Microsoft Lifecam Review

11/8/2019 admin

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You can only fit so much in front of your camera, but picking up your laptop and spinning it is a chore. Microsoft's LifeCam Cinema HD is a $44, 720p webcam that sits on a 360-degree swivel.
Review Sections. The Microsoft LifeCam VX-6000 comes with a single CD that includes drivers and software for taking pictures and video clips. To install the Webcam, you also need to install Windows Live Messenger (currently in beta)-the install wizard takes you to the proper page on Microsoft's site and leads you through the installation.

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Microsoft Lifecam Hd-6000 Review

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Accessory compatibility. Available through qualified retailers, Microsoft Accessories for Business offers an easy way to purchase our full line of products. Find out what’s new and notable in Microsoft Accessories. Use the compatibility chart to find out which products are. Microsoft Lifecam Studio review It might not be pretty, but the Microsoft LifeCam Studio is a powerful device By PC Plus 2011-06-15T09:30:00.165Z Webcams. The Microsoft LifeCam Cinema offers sharp styling and a nifty flexible rubber mount, but its mediocre audio quality is disappointing. Jun 06, 2019 The Lifecam Cinema has an ok picture and the microphone is almost as good, but for $15.00 more just buy the Lifecam Studio and get the top of the line. You won't have to buy another webcam for at least 5 years with this camera in my opinion.

Microsoft LifeCam HD-3000

If your budget is unforgiving, Microsoft’s LifeCam HD-3000 ($40) may give you the most bang for the least buck. At less than half the price of the LifeCam Studio, this Skype-certified webcam still delivers HD video. It’s not business-call quality, but it should get the job done in more casual settings.

The black-plastic HD-3000 features a glass lens sitting in a 1/7-inch oval casing. Like the higher-end LifeCam Studio, it hooks over your monitor with a rubber flex mount attached to the back. The camera can be rotated left and right a bit, just enough to adjust your position in the frame. There’s no tripod mount, but if you want to place the camera somewhere other than the top of your computer display, you can fold the flex mount into a serviceable stand that will sit on any flat surface. The camera’s microphone sits at the top right of the lens.

The LifeCam HD-3000 records video in 720p at up to 30fps. Video chat also maxes out at 720p. The camera features the same TrueColor Technology as the LifeCam Studio, which optimizes video brightness and color for different lighting conditions.

The biggest challenge I faced with the HD-3000 was its setup. I found it tough to get a snug attachment to my laptop display, so positioning it took a lot of trial and error. Sometimes when I got it where I wanted it, the tension of the attached USB cable would pull it out of whack. The process was further complicated by the fact that the camera doesn’t have any vertical tilt. So, at one point when I got the mount in a stable position, the camera was pointed at my forehead. The only recourse was to pull my laptop screen toward me to get the camera level.

Once in place, though, the HD-3000 worked pretty well. The image was clear and well-balanced, and video playback was smooth. Obviously, you don’t get the same detail as with a 1080p camera, though that also means things like facial lines and other skin imperfections are less apparent. I did notice that every time I moved my head, the image would blur. Even slight movement caused noticeable fuzzing of the image. This didn’t occur with the higher-end cameras I tested or with my laptop’s built-in camera, and it quickly got distracting.

Audio was loud and clear, but so was ambient noise—the microphone frequently picked up room fans and other environmental sounds.

Overall, though, the HD-3000 probably offers the best video at this price, and it’s a fine choice if you want to upgrade an old VGA webcam, capture video to upload to YouTube or Facebook, or just want to save money. Just keep your expectations in check and it won’t disappoint.

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Microsoft LifeCam HD-3000
The Microsoft LifeCam LifeCam HD-3000 is an affordable upgrade from an old VGA cam or low-quality laptop webcam. However, if you want the best features possible in a webcam, keep shopping.
Pros
- HD video
- Low price
- Flex-mount can double as a camera stand
Cons
- No vertical tilt
- Tough to attach securely to computer screen

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Microsoft LifeCam Studio

Billed as the top dog of Microsoft’s LifeCam line, the LifeCam Studio ($100 MSRP, currently available from Amazon for $55) pulls out all the stops: 1080p video, Skype certification, and an eye-catching durable design. It mostly lives up to its high-end promise, too, ranking near the top of the heap, with a few caveats.

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In keeping with its line-leading status, the Life Cam Studio sports a tony design in black and silver aluminum. The barrel-style camera features a petal lens hood to reduce unwanted light above and below the glass lens, and the rubberized mount flexes rather than hinges to conform around displays. It also has a threaded hole at the bottom for tripod mounting. A small mono mic is integrated into the top-back end of the camera.

With a 75-degree field of view, the camera provides a bit of wiggle room in the frame without you having to move it. Should you need to, though, it rotates 360 degrees—180 degrees in either direction—so you can change the camera angle without having to detach it from your display.

Microsoft Lifecam 1393 Review

Given the camera’s smart looks, it was a little disappointing to find that its specs weren’t quite so pleasing. The Life Cam Studio is advertised as delivering 1080p HD video recording. What this means, however, is that it boasts a 1080p sensor, but you can’t actually take advantage of it without commercial third-party webcam software such as Cyberlink’s YouCam. Microsoft caps out-of-the-box video at 720p. Video calling is also limited to 720p resolution.

That’s adequate when you’re casually chatting with friends and family, but it’s a bit below the bar for corporate settings where video conferences are typically held on full-HD television screens. In those situations, you want to use a camera that supports 1080p video calling.

On our humble PC display, the LifeCam Studio did pretty well. The image was sharp with vivid colors in just about every type of lighting environment we tried. This was no doubt due to the camera’s TrueColor Technology, which works by tracking your facial movement and adjusting the exposure accordingly. The camera’s 5MP still images were also crisp and balanced.

Even though the mic is mono, it reproduced warm vocals, but it also picked up a fair amount of ambient noise in bustling rooms. The camera rotates freely, but not necessarily smoothly; the mount doesn’t fit snuggly enough on most displays to stay still (or even attached) when you rotate the camera. As a result, repositioning it is a two-handed task: one hand to hold the mount in place and the other to swivel the barrel.

Despite its slightly misleading 1080p promise, the LifeCam Studio is an excellent webcam for both personal and business use. For the same price, though, you can pick up the Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920 or C922x and get out-of-the box 1080p video and stereo sound—so despite its strengths, this top LifeCam remains second fiddle.

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