Microsoft LifeCam Cinema 720p HD Webcam (Black)

By 

Brian Geisel “geis” (Shrewsbury, MA USA) –

  

Customer Video Review Length:: 3:11 Mins

Summary: It’s a fantastic product, but the software is lacking. It does require a lot of processing power to produce decent videos, so do all you can to let the capture software have all of the processing power.

For reference, I was using an AMD Athlon 64 XP Dual Core 6400+ CPU with 4GB of RAM when recording this video. I am running the software on a Windows XP 32-bit apparatus.

This video was recorded with minimal software interference, but I’m also pleased with the quality of the processing for low-light conditions. In this case, I was looking to get the best motion performance, so I turned off all of the auto features in peacefulness to get the best picture with the light I was using.

As you will hear in the video, the built-in microphone isn’t terrible, but it does have a pretty high noise floor. That is fine if you’re using Skype, but lousy if you are tiresome to record higher quality videos. In this video, I used the Audio-Technica AT2020 USB Condenser USB Microphone (except for the built-in mic demo).

All in all, it’s a fantastic webcam for producing online videos. If you don’t have external software, or don’t have a top of the line notebook, there may be a webcam that does what you need without so much hassle. For high quality stuff, this may well be the best hardware on the market.

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 Comments (43)

By 

THATCH “RST” (OHIO) –

  

  

I’m a huge Skype user and have used the QuickCam Pro 9000 for quite some time. While Skype doesn’t recognize this Microsoft cam as an “HQ” cam (or at least not yet, if ever), I have found that this cam excels as compared to the QuickCam Pro 9000 in three ways:

1. This cam produces much richer colors. Some may say it borderlines oversaturated or “technicolor” but I really delight in the brilliance of the colors
2. Low light conditions keep rich and bright affect. I find with the QuickCam it loses draw a honor to brighten up the picture.
3. Launch time. I find with the Quickcam Pro 9000 the “ramp up/turn on” time is undesirably long when receiving an auto answer Skype call. This cam is ready to go immediately.

As far as focusing goes, both the QickCam Pro 9000 and this cam aren’t fantastic at it in dark lighting conditions.

The widescreen view is a really nice change from the normal 4:3 perspective. It really helps show your surroundings more and give a better feel to where you are.

Installation was simple, and the cam itself seems far smaller than I was expecting.

Below some conditions Skype callers on the receiving end prefer this video over the HQ Skype capable Quickcam Pro 9000. In some cases they prefer the Quickcam.

I saw that some people mentioned the high hardware requirements so I sought after to let you know what I’m using it on:

Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit
Core i7 2.66
3 GB memory

I’m not going to outright say that this is a better webcam than the QuickCam Pro 9000 but it certainly gives it a run for it’s cash, and offers a few unique features that the QuickCam Pro 9000 does not, all in a smaller more attractive cam size & style.

—update–

With several months of use, I have found that I’m using this cam more than the Logitech Quick Cam 9000. They’re both copy in stature in my mind, but this one is better at low light use. I regularly Skype at night when the room is comfortably dim, so this has become my preferred camera. Even though it’s not listed as an HQ cam for Skype, it still provides better by and large performance for the way I use it.

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 Comments (8)

I like the Lifecam Cinema webcam because it is the best webcam in very low light. With only the notebook and TV on at night, the Lifecam Cinema webcam produces a viewable video for chat. In this same light settings, the Quickcam Pro9000s video is all black.

In better light conditions, the Lifecam cinema will produce a excellent video with excellent affect.

This camera will focus as close as 1 inch. Excellent to play around with as a microscope, but a hassle everytime it does an autofocus. I turn off autofocus most of the time.

People mentioned that this camera takes a powerful CPU. It only uses a lot of CPU power when you turn on the video things, such as modifing the eyes, nose, face, and others.

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 Comments (3)