Webcam - some help please ....

[Crock]

Hey fellow Hawks

I have a son who is going to Sth Africa to work for a year.

The “one whose nomal method of transport is on a broomstick” (thank god she doen't read this site) wants me to get a web cam and install Skype? so we can see and talk to him at the same time.

I have no idea what to look for in a webcams but noticed today that they range in price substantially (and presumably quality).

Can anybody give me any data on what’s good, what’s not and what the pitfalls are?

Same thing goes with Skype?

Cheers

(ps: mods I tried to post this in the Mustard Pot but kept getting kicked out!)

 

[flyby hawk]

Re: Webcam

Hi Crock

We have a daughter in London and we communicate with her with Skype and we are very happy with both vision and sound.

We have a built in camera and mike in our computer and all works ok

Go Hawks

 

[Crock]

Re: Webcam

Hi Crock

We have a daughter in London and we communicate with her with Skype and we are very happy with both vision and sound.

We have a built in camera and mike in our computer and all works ok

Go Hawks

Cheers Flyby

Good to know that it works satisfactorily

Thought I might be able to save myself some research that others probably have already done………but looks like its not a popular subject

Cheers

 

[SJT76]

I live in Vietnam (although am in HK for 6 months), the GF's in Japan for a few months, folks in Melbourne and brother in London... Skype all round. Absolutely essential for life for mine.

Skype is a lot better (less memory strain on the computer) than, for example, Yahoo voice chat, for better or the same quality. Occassional interruptions mean you might want to switch that day, but it's pretty rare.

As for webcams, I have a laptop with one built in - that is good quality. The GF has a cheap ($5) one that is really hard to focus. Around $20 should get you something with pretty decent quality.

Hope that helps, and feel free to put up any more questions you have. Oh, and although PC-PC is free, you can also use Skype to save on costs to overseas mobiles or landlines if you put some credit in your account.

 

[Hawkers]

Logitech are usually a pretty safe brand for perhiperals