A Good Webcam that Works
A good webcam that works well across the board - always "looks-good" color balance & smart adjustment to available light, a built-in mic works near & far.
The webcam stand doesn't work quite well on the top of any traditional CRT monitor, as it has limited downward angle adjustment. It works perfectly with mainstream LCD monitors.
Posted Sep 1, 2007 - This inexpensive webcam works well on all essential webcam features with quality. While in self-viewing mode one can see him/her-self in the monitor with fast response to every movement he/she makes. But this changes when the webcam is used with mainstream messenger programs (i.e. MSN, Yahoo and AOL.) The webcam responds at a much slower speed and usually gets stuck on certain frame a few seconds too late. That is not the fault of the camera - blame it to the messenger programs that cap each user's bandwidth in their regional servers. Each frame that the camera captured has a timestamp. The camera "waits" until a frame is fully transmitted over before it gets to transmit the next frame. If you want an untethered video conference experience Logitech offers a free program "Desktop Messenger" for download with paid connection service (there's a free 30-day trial before you sign up.) Just so the readers will understand, the above "video stuttering" problem is common to all webcams, including those > $100 high-end models. Knowing the bandwidth limitation issue with those free messenger programs, I set the camera's frame rate at less than 15 frames per second as any higher it won't help the conference quality at all (which would also tax the CPU more.) However, when I am filming something (not using any messenger program), I'd set it at the highest frame rate (30 fps) so the clip's recording quality is better. I am impressed with the little camera's versatility on both bright & low light conditions (the video always looks good just like we see with our own eyes), near & far sound (the built-in mic always sounds clear), and smart adaptability to any indoor color balance challenge (due to bulb/fluorescent lighting or paint colors.) I have used many webcams ranging from $20 to $130 each but I found myself use this one most often. It is the only camera that gives me the least headache and trouble to get what I want. Highly recommended. Edit: FWIW, the driver/software CD that comes with my webcam is version 10.5.
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