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Creative Labs WebCam Plus


Date
: 12/22/00 – 03:28:07 PM

Author
:

Category
: Misc

Manufactor: Creative Labs

Price: around $80

Introduction

Multimedia is the present and the future! Some friends of mine are clearly more aware of

this fact then I am, because each one of them is a proud owner of the little gadget

called a webcam. And because I was tired of always being so jealous on the fact that

they had one and I didn’t, I finally decided that it was time for me to get one also.

Not that I needed it so badly; I just figured it might be a fun toy to play with during

those long cold winter nights.

Which one did I bought then? Well, I decided to go for Creative’s latest addition to its

webcam range, the Video Blaster WebCam Plus. Let’s take a look at this lovely gadget

together …

Specifications

Live Video Capture

Capable of 16.7 million color live video capture at up to 30 frames per second at a

resolution of 352×288 and 15 frames per second at a resolution of 640×480

Still Image Capture

Supports still image capture at up to 640×480

Lens

Focusable lens with a range of 75mm to infinity

Connection

USB connection

Minimum System Requirements

- IBM(r) PC or 100% compatible

- Genuine Intel(r) Pentium(r), Pentium II, Pentium III, AMD-K6(r), or AMD-K6-2

processor running at 133 MHz (200 MHz or higher is recommended)

- Microsoft Windows(r) 98 or Microsoft Windows(r) 2000 or Windows(r) Me

- 16 MB RAM (32 MB recommended)

- Available USB port or powered USB hub

- A CD-ROM drive is required for software installation

- Display adapter capable of 16-bit color at 640×480

- Sound Blaster(r) or other Windows-compatible sound card & microphone required for

videoconferencing (sold separately)

- Modem or LAN access to the Internet at 28.8Kbps or faster required for

videoconferencing (any charges to connect to the Internet are the responsibility of the

end-user)

- 70 MB available hard disk space when installing all bundled software titles at the

same time

Package contains:

- Video Blaster(r) WebCam Plus with USB connector

- Drivers for Windows(r) 98, Windows(r) 2000 and Windows Millennium

- Installation guide

- Complete software bundle (more about the software later in this review)

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The specs in detail

This Webcam has to be attached to a free USB port at any time in order to use it. At

resolutions up to 352×288, the Webcam Plus is capable of showing 16.7 million colors at

30 frames per second. Not bad, huh! Even at a resolution of 640×480, the cam still

manages to capture 15 frames per second. There’s also something that has to be said

about the sensor that’s been used in the Webcam Plus. Unlike older cams from Creative’s

webcam range and many other low-resolution webcams, the Video Blaster WebCam Plus uses a

VGA sensor instead of a CMOS sensor. This change results in giving the Webcam Plus three

times the resolution of standard WebCams. The Webcam Plus also has a snapshot button on

its head. This button allows the user to take a picture without even touching his mouse

or keyboard. I don’t find this button very useful because a webcam isn’t build for

taking pictures in the first place. And second, don’t forget that this camera has to be

connected to the PC, so you won’t get far anyway.

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Take a look at the snapshot button on top of the camera.

My Impressions

In short, the Webcam Plus comes in a very modest package. The least I can say is that

this webcam has the worst documentation I’ve ever seen on a Creative product. The manual

actually looks more like just a piece of paper instead of a full-sized manual. However,

the lack of a well-documented manual is nearly the only large drawback to this Webcam

Plus. Furthermore, this toy features images of the highest quality I’ve ever seen on an

$80 webcam. You can use the cam not only for video-conferencing but also for capturing

still images or even recording full-motion video clips… the options just keep on

coming. Creative also included a very nice software bundle covering digital image

editing, web publishing and even remote surveillance! Each item of the software bundle

is easy to install and to use.

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Installation

Installing this camera is also a piece of cake! What did you expect? :) Here’s how to do

it. After you make sure that the USB-option is enabled in your BIOS & that you have a

free USB port, you have to boot your computer and let Windows 9x/2000 startup. Then you

put the installation CDROM into your CDROM drive. The setup program will autoexecute

giving you the option of choosing which programs of the software bundle you’d like to

install. Select the drivers and other software you want to install and press the OK

button. Finally, just plug in the webcam’s USB connector into the available USB port.

There… you did it. How does it feel?

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TEST SYSTEM

- Asus CUV4X motherboard

- Intel P3-700E @ 980MHz (7x140MHz)

- 128MB pc133 RAM (cas 2-3-3-5)

- IBM UDMA66 7200rpm 20GB

- Creative Annihilator Pro

- Win2k (SP1)

- Directx 8 final + Detonator 7.17 + VIA 4.25a

Software Bundle

Utils

WebCam Control

WebCam Control can be considered as the main software for capturing still images or

live video. This application also gives you the ability to modify WebCam settings like

compression type or path where snapshots should be stored. With WebCam Control you can

even maintain albums of captured images and video files.

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You can clearly notice the image quality is actually quite

good…

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…even at a resolution of 640×480

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WebCam Monitor

In my opinion, this is the most fun-to-use application in the entire software

bundle. WebCam Monitor can detect and record full-motion video clips whenever anybody or

anything gets near your precious hardware by using motion detection algorithm. In fact,

together with the WebCam Monitor software, your webcam becomes the cheapest and most

effective security guard out there.

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Imaging

Pixmaker

This utility lets you transform a couple of snapshots of a particular scene into an

interactive 360 scene. As output format, you can chose from a 360 pixaround scene, a

pixaround webpage or postcard. Could be a very useful tool for some peeps, if you ask

me.

PixScreen

This is simply a 360 pixaround webpage viewer which allows you to view & print the

360 pixaround scenes created by the Pixmaker software.

Creative WebCam PhotoEditor

You’ll want to use the WebCam PhotoEditor to capture images and then edit and

retouch them. By editing, I’m not just talking about changing the size of an image, but

also adding special effects to images. Really amazing what you can do with this utility

in no time.

Internet Applications

Oozic Player

The Oozic Player lets you add 3D music videos to your favorite songs at anytime. If

you think the MTV video clips suck, you’ll be able to do it much better by using your

webcam en this useful player.

MediaRing Talk 99

MediaRing Talk is an Internet voice communication software which allows you to make

direct connections with other PCs over the Internet.

Microsoft NetMeeting & IE5

Thanks to Microsoft NetMeeting, videoconferencing on a LAN or the Internet gets

almost as easy as eating a donut when you’re starved to death. I use this software very

often to communicate with my father downstairs while I’m sitting in front of my computer

upstairs. Communicating with voice, video AND sharing applications at the same time…

who dares to say Microsoft doesn’t have real multi-tasking software? :)

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This is the highest quality (all settings to high quality) you can

achieve with Netmeeting and the Webcam Plus. Not bad at all if you ask me!

Pros :

- Fairly low price

- 640×480 @ 24bit color

- Software bundle

- Nice look

Cons :

- Poor documentation

Conclusion :

The conclusion is plain simple: the Webcam Plus is absolutely sensational. With all

the software that is included in the package, you’ll be able to have many, many hours of

fun. Spying on your mum while she’s sneaking through your stuff, communicating with a

friend in another country,… almost everything is possible with this black beauty. I

even dare to say that the Creative Labs WebCam Plus is one of the best webcams available

at the moment. If you buy it, I guarantee you won’t be disappointed!