SOLVED Why two webcams?

[Saltgrass]

My new Dell system came with two webcams and a fingerprint reader. I have been unable to find any references which explain what technology would make use of two webcams, not even the system's manual.

Maybe something is coming I haven't heard of, but does anyone have any knowledge of the situation?

Thanks..

 

[Norton]

Saltgrass I would think the purpose of the 2 cameras is for 3D imaging for facial recognition? I'm surprised there is no info in the user manual. Maybe a quick call to Dell support would help. Dell have a good support team.

 

[Trouble]

No idea, but....
I recently purchased a phone for my grand-daughter which has dual camera lens not actually two separate camera (although it does have the typical front and rear facing camera).
The rear facing camera has two lens to produce something called "Bokeh" photos.
Not, probably what you have, just thought I would add that information to the thread.

 

[Saltgrass]

Norton, the manual does not even show the second camera but I suspect your guess is correct. They may have changed the configuration of this unit since it does show an IR camera driver, which it does not have. The only other thing I was considering was a way for certain apps to use the other camera for some purpose.

Or, the second camera is not connected to the "camera in use light" so they can spy on me...

Windows Hello does not allow the webcams to use facial recognition but maybe a future upgrade will.

Trouble, I have seen the 2 lenses on the phones. The iPhone 7 has those and might be related to 3 D or increased zoom capability. If it were to be the iPhone, the Plus version of the 7 has increased video capabilities.

Thanks, maybe the update tomorrow will address the issue or if not, possibly the next build update..

 

[Saltgrass]

I am starting to think the second webcam is related to the setting in Settings - System - Power & sleep, and the option to "Save me power when my device knows I'm away"..

Something has to be associated with that option and what else knows if I am away other than inactivity, which is what triggers sleep.. I don't see why a special option would be there if inactivity was the controlling trigger.

 

[Norton]

Maybe Cortana is keeping an eye on you. LOL
I did some reading on facial recognition. Still a long shot, but, I still believe the second camera's purpose is for Dell Fast Access Facial recognition software. If you didn't specify Dell Fast Access when purchasing the Laptop, then the software isn't installed. You have to purchase it from Dell.

 

[Saltgrass]

The Fast Action thing may be something but this system has drivers available for the Infrared. My Inspiron 17 system I got in December has the Infrared facial recognition, which works fine.

So, I am settling on the "are you away" possibility. You may be laughing, but the left camera has a light when it is active. There are no indicators for the right camera I can find. So yes, it may be an always on camera.

The folks in the Dell forum did not know why two cameras.

I assume you do not show the option to save power I mentioned in the previous post? My Inspiron 17 does not..

 

[Norton]

My Inspiron is an older 1545 model, it does have the power saver features. I returned it back to operating on Win 7. It's my standby should Win 10 ever...

 

[Saltgrass]

I was checking a little closer today and even the Device Manager shows two webcams and the hardware ids are the same except fort the last number, one of them is using the infrared drivers and the other one is not.

Maybe it is there just to monitor a user's presence but it does not seem to have an IR emitter and is not usable in Windows Hello like my other system.

But I will have to correct my original my perception for that system..

Thanks

 

[Norton]

Saltgrass This might shed some light
Features of Dell FastAccess 3.0:
Saves Energy: Using advanced face detection, the Power Smart feature reduces energy consumption. When a face is out of view of the webcam, Power Smart turns off the display, putting the computer in a lower power state and early sleep mode.

http://www.dell.com/support/article...ware-frequently-asked-questions-(faq)?lang=EN

 

[Saltgrass]

OK, I will check it out.

This system is having strange Power happenings. When I set it to turn off display in 10 minutes and sleep in one hour while plugged in, if I am playing music in iTunes the music will stop when the Display turns off.

If I play music in Windows Media Player, the display will not turn off.

Basically, many of the normal options on the advanced settings are not present, so it may take a while to get this straightened out.

Thanks.

 

[Saltgrass]

Someone in another Forum which had the Dell 13 9365, stated the new build would enable the IR camera and it would be available for facial recognition. I suppose I will find out in a couple of weeks...