webcam, is it fun?

[andreadebiase]

hey guys,
i always wanted to have a webcam but i also thought that is no big deal. Can someone tell me what does it do, if it is fun to have one and if you need to know someone with a webcam in order to use it.
thank you

[Abbadon]

It can be a lot of fun. When using is during chat sessions (on msn or whatever) I think it a defenite advantage: I'd like to be able to see the people I talk to. They don't need to have one to be able to see me, and vice versa btw.

Depending the camera you buy you can get mediocre to excellent image quality. The better the immage, the heavyer the signal. I have broadband myself and it does allright, don't know how it will perform on a dial up.

Most cams also have the possibility to take snapshots, which I think rules! Quality is waaay lower than with a "real" digital camera, but you can take a quick snap, mail it to your mum with the subject: "look what I made mumy!" :D

[Beta Geek]

Web cams can be great fun. I have the Logitech Quick Cam Pro. It doesn't take great quality, but is decent. I use it more for fun offline, and have only used it as a "web cam" a couple times.

Besides the basic picture taking and video recording, its features include:

Stop motion
Time-lapse recording
Motion detector
Security video or picture recording with motion detection
I'm sure there's more, but I can't think of them right now.

[philzee]

one important thing to remember to do when using a webcam....TELL YOUR OTHER HALF (wife, husband, girlfriend etc.) THE CAM IS ON!!! there have been a few times that myself or my wife have been walking round the house while getting dressed only to dive behind sofa etc. when realising the cam is on lol

[LadyGrey]

I've got a logictech 510 camera that I use all the time. Takes great outside pictures but not so great inside ones. Has a mic and can be a webcam too. My sister and I use out cams all the time. We live 1000 miles apart so it's wonderful to be able to see each other while we chat. We used to use the Yahoo service but we have switched to MSN. At least my sister did, I just followed behind. As with anything on the web you need to use the cam with some sense. Don't ever allow just anyone to view your cam, don't just start broadcasting, you will pick up more trouble than you bargained for. I am stuck with dialup here and so is my sister but we seem to be able to get the pictures just fine. Have fun and stay safe. LG;)

[Paleo Pete]

Webcams can be a lot of fun, and do take the comments above into consideration, especially concerning how you use it. You can use a cam for communication with distant relatives, the most common use, to take still shots, email (short) movies etc.

Shop around with an eye on picture quality versus price. Mine is an Intel Deluxe PC Cam (I think that's the name) several years old. Intel was the only one at the time using glass lenses instead of plastic, and got the best picture quality. Take a look at my Components ID (http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=25502) thread to see how it does with still shots. All those pictures were taken with it. Most plastic lenses won't get the picture quality glass does.

Most computers these days have USB ports, so that shouldn't be a problem, and you'll want a fairly quick CPU and plenty RAM. My Intel works great on the 1GHz Win98 machine, 256MB RAM and ATi Radeon 7500 video. On my laptop, P-II 266 96MB RAM, (WinME) it works fine but is noticably slower. Take a picture on the 1GHz machine, it's onscreen in less than 1 second. On the 266MHz laptop, 3-4 seconds. Video is almost useless on the laptop, unless the cam is sitting perfectly still and you don't move much..
I'm not sure what other Internet options exist for webcams, but both Yahoo and MSN offer video support, Mplayer was available a couple of years ago and was preferred 5 to 1, but it's now gone. Stop by Google and look for video chat, you'll find a bunch of other possibilities, unfortunately most are pay-or-endure-popups...some are pay-or-no-video, why bother?