Webcams

Community Forums/General Help/Webcams

JBR(Posted 2010) [#1]
Hi, what is the best way to have realtime 2 way webcams. My sister is in NZ & I'm in Scotland.

Any advice - my broadband is only 1Mbps

Thanks
Jim


BlitzSupport(Posted 2010) [#2]
To keep things simple, use Skype. It's free and your broadband speed will probably be fine.


JBR(Posted 2010) [#3]
Would anyone recommend a suitable camera?

Thanks
Jim


xlsior(Posted 2010) [#4]
Another vote for Skype - no problem at all for me getting a smooth webcam connection between the western USA and western Europe, using DSL.

As far as cameras are concerned: I really like the Logitech quickCam Pro 9000, and also have good experiences with the Logitech C500.
But realistically, most of the name-brand 1+ megapixel cameras are pretty decent. Skype considers a webcam "high quality" if it can do at least 640x480 at 30 fps.

the biggest differences between lower-end and high-end cameras are the supported framerate (you'll need 30 for smooth full-motion video, 15fps looks choppy), low-light performance (may not be an issue, depending on your setup), auto-focus (some more basic cams are fixed focus or use a manual focus ring, which means that things may get a little blurry if you move closer or further away), and the quality of the built-in microphone (nice to have a decent built-in microphone, so you don't have to mess around with a headset or other microphone)

Just stay far away from any of the QVGA / 320x240 / 352x240 low res ones. They may be cheap, but MUCH worse quality... Especially on todays hi-res screens. (You will need a USB 2.0 port for the high resolution webcams though, they scale down the resolution when youre plugged into USB 1.x)


Difference(Posted 2010) [#5]
I got a Logitech C250 after a little research and checking out some youtube test reviews.

It works on both Max and Windows, (I get pictures from it on the PS3 too), and has good framerates even in low lighting.

It pretty cheep too :-)


Canardian(Posted 2010) [#6]
Logitech QuickCam Sphere AF. It's not much more expensive than the other Logitech cams, but it's MUCH better: 2 mpix video/8 mpix still, autofocus, extractable stand, motorized tracking:
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/webcam_communications/webcams/devices/3480&cl=roeu,en