Suggestions for a webcam?

[famousdavis]

I've had in my mind to buy a webcam and use it to teleconference with friends and family members who have high-speed Internet in their homes. Used to be, few did, but that's slowly changing as high-speed Internet drops in price and becomes more widely available.

I walked past a shelf on Saturday with loads of webcams, and wondered what would be a good camera to have? I'm interested in excellent picture quality, and it should be portable to shift it from desktop use to laptop use. I won't use it for things like digital pictures.

I'd prefer not spending top-dollar, so if there's a good performing, value-priced option, that would be ideal. If it's especially inexpensive, I'd consider buying one or two extras and give them as gifts.

Recommendations?

[Jason Dunn]

It's been about two years since I looked at webcams, but my perception is that Logtech still owns this market...so just pick a Logitech cam and you can't go wrong - two years ago even their entyr-level cams had surprisingly good quality. Asking this question over at Digital Media Thoughts might also give you some responses...

[OSUKid7]

Yeah, I've thought about buying a new webcam (have a very old Intel one now, which I rarely use), and I may before I go to college next fall. The Logitech QuickCam® for Notebooks Pro (http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/details/US/EN,CRID=2204,CONTENTID=5040) looks pretty good, and I'm hoping it will fit on my desktop's LCD monitor as well.

[famousdavis]

Yeah, I've thought about buying a new webcam (have a very old Intel one now, which I rarely use), and I may before I go to college next fall. The Logitech QuickCam® for Notebooks Pro (http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/details/US/EN,CRID=2204,CONTENTID=5040) looks pretty good, and I'm hoping it will fit on my desktop's LCD monitor as well.

I checked out your link, and I visited Logitech's website, and your recommendation seems very good! Thanks! Seems like TigerDirect has the best price on this webcam, although I haven't checked their S&H charges.

As far as a product shelflife is concerned, that webcam seems fairly old. I notice, too, it has the USB 1.1 interface ... I guess that's fine enough, though, since my DSL upload stream is limited to just 256kbps max.

Thanks for the recommendation!

[OSUKid7]

I checked out your link, and I visited Logitech's website, and your recommendation seems very good! Thanks! Seems like TigerDirect has the best price on this webcam, although I haven't checked their S&H charges.

As far as a product shelflife is concerned, that webcam seems fairly old. I notice, too, it has the USB 1.1 interface ... I guess that's fine enough, though, since my DSL upload stream is limited to just 256kbps max.

Thanks for the recommendation!
No problem. :) Be sure to let us know how it works, since I may get that webcam in a few months. I haven't noticed any webcams that use USB 2.0, but then again, I haven't looked very hard. ;)

[famousdavis]

I checked out your link, and I visited Logitech's website, and your recommendation seems very good! Thanks! Seems like TigerDirect has the best price on this webcam, although I haven't checked their S&H charges.

As far as a product shelflife is concerned, that webcam seems fairly old. I notice, too, it has the USB 1.1 interface ... I guess that's fine enough, though, since my DSL upload stream is limited to just 256kbps max.

Thanks for the recommendation!
No problem. :) Be sure to let us know how it works, since I may get that webcam in a few months. I haven't noticed any webcams that use USB 2.0, but then again, I haven't looked very hard. ;)

I bought the webcam -- Logitech Quickcam Notebook Pro -- yesterday at Best Buy for $96. Not a great price on the camera, but at least I'm done shopping!

I'll post again after Christmas, after we've given it a whirl....