This Camera Isn't Just Clowning Around
Written: Oct 04 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great picture quality, Award winning design
Cons: Microphone not compatible w/my computer
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| robotnut's Full Review: Philips PC Camera |
KERPLUNK!!…The loud noise of a box being thrown at my door told me that it was here. The Philips Vesta Pro PC Camera (PCVC680K) I had ordered a week ago had finally arrived!
So I open up the box. Inside, there is the camera, two CD-ROMs, a mini tripod, a little red rubber stand, a multi-lingual Quick Install Guide, and a Philips/Magnavox product brochure.
The first thing that I notice is that the red rubber stand, which in the product photos look like a pair of clown feet, is really clover shaped. That’s right, there are actually three clown feet. The second thing I notice about the rubber stand is that it is not attached in any way to the camera. You simply rest the camera on this rubber thing like you would a golf ball on a golf tee. This made it extremely difficult to position the camera securely in the position I wanted it. Needless to say, I plopped the scary clown feet back in the box and opted to use the tripod. The 5” tripod has metal legs with a plastic neck and it screws into the tripod mount underneath the camera. The legs are flexible and you can bend them to some degree to position the camera the way you want it. There is also a small plastic clip on the neck of the tripod.
The camera itself is egg shaped and is the winner of the Industrial Design Excellence Award. I find it to be a bit more aesthetically pleasing than the utilitarian appearance of most other web cams. But after reading other people’s opinion about it, I know that not everyone agrees. I guess it’s one of those things that you either love it or you hate it. The USB cable is permanently attached to the camera at the rear. The cable is about 2 m (6.5 ft) in length.
After examining the contents of the box, I was ready to begin the installation process. I picked up the Quick Install Guide, which is literally written in ten different languages, mostly European. All it basically tells you to do is to insert the installation CD-ROM into your drive and then follow the directions. It also tells you that you can get additional information from the electronic manual on the disc, or from their web site, or if all else fails, from their toll-free tech support line.
So I insert the installation CD-ROM into my drive and follow the directions. During the process, the installation program instructs you when to plug in your camera. Once the drivers for the camera were installed, a window appeared and immediately the camera began sending live video to my computer. Wow! And, of course, I made the usual funny faces and everything. But my jubilation was short lived as I realized that I had also gotten an error message that said that it could not find my camera’s microphone. As I closed the video window, the installation program prompted me to install the other application programs. I chose to install the Ulead Photo Express and Ulead Media Studio Pro applications. I didn’t install the NetMeeting software since I already had it on my computer and I didn’t install the SmithMicro VideoLink Mail program because I don’t plan on using it.
Now, I turned my attention to try to get the audio to work correctly. This isn’t really a major problem, since I can always use the audio through my computer’s sound card. But I figured, as long as my cam has a built-in microphone, I might as well see if I could get it to work.
I first tried re-installing the camera all over again from the beginning but I ended up with the same results.
Then, I read the information in the electronic manual. It told me how to check to see if the device drivers for the audio were installed correctly. So I checked it and everything looked fine. It then told me how to activate the camera’s built-in mic. And this is where the problem was. For some reason, my computer was not giving me the option to select my Philips’ audio drivers even though they were installed properly.
The next step for me was to check the Philips’ web site. I was a bit relieved to find that they had posted an updated installation program and noted that it would fix a problem with the audio. I downloaded the program and then re-installed my camera with the new installation program. To my disappointment, I still ended up with the same problem.
My last resort was to call their toll-free tech support line. With virtually no wait, a support tech answered my call. I described my problem to him. He started out by asking me what type of system I had. After he found out I had a Compaq 5220 with an AMD-K6 processor running Windows 98, he hinted right away that there would probably be no hope of getting it to work. He talked me through a few things to try which involved extracting some files and copying them into a certain directory. I don’t remember all the details of this. But in the end, my camera’s mic still wasn’t working. The tech told me that they are aware that this problem exists with certain Compaq models and that their usual recommendation is simply to use the audio through the standard microphone plugged into the sound card.
With my web cam now installed, I had to play around with the settings to try to get the best picture possible. You can adjust the image brightness, contrast, and gamma. Adjusting the gamma, however, doesn’t seem to make any difference, at least none that are perceptible to me. Other adjustments you can set are the white balance control and exposure. These controls can be set manually depending on the specific lighting conditions or you can set it to automatic. The video frame rate is also adjustable. Setting the camera to a slower frame rate will produce clearer and sharper images while at a faster frame rate the image will appear grainier. You can even make the picture black and white. Overall, I was quite pleased with the low light performance of this camera and in the daylight, the camera is superb with a sharp image and bright colors. Another great thing about this cam is that it can focus at extremely close range. I put something just a couple of inches in front of the camera lens and it appeared on my screen clearly. Talk about getting up close and personal!
Well, after all this, I finally got a chance to use the camera for what I bought it for. That is, to use it in a video conference using Microsoft NetMeeting. Now my friend in Taiwan can see me in live motion video through her computer while we talk and, since she has a web cam as well, I can see her. And, instead of just talking about things, we can now do show and tell! It is quite an amazing experience if you’ve never done it before.
In summary, the setup of this camera was very easy except for the problem I had with the camera’s built-in mic (which, according to Philips’ tech support only occurs with certain Compaq models). While I was disappointed that I was unable to use the camera’s built-in mic, it really wasn’t a feature that I was specifically looking for in a web cam anyway. The software package that is bundled with the camera allows you to send video mails, do video conferencing, and do picture/video editing. But you don’t get some of the bells and whistles that come with some other web cams, for example interactive games or software to use your cam as a security camera. I like the camera’s unique design but you would definitely want to use the tripod rather than the rubber clown feet. The picture quality that this camera produces is excellent for a camera of this type and this is the criterion that matters to me the most. Based on it' video performance, I would definitely recommend the Philips Vesta Pro PC Camera (PCVC680K).
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
robotnut
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Location: NJ
Reviews written: 30
Trusted by: 3 members
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