Video communication is advancing from
business travelers calling home from the road, to desktop video
conferencing, video email, and video interviewing. To take advantage
of these applications you need a quality web camera. Most newer
laptop computers and netbooks have built in webcams, while desktop do
not. The companies I've spoken with have indicated the need to
identify webcam requirements and have asked what models are best.
This article will examine different facets of web cameras, with
advice based on our experiences at Vonei.
Image Resolution is critical to
a good business video experience. You certainly will not want a
fuzzy image when conducting a video interview, or leaving a video
email for a customer or prospect. The primary image factor to
consider in your webcam is Megapixel resolution Just like a digital
camera, the more megapixels the better. We've found that webcams
with less than 1.3 Megapixels (1,280 pixels by 960 pixels) provide a
low quality image. 2.0 Megapixels is better, and in general the
higher rating the sharper the picture. At one point CCD cameras were
considered superior to CMOS cameras, but after testing with both over
the past 2 years I cannot say that one is superior to the other for
Internet video applications. CMOS cameras are less expensive and
will work fine.
Smoothness of Motion is
determined by the Frames Per Second (fps) rating. A 30fps rating
provides a smoother motion than 15fps, with less trailing of
movement. 30fps is the North American television standard for video.
A "talking" head doesn't have a lot of motion, and 15fps will
generally work fine. If you want to broadcast someone moving, say a
person doing physical therapy, then the higher fps makes an
improvement in the motion. We don't recommend a camera with less
than 15fps as motion delays become obvious. The best choice is to
look for the full 30fps specification.
Features such as face-tracking
and auto-focus have had mixed reviews. They both sound great on the
surface, but if a person is moving around the constantly changing
view on the webcam can be very annoying to the other users. For a
"talking head" use of a webcam these features are generally not
required. One feature I do like is the plug-n-play aspect of the USB
2.0 webcams. Eliminating the need to load software from a disk is a
nice plus as it makes it easy to move the webcam between computers.
The service provider you use for
your video communications has a major impact over your experience,
and your web camera specs could very well exceed their capabilities.
Most service providers will limit the data rate to 200-300kbps to
accommodate DSL and Cable Modem upstream bandwidth limitations. The
service provider selects the rate at which key frames are sent. (A
keyframe in a video contains the entire image.) If a keyframe is
sent every second when running your webcam at 15fps, the in-between
13 frames are difference frames. The best thing to do is purchase a
webcam that meets the pixel and fps specs recommended above, and then
try the webcam on various services. You may very well see image
quality and motion smoothness differences between providers.
Internal versus External webcams.
Internal webcams are great for ease of use, and since they are
located at the top center of the screen they give the appearance of
looking right into the camera. I wouldn't buy a laptop without a
built-in webcam due to this convenience. However, the built-in
models are typically minimum acceptable quality. They are fine for
most applications, but not as good as external webcams with better
specifications. I like the external webcams with the specifications
recommended above, and frequently clip one on the top center of my
laptop screen right above the built-in webcam. It is a simple matter
of selecting this second webcam in the video service you are using.
External webcams have the drawback of having an extra device to carry
with you, but the benefit of better video has been worth it for me.
Of course for desktop computers the external webcam is the only
option. Just be sure to place the external webcam as close as
possible to the center of your monitor screen so you are seen as
looking "into the camera".
A friend of mine pointed out that
internal webcams on laptops are convenient, but are usually
lower quality and can break more frequently. Closing the laptop
screen repeatedly could eventually result in a small crack in the
lens or a sensor misalignment due to the shock. My friend's daughter
got a Lenovo for college and the camera was broken in 2-3 months. She
uses her laptop quite a bit and opens and closes it frequently. She
reported there is now a big black line right in the middle of the
picture, a symptom of a cracked lens Having an external webcam is a
good safety net as well as a means of getting a higher quality image
and motion.
