I'm guessing, but I think it is related to rapidly-improving hardware technology, which sometimes leaves the software lagging behind. Before there was IMAQdx, there was IMAQ, which I think might have been an NI driver for some early NI "hardware" cameras, and maybe a few others. IMAQdx came about when USB, FireWire, and IP cameras (including Gigabit Ethernet, or GigE) cameras became available (and who uses FireWire these days?).
The Good News is that there is a "Standard", the Generic Interface for Cameras (or GenICam) standard, that IMAQdx "plugs into" and can query. However, as manufacturers add more Bells and Whistles to their cameras, as they become faster, larger (more pixels), and more capable of "tricks" that the manufactures build into their devices and custom software, it becomes harder to accomodate the more limited subset of the GenICam standard that IMAQdx follows. Often there is a direct conflict between IMAQdx and the Driver/Support software from the manufacturer -- you need to "turn off" the supplied Driver for IMAQdx to be able to recognize the (say) USB 3.2 WhizBang 2000 camera that comes with Whiz drivers and support routines. If you are fortunate, you can still to simple Snaps and Grabs with IMAQdx, but the more advanced features will probably require you to do a lot of extra work outside the comfort zone of LabVIEW.
Bob Schor
