Mark's Notebook


	I never came upon any of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking. - Albert Einstein

Of Webcams, Videoconferencing and Marines

Saturday 20 November 2004, 10:40 pm
Keywords: Computer Topics

Well, I installed the Logitech Quick Cam Zoom (White) software again. I had to download it from the Logitech web site, because the install CD did not come with Mac OS X drivers. Because the computer crashed catastrophically after the last time I installed this software, I downloaded it again just to make sure ... I even downloaded it twice again using different browsers. No differences between any of the files.

Anyway, the driver and program installed OK. The camera will zoom in but not out. All the zoom and focus is in software. The unit cannot be focused manually in hardware (e.g. with a ring).

We used Yahoo Messenger to chat with Mary's son Matthew today. Matthew is with the Marines in Iraq. We have the opportunity to chat with him sometimes. We can view his webcam, but when he tried to view ours, his computer crashed. We have no idea why.

Mary's son Aaron gave us another webcam that someone gave to him. This webcam came without any software, documentation, or much identifying information. It does say "IBM PC Camera" but no model number. By plugging into the Mac's USB port and querying USB Prober, I was able to determine that it is manufactured by Xirlink. That was enough to help me find documentation and drivers on cameratechsupport.com, a neat site that I'd never seen before.

There were lots of complaints about the PC Camera on Amazon, in particular poor picture quality, lack of focus control, and over-sensitivity to light conditions. There were also warnings on the cameratechsupport.com site about particular problems with Yahoo Messenger, including image reversals and multiple images.

The PC software installed without problems on Mary's Dell laptop. We did the reboot as advised. The PC recgonized the USB camera immediately and installed all the drivers without even asking. Image quality was poor at first until Mary used the manual focus ring to adjust it. We also found that it does not require nearly as much light as the Amazon reviews might lead one to believe.

We were able to use Yahoo Messenger to chat with each other from adjacent bedrooms in the house. Photo quality of the PC Camera was at least as good as with the Logitech Quick Cam, and perhaps better.

We hope that when we chat with Matthew again that he will be able to see his mom without crashing. He has been gone since early September, and while we have seen him on the webcam, he has not seen us.

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Mark's Notebook

Of Webcams, Videoconferencing and Marines

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