Logitech 961471-0403 QuickCam Ultra Vision by Logitech
|
List Price: Our Price: $29.97 You Save: $100.02 (77%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $20.00 (click here) Category: CE See more digital camera details and other models |
|---|
Digital camera reviews of Logitech 961471-0403 QuickCam Ultra Vision
Digital camera Review: Great Webcam with Gotcha's
Summary: 5 Stars
The picture quality was great compared to my 5 year old classic 3Com HomeConnect which I had to replace because of conflicts with Orb. But I would have had to return the QuickCam Ultra Vision had I not spent many hours discovering how to fix a conflict with Beyond TV. It turned out I had to set the service which enabled cartoon-like avatar effects for the UltraVision to manual startup so it would not be loaded. This is done in Programs, Administrative tools, Services for the "Logitech Process Monitor" - LVPrcSrv.exe. Otherwise my system would not reboot easily, requiring a forced shutdown of csc.exe (the c# compiler program).
Another gotcha was that using light bulbs with a "soft white" color temperature of 2700K rather than "bright white" with a color temperature of 4100K resulted in a very greenish picture. This is a problem with many webcams including my old 3W Homeconnect.
Finally there was a minor setup hiccup requiring you to do a driver upgrade in device manager next to an icon with a question mark next to the microphone driver.
It does use a lot of CPU power. Being a webcam there is a lot of automation going on involving constant autofocusing and color adjustment. It won't give you the quality that a real video camera would. But from what I have read, setting up a video camera for webcam use is not recommended because of the lack of consumer software available for web conferencing.
I did a lot of market research 2 months ago when I got the Ultra. It appears to be the best on the market for PCs. I bought it for use with the top rated free SightSpeed video conferencing software with which it is not officially compatible. But in fact it does work fine with SightSpeed (which works with Macs)
Digital camera Review: Great Webcam; Problematic Drivers
Summary: 2 Stars
I have the QuickCam Ultra and several QuickCam Fusion webcams. The glass optics in the Ultra does give a better image than typical webcams but both the Ultra and Fusion webcams have been and are still crippled as a result of driver problems[...]
If and when the driver issues are resolved, the glass optics, right light (low light) technology and echo canceling microphone technology of the Fusion Webcam will result in a superior webcam experience.
Digital camera Review: Great cam, great price, great quality, no real problems
Summary: 4 Stars
I have an HP laptop and had quite a bit of trouble with other cams, they would freeze up my computer, BSOD, or the video performance was horrible (Microsoft LifeCam .. BOO!) Also tried the Logitech Orbit MP 'motorized cam on a stick', which didn't perform very well either, not to mention video quality bit hard. While on the phone with Logitech tech support the guy told me about this new cam. BTW, Logitech support is GREAT -- and NOT in India or Pakistan! I got an actual person that spoke English as his primary language! HOORAY! (The same could NOT be said for MS support.)
I had no problems setting this specific cam up, the performance is great .. I LOVE the way it adjusts for lighting automatically. The new software/drivers surpass the old version by FAR.
The little 'extras' ('video effects' emote sorta things) were fun at first, a bit glitchy and overall PC performance would suffer; but quickly the fun fades and you stop using them. Though, I do like the 'privacy shade' feature (puts an image up instead of live cam)
The only thing I don't like about it is the 'zoom' .. the lens itself doesn't zoom, it just zooms in on the area of the screen capture -- so video quality drops like a rock.
I also really like how it fits on my laptop screen -- the adjustable 'arm' (read gumby-like adjustability--like, strong wire in rubber) is great. The cam was bigger than I thought (about the size of 2/3rds of an empty TP roll) but it does NOT impede my laptop screen at all!! Completely out of the way.
all in all, I like it a lot. big thumbs up. I use it at least once a week, if not more.
Digital camera Review: Great camera - Great price
Summary: 5 Stars
Bought 2 of these babies for the holidays, sent one to my daughter in Utah and kept one here in New Hampshire so my grand daugher could stay in touch with her aunt. 4 year olds don't understand the concept of distance too well. The real time audio and video work well and we have had a lot of fun using the units to stay in touch. Neither of us had any trouble installing and configuring the units. I highly recommend this camera to anyone with a similar need to "see and talk to " friends and family in remote from home locationsDigital camera Review: Great little cam!
Summary: 5 Stars
Awesome cam... my first one... but it does everything right.