The Windows 10 Anniversary Edition delivered a slew of new features, but it also screwed up webcam compatibility for consumers around the world. If your go-to for Skype isn't working any more, it's not just you: this is wide-reaching.
The reason is that Windows 10 changed the type of encoding that USB-webcams are allowed to use. Microsoft claims that this type of encoding could lead to poor performance, but it ultimately ended up causing users of all kinds of webcams to freeze. This includes the Logitech C920, our favorite webcam.
MORE: Windows 10 Anniversary Update: Full Review
Microsoft Engineer Mike M has responded several times to a thread about the issue in the Windows Dev Center forums. According to him, a fix can be expected in September.
Thurrot.com contributor Rafael Rivera claims to have found a registry hack that solves the problem today, though we have not been able to test it:
"If you are comfortable tweaking the registry, make this change. HKLM\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows Media Foundation\Platform, add DWORD “EnableFrameServerMode” and set to 0, you will then need to restart Skype."
It's a wonder that this didn't get more attention earlier. After all, tons of people use Windows Insider to try out new features early. We don't know how many -- if any -- experienced this issue early, but if they did, then this is a big mistake that should have been remedied earlier.
Did the fix work for you? Is your webcam messed up? Let us know in the comments.
