Re: usb camera for skype & etc.
PETER EASTHOPE wrote:
Folk,
Video in Skype works well for friends using Imacs
and MS-Win. I'm thinking of buying a camera.
USB webcams must use USB 2 by now. So does
a Firewire camera retain any advantage over
current USB cameras.
Some, they're apparently better supported and better quality but are
rare and expensive, in the USB world try to get a UVC device. Below is
some advice I gave to a Mac & Windows using friend recently on the
subject of webcams.
The webcams I'd get are Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000s they are more
expensive than most but they are a "USB Video device Class" (UVC) which
means the way it works is defined by a standard written by the good
people at the USB Implementers Forum, the practical upshot of this is
that with any modern computer (Windows XP (SP2), Vista, MacOS X, Linux,
[0] and more) you plug it in and it just works, no need to install
drivers or anything.
I've spent 6 years mucking around with cheep (non UVC) ones and it's
just not worth it, these have better image and sound quality than most,
they're more reliable and they don't require you to install any shoddy
bundled software written by a bunch of low rent code monkeys that would
most likely slow your system down and make it crash more.
In the UK if you buy them from a cyberspace shop like www.amazon.co.uk
or www.ebuyer.com they cost the same (GBP 45 ish) as a lesser WebCam
from a meatspace shop, I don't know what on-line stores are good in Oz.
When you've got one let me know and I'll email you instructions and/or
call you to talk you through setting up SIP.
I used Skype video conferencing yesterday and the quality was nowhere
near as good as SIP, though in all fairness it is a bit easier to setup.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_video_device_class
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_Implementers_Forum
You have to be careful with UVC devices as manufacturers have got into
the habit of releasing a UVC webcam like the QuickCam Pro 5000 for GBP
50 -> 70 and then, when the forums and reviews are full of people
praising the quality and interoperability of the device, they pull a
switch. They change the guts of the device so it's no longer UVC
compatible, no longer of such high quality and of course much cheaper to
make, they drop the price a bit but leave the name the same and get a
year or two selling a 30 quid device for 50 before the noise of decent
drowns out the earlier songs of praise. It's an under hand trick but
what do you expect.
Can a digital still camera with a USB cable be
used for this purpose?
Thanks, ... Peter E.
Some times.
[0] to set up UVC in etch do
apt-get install module-assistant debhelper linux-uvc-source
libpt-plugins-v4l2
m-a prepare
m-a a-i linux-uvc
modprobe uvcvideo
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