HP 250 G6 camera software missing from downloads page

[CataclysmZA]

So, recently I took ownership of an HP 250 G6. I powered it up only once to make sure it was all working, and then proceeded to rip out the HDD and replace it with an SSD (Samsung 750 Evo). I did a clean install as well to get rid of any bloatware. 

The drivers are all installed, all system functions work, and I've installed some of the more useful HP software available from the downloads page. However, there is no software to tweak the camera settings or functions, and all I'm left with is a grainy 640x360p image with no options for adjustment. 

I could probably try to muck around and get the old system image back on here, but that requires opening up the notebook, and this thing is really difficult to crack open. 

If anyone has links to the proper software, please provide them. My last resort would be contacting HP Inc. South Africa, and that's going to take up a lot of time. 

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

The only suggestion I can offer would be to try the HP Universal Camera Driver...

This package contains an HP Universal Camera Driver to support the integrated webcams in supported notebook and All-in-One models that are running a supported operating system.

2016.0.1.1 Rev.A    Windows 10 (64-bit)    Apr 6, 2017

http://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp79501-80000/sp79651.exe

You can also try the W10 Cyberlink YouCam software...

This package contains the CyberLink YouCam Software for the supported notebook models and operating systems. CyberLink YouCam is a webcam application that enables users to capture images and video from a web camera and apply visual effects to captured images and video.

http://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp71501-72000/sp71830.exe

[CataclysmZA]

Thanks Paul.

I'll give both a try and see which one ends up working. The alternative is trying to restore the original image from the hard drive I dug out and see if the software is on there.

Or getting HP to send me DVDs.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

[CataclysmZA]

I see that the universal camera driver was just that - a universal camera driver. No extra options to change the settings or remove the grain. 

Cyberlink's software does nothing to fix it either. It just hooked into the already available camera driver and had no options to adjust or improve the image quality. It's still 640x480, and still grainy. 

Either the camera module really is crap, which means no amount of software will fix it, or HP locks away functionality for anyone who's done a clean install and doesn't have the Recovery Manager partition. 

I might just pull out a Ubuntu or Fedora live image and see if they expose any extra functionality in the driver. That way I'll get an idea if Recovery Manager is really needed. 

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Sorry that neither of those things fixed the problem.

I don't have any other suggestions for you to try.

If you figure out what the problem was, let us know.

[MCardona]

Did You find any solution for this or is the webcam just impressively poor quality? 

The stock driver is from 2006! 

[Kvarkk]

250 G6 uses Microsoft inbox driver.  It follows Microsoft OS release.  Therefore, no webcam driver on the product support page. 

The recommendation is to restore back to Microsoft inbox driver. 

[CataclysmZA · Accepted solution]

It's been a while since I was notified that this thread was still alive, but to help others I'll fill in the blanks.

Yes, the webcam is impressively poor. I have no idea where HP sourced this thing, but it is very bad. The grain is too high, it doesn't expose the picture properly, and it smears textures that are too dark, or skin tones that are uniform. Not a fun unit to work with.

Booting Linux showed the same, although there was some improvement to be had by adjusting some of the camera settings. Windows offers the bare minimum with the in-box driver. You can't even adjust saturation. It's just functional, the software equivalent of malicious compliance laced with salt because HP seems to hate its users who buy cheap products. The driver may have been digitally signed in 2006, but it has definitely received upgrades since then.

It's been a long time since I looked into it, but I believe there is software on the stock Windows image that allows for adjustment of the camera settings, but I never looked in the first place because I swapped in an SSD and blew Windows away. I do believe there's a custom driver on the stock image that HP does not distribute elsewhere, but I've wiped the drive long ago, and don't intend on buying a recovery disk from HP.