect to camera..."

3. In that case, adjust your Port and Speed settings manually from their pop-up menus (you may have only one serial port) and keep trying Connect until you have the right settings for your camera (you'll see the failure alert until you get it right). Start with the highest Port speed—which gives you the quickest processing—and work down. When you Connect with the correct settings, the Camera info in the lower-left corner is filled in and you're ready to display your pictures, which will appear in the Pictures window of the Camera panel.

4. To save a picture, highlight it and Save to the location you want in the file selection window that appears. You can also start downloading a picture by dragging it to the desktop. Either way, a progress bar shows you the download speed. If you want to process all the pictures, click Select All first.

5. Frames are saved as JPEG files. You can import them into any application that accepts JPEG.

CodyCam

CodyCam is a mini-webcam application for the BeOS. It includes a real-time desktop viewing window and lets you transfer still frames directly from the camera to a Web site (via ftp). To use CodyCam you need a video camera and a video capture card. For a list of BeOS-compatible capture cards, see . Any minicam, video camera, or Camcorder that has a composite video output will work; some cards also support cameras with an S-Video output.

After you install your video capture card and connect your camera to it, launch CodyCam to pop up the application window (you can't access the controls until you're connected). Go to Video Preferences in the File menu. The four-tab panel you'll see is the same as the one you get in the Video Input section of the Media preferences panel. That is, CodyCam Video Preferences are identical to Video Input preferences; settings you make in one are reflected in the other, so you can set your camera preferences in either place. For an explanation of the Video Input settings see the Video section of the Media preference application. Remember that the settings options you'll see in either the Media or CodyCam preference panel depend on the type of video capture card you have.

Also in the File menu are Start Video and Stop Video, if you want to freeze a frame.

In the Capture Controls section of the window you can name your video file, choose a file format (which will depend on where you want to use the file), and select a Rate—how often the camera takes a new picture. In Ftp Setup, you type in the address you want to ftp the file to, along with login, password, and directory information. 

The Passive ftp checkbox is an option that allows ftp connections to succeed through firewalls. Many firewalls block inbound connection attempts in order to protect an ftp site. Rather than find blocked sites one at a time, you may want to keep Passive ftp permanently enabled.

MediaPlayer

MediaPlayer is a new application that lets you play a variety of audio and video files. Its interface has standard controls, which are the same for both audio and video: play, pause, stop, fast forward, rewind, volume. In addition, you can use the time line sliders to set the amount of a file you want to see or hear. To expand the MediaPlayer window so you can see all the available controls and access the File, View, and Settings menus, click the toggle switch at the right end of the time line. 

Although MediaPlayer's menu bar is only visible when the MediaPlayer window is expanded, the menu's items are also available in a context menu that pops up when you right-click on the player.

The Settings > Application Preferences menu item opens a window that lets you choose to autoplay files that are dropped on MediaPlayer, close the MediaPlayer window when a file finishes playing, and loop filse by default. There's also a control that lets you make gross adjustments to the volume of videos that are playing in the background (full, half, or muted). 

MediaPlayer supports AIFF, WAV, and au audio files, and MPEG, AVI, QuickTime, and indeo 5 video files. If you have a different type of file you want to play, go to File > Download new media add-ons... in the expanded MediaPlayer panel; selecting this command takes you to a BeOS Web site that contains the latest Be media file decoders.  If you find an appropriate decoder, simply download it and replay your file.

SoundRecorder

SoundRecorder is a simple audio recorder application. To use it you need a sound card. You set SoundRecorder's input and output in the Media preferences panel; t o learn about these settings see the Audio section of the Media preference application. You'll probably want to leave the Audio Output Mute box unchecked while you're recording, so you can hear the output, but checked for playback.

The top portion of SoundRecorder window shows one or two sound waves, depending on whether you're recording in mono or stereo. The controls are the same as in MediaPlayer: adjustable time line, start/stop, fast forward/back, and volume. There's also a Save button, which gives you a selection window for saving files to the location you choose. Unlike in MediaPlayer, however, SoundRecorder's volume slider controls the volume in the Media preferences Audio Mixer tab.

The toggle to the right of the volume control opens the bottom of the window in which is displayed a list of your recorded samples. Highlight a sample to see information about it.

To save a file, use the Save button or drag a recording clip out of the sound wave portion of the window and drop it where you want it to be saved. You can save part of a sample by dragging the time line in from the left and right to mark it off, then dragging and dropping the clip.

TV

TV puts a television viewing window on your desktop. To use it, you need a source of video that you connect to a video capture card. The source can be a VCR, TV, cable box, or other video hardware. If your video capture card has a tuner chip, you can connect it to a tuner.

As with CodyCam, TV preferences mirror Video Input preferences in the Media prefs panel. To read more about these settings, see see the Video section of the Media preference application.

Unlike CodyCam, TV doesn't let you transfer video data to a Web site.

3D Mixer

For information on the new 3D Mixer application, go here.