Mike,
regarding the Quickcam VC and similar cameras.
The Quickcam VC is great, at $85 to $100 after rebate, the quality is excellent (I have the USB model).
Video E-Mail does not work well, however. Yes, anyone can receive it, the camera's software "wraps" the video with a viewer, but the size for even a few seconds becomes impractical. Also, if you cut the resolution to help the size, the viewer insists on "blowing it up", which looks awful. If you try this, have the recipient go into Control Panel/multimedia/video and set the size for "actual size", but not sure if it will help on the self-contained viewer. Video stills do not suffer from the size issue to nearly this extent.
What does work much better is real-time video conferencing/videophone, using MS Netmeeting, or the software that comes with the Connectix camera. Netmeeting is free, of course, and it works even if only one party has a camera (the other party can receive the pictures, but can only send audio). Be sure that you have a sound card with full-duplex capabilities, and it helps to wear headphones (otherwise, you hear your own voice delayed, and it gets very confusing).
Barry Watzman |
