Logitech QuickCam Ultra Vision SE

Testing:

The best way to test a WebCam is of course to use it, so I would say that it may appear to be a little subjective. Everyone has different tastes and what might be good for me, may not be your cup of tea. So to be as objective as possible, I will try to give my best perspective on what the Ultra Vision's strong and weak points are.

Testing Setup:

• AMD 64 3700+ Sandy
• MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum
• OCZ Platinum Rev. 2 DDR 3200 2x512 Memory
• XFX 7600 GT XXX
• Antec 500W Smart Power 2.0
• Windows XP Media Center

Image capture:

The Ultra vision can capture an image up to 4 megapixels and as shown in closer look it has a snapshot button the side. So of course, I had to take some pictures in the different resolutions. Below find the images as resolutions progress.

Wow what a cute dog! His name is Baccino which means 'little kiss' in Italian. (Yes, I know it’s spelled incorrectly - Bacino would be correct.) The resolutions taken were from 320x240 progressing to 2304x1728. As the resolutions increased, I noticed that more blue speckles began to show, which could have possibly been due to the lighting.

Video Calls:

I tested the WebCam using Windows Live Messenger and turned on the auto-tracking feature. My old WebCam didn’t have this feature, so every time I moved, I ended up out of the frame. With the auto tracking on, I also noticed that the camera would zoom if I moved farther away. As per the sound quality, while my girlfriends’ sister sounded like she was in a tin can and other background noises filled my speakers, she claimed that I could be heard quite clearly. The Ultra Vision has an echo and background noise suppressing feature that does seem to help a great deal. The built-in microphone works well. It picked up my voice even while standing 10 feet away and speaking in normal tone. The Ultra Vision also has an anti-flicker setting which when set, reduces flicker in a florescent lit room.

Visual Effects:

The visual effects feature is quite fun to use. When activated, you’ll have a choice of avatars to choose from. After choosing your avatar, you’ll need to calibrate the camera to follow your face. After calibration is finished, the avatar on-screen will track the movements of your head and even use facial expressions.