Discussion on Web Cams

[Jack-KA3ZLR-]

Good Day All,

 As far as the New System Gary Has provided for the membership, What kind of Camaras is everyone using, What would be a good choice.

[W1RKW]

Hi Jack,
I'm tossing that same question in my head.  What I really need though is a faster and newer machine.  

Spent the last two days reloading the C drive on my station PC after I managed to corrupt it while horsing around with the new chat setup.  The machine lockedup while in the middle of watching KE1GF and Gary sending video to each other.  From that  point on it was downhill with the machine.  It just couldn't handle multiple video screens.  

Anyway, I'm not sure but I think a USB type cams would be the easy way to go.  I don't know for sure as I haven't dug into the nitty gritty details yet.  As far as resolution goes 640x480 should be adequate for this.  High quality images and larger resolutions aren't necessary for this, that will take up more of the RAM on the machine so I would think an inexpensive cam should do the job OK Fine.  Of course a more expensive cam will probably give you the option of running lower resolutions for this application or others with the flexibility of running higher resolutions.  Just remember one thing the more RAM and the faster the PC the better.

[Jack-KA3ZLR-]

Hi Bob,

 Thanks for the help, I was just overwhelmed I typed in Web Cam and there is a Guzzilion of them..

 Then I didn't know which way to go... So, I thought it a Good thing to ask...Never Hurts...

[W1RKW]

Hey Jack,
I don't know that much about them either, just some basics. But I took Gary's suggestions and did a little light reading off the net and sort of came to the conclusion a basic web cam should do the job OK FINE for the AM Forum A/V chat room.  And USB should be pretty easy to do. I don't think much software, if any, will be necessary.  Just plug it in and go.  That's my take. I could be wrong though since I don't have one to play with, not yet anyway.

I'm still thinking if I really want to have people look at my ugly face, plus I'm wondering about my old computer whether it will handle it or not.  I'd rather not spend the money even if it is $50 for a cam and find out that it doesn't perform optimally. Plus, it runs Windows Me and it works on a thread basically.  It's a finicky OS so I don't like to mess around with it. Ya know the old saying, if it works don't mess with it. And my OS is working good right now.  So that's my dilemna.

If you have a fairly new machine, let's say over a 1 gig speed wise and Win2K or XP you should be AOK with any webcam.

Have you been to the chat area yet?  I was there last night.  Had a fun time. I'm only running audio right now but it's fine for the time being.  Hope catch you on the wire sometime.

Bob

[KA8WTK]

Hi Kids,
  I use a Logitech Communicate "cheapie" web cam (USB). System is an Athalon 1800 with 1 gig of memeory with Win98. You need to follow Gary's instructuions AND read the Flash Chat AND Logitech web pages if you run into problems.

I have also been running dial up at 46600 with some delays when using video and audio together. It is a simple matter to "freeze" the video so the bandwidth available carries the audio at a decent rate and turn the video on "live" when you need it.

It's not your system that is the weak link, it is the connection you are using.

Good Luck!