dandino's Full Review: Logitech QuickCam Pro 4000 Web Cam
My fiancée and I are taking dancing lessons so that at our wedding, we don’t look like complete fools on the dance floor. I realized that there was no way that I was going to remember these dances in a year, so I started looking into web cams. I used Epinions extensively to do research on it. Found many good and bad reviews on many different types of cameras. Then I found a sale for $72.99 on the Logitech Webcam 4000 Pro, and decided to splurge a bit.
I have a Gateway AMD 1.3Ghz, 256 MB RAM, 45GB hard drive running Windows XP Professional.
To start off with, I think the packaging is just asking for damage. Although it comes in a box, the camera itself is actually in a plastic shell that is outside the box so that you can see it. This is a delicate toy and I would have preferred better packaging. It arrived fine, so I’ll move on.
In the package you will find some software, which it turns out is completely useless, the camera, and the mount, which is next to useless. The USB cable is 9 feet, which is nice. The visor that slides over the camera’s lens simply slides on, and falls off in a strong breeze. I’ve had this camera for a month and I’m amazed I haven’t lost this piece yet. The camera is mounted on it’s base by a very very VERY flimsy beg designed to allow it to swivel and pivot. The camera falls off easily, and extreme care must be taken when changing its position.
The installation is where I hit my first snag. The instruction manual and the installation program contradict each other. One calls for the camera to be plugged in first, the other calls for the installation and reboot first. I figured if one didn’t work, I’d try the other, no big deal. I plugged it in, installed and the camera worked fine. I was having a bit of fun with it for a few minutes. There is a button on the top of the camera that if you press it will take a picture. You can take a picture in the Megapixel setting, but you cannot record a video at this high of a resolution. (You have the choice of 640x480, 320x160, and 160x120 for video). Took a few pictures of my living room, and then crash. The camera program locked up, but not the computer. Fine, reset the program, could not restart it. Crap.
Now starts the 3-hour nightmare.
At first I restarted the computer. The program would not start up. I tried unplugging the web cam, still no luck. After several attempts of restarting, trying all the different programs provided, and much profanity, I uninstalled it. I decided that I would try the other half of the contradictory instructions. I installed the software completely first and then plugged in the camera. SUCCESS, or so I thought.
The camera was up and running again, I was playing with all the features. I tried the face tracking software, which is nice. Point it at your face, and after a few seconds it will slowly start to zoom in on your head and follow it around as you move. Cute. I recorded in all the different frame rates; I even played with the motion sensor. You can set the camera to activate whenever it senses movement, and then shut off. Nice if you want to spy on your babysitter or something. I tried the AOL Instant messenger video, it worked. My college roommate suddenly IMed me catching me with my mouth full of Ritz crackers. Seemed like everything was working. I was able to save videos with sound, as the camera has its own microphone. But then it crashed again. Crap. Same problem as before. The program crashed, but not the computer. Tried everything I could. Read through the brief instructions cover to cover several times to no end. I finally uninstalled it for a second time. I then started to hunt around on the Logitech homepage. After a little surfing I found the latest software they had to run the camera. Thankfully I had a cable modem that could download the 35MB file in under a minute. I installed that and got the camera to work again. This is a completely different program. It looks quite different and looks a lot simpler graphically.
This is where I stand today. I have the new software running it, however it still crashes on me about a quarter of the time. Usually it can’t handle having the controls messed with. Thankfully I don’t need anything in the advanced settings menu. It takes very good videos as far as I’m concerned. I even pointed it out into the street at night, took very clear pictures. Surprisingly good performance for low light. When we record ourselves doing a dance move, the movement is blurred sometimes, but that is to be expected, by the way, 30 frames per second.
In the end, I was on the brink of returning this camera. The camera’s quality is superb, it has a manual focus with ensures the crispest image at the desired resolution. It’s the base and the software I have issues with. I can deal with the base, but I’m holding out for Logitech to hire some programmers that can make it work properly. Unfortunately, I can’t comment on the supplemental software that came with it, because I could not get it to work. At least now when it crashes, I only need to restart to get it to work instead of re installing.
This product looses 1 star for the flimsy base, and another for its horrific software.
From reading the reviews, it seems that most people have no problems with the software, but then again, a significant number of people do have problems with the software. So when it says that I recommend this, it is with caution that I do this. Consider yourself warned.
If anyone else has any advice on how to handle the software, I would appreciate if you dropped a comment in.
640 x 480 video resolution and 1280 x 960 photo resolution Built-in microphone USB 1.1 interface Includes a full suite of camera utility software Comp...More at Amazon Marketplace
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