Mounting Types. Webcams are
usually optimized for desktop computers or laptop computers. What's
the difference? Desktop computers are likely to need a webcam that
accommodates sitting on a flat surface. Clip-on webcams are not as
ideal for flat surfaces. Desktop computer CPUs are often placed on
the floor. To plug in your USB webcam to the CPU, and have the
webcam sitting in a position showing your face requires a long USB
cable. If you have a desktop look for these two features. A laptop
requires the opposite characteristics. A clip-on webcam is ideal,
and the smaller the better for carrying the device while traveling.
A laptop is ideal for a short USB cable. After all, who would want
several feet of USB cable coiled on their desk when they only need a
couple of feet length between the USB port and the top of the laptop
screen?
Webcams with microphones.
Webcams come with or without a microphone. After the past couple of
years in testing webcams I've come to the conclusion that it is best
to use a computer headset with microphone, and not the microphone in
the webcam. Computers are inherently not good speaker phones, and
sound from the computer speakers could enter the webcam microphone
causing an echo effect. A headset places the "speakers" on the
ears, and the microphone right in front of the mouth. A headset
provides the best audio experience, making the webcam microphone a
non-required feature.
Mac webcams have unique
characteristics. Macs are optimized for use with Apple's
services such as iChat. While they do a great job, it is
inconvenient for video conferencing with people on PCs or Linux
computers. The Macs will not release the webcam to other service
applications unless you turn off webcam access to iChat, Photo Booth,
and Skype. Also, Mac users need to select the USB webcam when they
use their service. This is true even if the webcam is built-in. Why
one has to select USB when the webcam is built-in is puzzling, but
trust me, unless you do this the Mac webcam may not work on your
video service.
Conference Rooms. Webcams are
great when the users are sitting right in front of their computer.
But what do you do in a large conference room with multiple people?
A little known fact is that you can use a video camera, and some
digital cameras, as a webcam. You will need a video capture cable to
connect your computer to the video camera (source provided below).
With a video camera you can mount in on a tripod on the conference
room table and show everyone in the room. If the computer is plugged
into a large screen monitor, or plugged into a projector and shown on
the wall, everyone in the conference room can see the other parties.
Plug in a USB speaker phone and you have a very low cost solution,
avoiding a large investment in traditional video conferencing
equipment.
Final thoughts before the
recommendations. Lighting can play a major factor in the quality
of the webcam image. Never sit with a window behind you, as the
background light source will place your face in shadows. Having a
desk lamp is very helpful in shining light on your face, improving
both the image contrast and color. Another recommendation is to
ensure that the webcam you purchase has been tested with the service
provider you plan to use, and that the webcam works on your operating
system. No one wants to purchase a webcam with good specifications
and then find out it doesn't work on Vista or has an interoperability
issue.
Webcam recommendations and sources.
After the past couple of years of experience with webcams I
recommend the following units:
Brand Model Online
Source Recent Price
Logitech QuickCam Pro
9000 www.newegg.com $75.99
Logitech QuickCam Communication
MP www.newegg.com $44.99
Vonei
V8019 www.videointerviewkits.com $19.99
WinBook
WB-6185 www.microcenter.com $19.99
Video Capture
Cable www.videointerviewkits.com
$39.99
I used to recommend the Microsoft
LifeCam VX-3000 ($26.99 at newegg.com) until we had several users
complain of interoperability with Flash video. I believe Microsoft
placed a software patch on their website to fix this, so if you're
game for downloading software patches the Microsoft webcam may work
well for you. TigerDirect.com is another online source for webcams.
Check them out and compare pricing, but I generally find the other
sites listed above will provide lower pricing. And, one of my biases
will show here...friends don't let friends buy webcams at WalMart.
This is only my opinion, but if you are going to purchase at a retail
outlet I'd stick with BestBuy or other electronics specialty stores.
I hope that this article on
picking a good business webcam has been helpful. I welcome your
comments/suggestions/feedback with your own experiences. Whatever
webcam you choose I hope you have a high quality experience!
Alan Fitzpatrick is the Co-founder of
Vonei LLC which provides live video conferencing service across PCs,
Macs, and Linux computers. VideoInterviewKits is an affiliate of
Vonei LLC. Additional information about Vonei can be found on
http://www.vonei.com.
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