Today on EposVox Retro Tech
we have Creative's mid-tier video chatting webcam from 2004
The Creative Webcam live!
Make Your Instant Messaging Live! with High Quality Video and Audio
This webcam and included lapel microphone allows you to video chat at up to 640 by 480 resolution
and take snapshots at a whopping 1024 by 768
This is the webcam to beat!
It's a step above the WebCam Instant
but not quite as good as the CCD sensor barring WebCam NX Ultra
Let's crack it open, shall we?
In the box you get a notice that you will need QuickTime 7.0
or newer to get the most out of the software
though I found this to not actually be the case
You also get an installation CD,
a multi-language quick start guide
and the webcam itself
In the plastic you have the webcam and attached usb cable along with the Clip-on microphone
The microphone comes with an adhesive mount
to mount it on the side of your monitor as well
Convenient
So let's boot up our windows XP compatible machines,
plug in the webcam and microphone,
pop in the CD and install the software
*Windows XP Hardware Insert sound*
In creatives Webcam center here you can record video
and take photos from your WebCam live!
as well as some motion detection and other features
In the settings menu you can change recording formats, which I recommend doing
By default it's set to WMV
but that did not work at all for me
Setting to AVI, you can then actually choose your video encoder
I simply chose MJPEG
You can also choose an audio device, in this case the Clip-on microphone we plugged in
and the audio recording quality
Click capture to begin taking photos and videos
Below the webcam preview you can choose your resolution
Normally you can take photos in the same resolution dimensions as the video feed
but if you set the video mode to 640 by 480
you can then take photos at a whopping 1024 by 768 resolution
Impressive
if you wish to take a photo, click the camera button
or touch the button at the top of the webcam itself
If your shots are too far out of focus, the ring in the front helps you adjust that
The photos aren't bad for what the webcam is,
but they don't really hold up to modern cameras of any sort in 2017
If you click on format, you can change color mode
RGB 24 is perfect
and you can change framerates here as well
If you click source, you can tweak some settings of the webcam
though this particular model gives you very little control over the image
Let's record some video
and this looks like some of the results you can get in the 640 by 480 mode
with the Creative WebCam live!
it records at a smooth 15 frames per second
and just about any amount of light on your subject will actually blow it out
and completely overexpose it as you can see here
It wasn't quite this exposed before I went to video mode, but in video mode it gets even worse
And if I come over here towards where the window is with the blinds completely shut I am way overexposed
But you get a nice
15 FPS
and a fairly detailed looking video
the software does give you the ability to choose
between a WMV or an AVI file
with the AVI you can actually choose your encoder
currently this is in AVI mode with the MJPEG encoder
now if you do drop the Resolution down to 352 by 288,
you are given a 30 FPS option,
which gives you quite the smoother video experience for a more standard video format,
just at a much...
much lower resolution
Changing the white Balance in the white balance settings does reveal a more
natural look to the color than the automatic mode
but it is not
That is pretty much all of the control you get
You get to flip the image and change a little bit of white balance,
but this does look significantly better
And there you have it
Creative's WebCam live!
New in box, straight out of 2004!
Does it hold up today?
Let us know in the comments below!
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rewind!
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