Cute, Convenient, Cheap: Might As Well Pick Up One of These
Written: Sep 01 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Cheap, Easy, Convenient, Well Made
Cons: Video Quality Not the Finest
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| oatest's Full Review: Creative Labs Video Blaster WebCam 3 |
For many months and a few years before entering university, I looked forward to the mind-blowing internet speed with the prospect of video-conferencing that actually looks decent. With that in mind, I watched the sunday newspaper ads for awhile, looking for a good deal on a basic USB webcam. Thus, I currently have a Creative Webcam 3 staring back at me, bought for $39 at Compucare in Seattle.
The camera is accurate to specs, which are very decent for a webcam. With 15 fps in 640x480 mode, and 30fps in all smaller modes, no one using it solely as a webcam is left to complain. You may not realize it, but if you are on a 56k connection you can only expect performance of 1 or 2 fps in very low quality mode no matter what webcam is used.
For other purposes, such as making videos, it is good enough for simple projects targeted to family and friends. If anything great-looking is desired, I highly recommend picking up a video capture card, or something like an ATI All In Wonder video card. With this, you can plug in that video camera / camcorder that you already have (or can borrow from someone). This is a much more versatile and usually more affordable solution, not to mention better quality than any computer camera out there (with the potential of much much better quality, depending on the video camera / camcorder you use).
I encountered a few minor slow-downs when first setting up the camera. The provided software for viewing created movies refused to play uncompressed videos created using the video recording software provided. This was a simple fix, and 'Indeo' compression setting has worked great for me, although I'm not very sure about its universal compatibility.
You will not be happy with the default video appearance settings. Make sure you have ample light in your room, and turn down the 'brightness' as the natural light looks better than the computer brightening your picture. I was very disappointed with the lack of a 'color' level selector in the provided software, however with some experimenting, I found a way to fix this. Turn the 'saturation' up all the way, turn on the 'backlight', then lower the 'exposure' slide until it looks good. Also, lowering the 'sharpness' doesn't do much (increasing it will quickly give a very awful picture though), I think it does slightly help to have it on the lowest setting.
Before I forget, I must mention how the moment I first saw the camera in person I noticed its uncanny resemblance to a puppy! For today's emphasis on the exterior looks of computers, I think Creative had something in mind when designing this peripheral.
For $39, if you don't already have a webcam, then pick one of these little things up. Good luck, and let me know how it works out.
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Compucare is at 160th and Aurora in North Seattle, but they also have locations in Bellingham, Tacoma and Bellevue.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
oatest
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Member: Thomas Oates
Reviews written: 11
Trusted by: 5 members
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