Very Well Featured Webcam
Written: Oct 10 '03 (Updated Nov 11 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Shutter, Tripod-mount, Video-input
Cons: discontinued
The Bottom Line: This is a great webcam for home use. It has all the features I need and has worked flawlessly.
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| vimathur's Full Review: Intel CS430 Web Cam |
I have had this web cam for over 3 years. I bought one at Office Depot for $20. Later I bought two more from Fry’s Electronics for the same price for relatives. We have used this web cam for a lot more than what we paid. Most of our family back in India is now on the web and we chat with someone almost everyday using MSN messenger/Net-meeting or Yahoo messenger.
The web cam is well designed and has some neat features. Among these are:
· Auxiliary video input
· Sliding shutter on front of lens
· Tripod mount
· Excellent camera control software
The camera connects to a USB port. Installation was easy and went smoothly on Windows 98. The box had 2 discs, one for drivers and the other for Intel’s Create & Share software. I’ve heard about users having problems installing on Windows 2000 but new drivers may be available now.
The driver software that comes with the web cam is very versatile. It features auto exposure, manual exposure control, auto white balance and manual white balance control and several others. The auto exposure works well when the light changes (if you switch on a bulb or open the window), but takes a few seconds. It also allows the user to zoom in and pan the image.
They were thoughtful to add a tripod mount, because it makes this camera complete. I bought a small bend-able tripod for $5 at Wolf camera later so I could mount the camera anywhere. With a decent tripod, a USB extension cable and a laptop you could live broadcast a party to people who can’t attend. I’m thinking it’d be cool if a Bluetooth enabled camcorder can be used for this purpose.
We’ve gotten very used to having this web cam at home. It’s good for taking portraits, because you can look at a big image on the screen while clicking (of course, the resolution is small, so these can’t be printed). I’ve often taken a quick picture and sent it immediately using the image transfer on MSN messenger while we’re chatting with someone. The large snapshot button on top of the camera is useful too, but I find tapping the mouse easier.
We do live video chat often, but it tends to be slow because of poor bandwidth even though we have DSL on our side. My wife even uses the live video on it to check how she looks before we go out and that is after she checks herself in the mirror at different angles (I just love these things about her!).
We recently tried to use Intel’s Create and Share software to make home movies (AVI files) and burn to Video CD. For this we imported camcorder video through the web cam (I don’t have a video capture card) and titled/cropped using the software. However, some of the clips are losing sound when merged together to form a movie. I’ve repeated the entire process to make sure I didn’t make any mistake, so I think it’s a bug in the software. The individual video clips do have the sound ok.
Intel has gotten out of the web cam business and discontinued these cameras. That’s a shame because this was a really well designed unit. I would encourage anyone buying this camera used, if they can find it.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
vimathur
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Reviews written: 9
Trusted by: 0 members
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