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Logitech QuickCam Home
Logitech QuickCam Home - PCSTATS
The LogiTech QuickCam Home USB color digital camera. This thing has all the features you could want...
Filed under: Imaging Published:  Author: 
External Mfg. Website: Logitech Dec 12 1999   D. Dee  
Home > Reviews > Imaging > Logitech QuickCam

LogiTech QuickCam Home


Have you ever wondered what you would use USB for? Well wonder no longer, because someone actually made a useful device. The LogiTech QuickCam Home USB color digital camera. This thing has all the features you could want, a built in mic, color, manual focus, excellent drivers and software. Let's check out the specs real quick:

The Specs

Video Capture Resolutions: 320x240, 352x288, 176x144, 160x120
Still Image Resolution: Up to 640x480
Interface: USB
Sensor Type: 1/4" Color CCD, 512x582
Scanning Method: One pass Scanning Module Color CCD
Compression: Fixed Data Rate Hardware Intraframe Compression
Video Frame Rates: 352x288(15 fps), 320x240(25 fps), 176x144(30 fps), 160x120(30 fps)
System Requirement: Pentium 166 processor, USB host, Win 98, 16 bit Color Video Display, Sound Card, Mouse, Spkrs, 50 MB free
Bundled Software: Camware image capture software, MS NetMeeting, Virtual Reality Games and Screen Saver, Video Mail Software

I bought this thing for one reason, it was cheap, I got it OEM in a box from a friend of mine for $75 about... 8 months ago. I think they retail for about $129 at Best Buy.

Installation:

I had a K6-2 system at the time, USB had been out for a year or so, but hadn't really caught on. When I was finally able to hook USB up on my system,I desperately needed something to test it out with. Hence the cam. One of the things I love most about USB is the plug in and go capabilities. Anyone who has used a Mac or has tried to install MS Visual Studio knows that restarting your box ten times in a row for a measly thing like installing a driver is very very frustrating. When I got my cam, I plugged it in, and in under 3 seconds it prompted me for a driver disk. Of course I was impressed, how could I not be? I put in the disk, let it go through it's motions, and that was it. It worked. no rebooting, no problems whatsoever! What a shocker.

Now, let's talk about features....

Features:

 What would you want a a PC Cam? I never knew what I would want until I got this cam. Logitech rose a notch in my eyes instantly when i saw the button on the camera for snapping pics. How many times have we all had a nice digicam that lets you snap pics by mouse click only? After a bought a 25ft USB extension (for a VERY lousy price at Best Buy) I could easily traverse around my whole apartment, even out the front door snapping pics. It has a nice sliding door to cover the lens, a green LED built into the cam so you can tell when it's being used, the manual focus with a nice wide range (I can examine my fingerprints), and the built in mic.It does 640x480 resolution true color still pictures (max still resolution), while the max resolution in video is 352x288. These things make the cam. I never even thought of a microphone until I had one. Aren't you sick of buying those stupid little battery powered boom mic's? This mic is simply just there, it's there, it functions correctly, and it leaves you alone... I love it!

It came with a small snap on mounting piece (with an extra mount), a full color glossy pamphlet on how to use the cam, and a nice software/driver set.

Logitech's "Camware" is a nifty program, it's got a simple small window that displays what the cam sees. When you open Camware, the cam takes over the video device though, so you won't be able to use Netmeeting and Camware at the same time, but you don't mind do you? On the window you see two buttons. One is a camera, clicking on this will snap a still image.

Button two is a videocam. If you click this, you'll see and hear a countdown to record. A small windows pops up showing you the files size, the record time, and the number of frames recorded. Of course, you have the option of stopping or canceling the recording. The still pics can be a little strange,if you get the focus off just a bit, it looks strange and a little grainy at the highest resolution, as well, if you snap a pic, there is about a 1 second delay between the snap and the actual picture. So you can't just snap and start moving, you've gotta wait a second to make sure you don't get the side of your leg or the floor...

The video on the other hand, well, I can't find a problem with it. A resolution of 352x288 is not much, , but I was pleasantly surprised to see that the video comes out to be a nice quality. The image isn't so choppy (you can set the recording frame rate) and of course, it includes the sound along with the AVI it lets you save. Beware though, these video files can get quite large. I recorded a 30fps video with sound at max resolution for 51 seconds and I got 111mb.

Along with the typical camera stuff, it has an animation wizard which is pretty slick. You can take a time lapse video which takes one frame every 5 seconds or so (depending on your settings) This is useful for letting you see everything at a quicker pace, you could see the petals of a flower open for example. The other option there is stop animation, which basically lets you make inanimate objects move. The cam comes with some neat screensavers as well. These will surprise you. The screensaver is a view of what the cam sees, it includes a couple games...

In one, it will let you pop bubbles on the screen with your finger. This I found extremely slick, but I guess you have to be there... Of course it also has the standard settings, allowing you to adjust the frame rate for recording video, the resolution, the audio settings and such things.

Syndicated from https://www.deeztech.com


 

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