Logitech Announces Mac HD Webcam Compatible with iChat, Skype
Logitech Announces Mac HD Webcam Compatible with iChat, Skype
by , 6:00 PM EDT, June 24th, 2008
Logitech announced Tuesday the Logitech QuickCam Vision Pro, a webcam for the Mac platform that supports up to 720p resolutions, and will work with both iChat and Skype for video communications. The device also includes Logitech's LightRight 2 technology, which allows the image from the webcam to adjust itself to dimly lit or harsh lighting conditions.
Logitech showed the device to The Mac Observer at a media briefing held last week in San Francisco. While we have not yet subjected the webcam to independent testing, the company demonstrated the LightRight 2 technology and the 720p widescreen resolution.
The LightRight 2 technology was able to present a solid image onscreen with a variety of fore and background lighting conditions.
The company is aiming the higher resolution of the device (960 x 720 when recording, VGA-quality at 30 frames per second when streaming video) at those wanting a higher quality image than that offered by Apple's built-in iSight camera (maximum of 640 x 480).
Logitech also said that the device uses a voice coil motor in the autofocus system, and that this delivers better performance than the stepper motor system in other webcams. It can also focus on objects as close as 10cm away from the camera.
The QuickCam Vision Pro is scheduled to ship in July, and the device will be priced at US$129.99.
AThe Logitech QuickCam Vision Pro
Observer Comments
720p is NOT 960x720, it's 1280x720. And fleecing Mac users an extra $50 for what is essentially just a '9000' is just rude, considering Logitech doesn't even need to create a driver for the device, or include any Mac applications. Why isn't the Mac version $50 less than the Windows version, as they need to create/license a boatload of applications and drivers for it to be useable with Windows.
Wed Jun 25, 2008 5:13 am Subject: OSX will support "any" UVC camera out of the box
UVC=USB Video Class.
MacOSX (10.4.3 and later) has built-in support for UVC but imposes some minimum standards for USB(2) cameras before it will detect them. After all the built-in cameras in recent MacBooks and iMacs are USB2 devices, NOT firewire.
When you look at the packaging or feature sets of various cameras, compliance with the UVC standard is almost never advertised,
You may see "Windows Vista compatible" or "no drivers required". If any drivers are supplied for Vista, you can bet that the camera isn't UVC compliant. IMHO USB camera suppliers are not doing the customer a favor by not specifying the simple words "UVC compliant" in the specs.
In addition one should also consider other features (speed, resolution,...) when comparing "compliant" cameras.
BTW Leopard seems to be more picky (where it will detect the camera but show a blank image) about UVC camera features than Tiger.
In recent months at least some info on the subject has appeared on the web.
- http://www.mac-compatible-web-cam.com/
http://www.uvccompatiblewebcams.com/
or Google "(Apple OR macosx) UVC camera.
If all else fails, one may turn to the open source macam drivers. http://webcam-osx.sourceforge.net/cameras/index.php (list also mentions UVC cameras)
LightRIGHT is a trademark for LightRIGHT photo reflectors. www.lightrightreflector.com
I wonder if they did a trademark search.
GB
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