FireWire Cameras: What is DCAM / IIDC?

Published on May 6, 2008 by TIS Marketing.

DCAM is a protocol that describes the exchange of data with IEEE 1394 cameras. It has been initiated by the working group IIDC of the 1394 Trade Association and is being constantly refined. IIDC stands for "Instrumentation & Industrial Digital Camera".

In contrast to the AV/C (Audio Video Control) protocol - widely used in the world of multimedia - DCAM defines the transmission of uncompressed video streams via the asynchronous channel of the IEEE 1394 bus. The transmission of audio is not provided.

However, DCAM does not only define the video stream provided by the camera but also the camera's parametrization (for instance brightness, shutter, white balance, etc...).