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Creative Live! Cam Voice,Be sure to also read Common issues with Creative cameras.
As of this date (March 22, 2007), it would appear that this camera is not compatible with Windows Vista. Creative's website does not have a Vista driver available. As a last resort, I tried attaching the camera to my Vista computer anyway, and got the expected result: no drivers available. I would not recommend trying to force this camera's XP driver to install on a Vista machine.
The second issue is the image sensor. The box claims a 1.3 mega pixel sensor. Neither the software that came with the camera nor any of my third-party software packages could obtain an image larger than 640x480. There's just no option available in the selection dialogues for a 1.3 mega pixel image, much less the 5 mega pixel interpolated image the box claims. In trying to verify this, I looked through all the other web reviews I could find for this camera. Most simply referenced the specs from the box. Although one said the native resolution is 640x480. None actually stated whether they had achieved any 1.3 or 5 mega pixel captures. If anyone is able to produce a larger image, I would appreciate a note and explanation on how you did.
The camera produced a good image in my daylight setting. During my night lighting tests, the image quality dropped to poor. I think the sample images speak for themselves. One problem I noticed while in the initial testing phase is that the camera is extremely sensitive to bright back light. The window behind me causes considerable flair during the daytime.
The camera's mount also leaves something to be desired. The camera would sit on my flat panel monitor as long as the cable didn't get moved. Whenever I moved the cable, the camera fell off the back.
On the positive side, the camera sits on top of a movable pin, which allows adjustments in all directions: tilting, swiveling and turning.
The on-line indicator glows green when off and turns red when the camera is connected to software.
Audio
Since the primary selling point of this camera is its audio features, I have decided to include two short video/audio presentations. One, using the fancy audio/noise canceling features of the camera; the other using the headset that came with the camera. Both files were recorded using the 44,100 sample rate, 16-bit audio settings of the software. I had wanted to use Windows Media Encoder, but Media Encoder couldn't find a connection to the microphone on the camera, so I used the Creative WebCam Center software. I could find no way to adjust the microphone input volume from the camera; as a result, the volume is quite low. You will probably need to turn your volume way up in order to hear anything. There was also no way to capture audio from the camera without also capturing the image, so, to reduce the size of the files, I set the picture to the smallest size and lowest quality the software would allow.
If you are on a dial up connection, right click on the links and choose "save target as" to save them to your computer before trying to play them.
Cowboy Frank reading from the book "The Longhorns" by Frank Dobie:
Audio test using included headset (332k)
Audio test using built in microphones with noise canceling turned on (359k)
The key sales point of this camera is its audio feature and its ability to reduce sounds coming from the side or behind the camera. I do have to admit, this feature works extremely well, but, considering the quality of the sound obtained from the on-board mikes, I wouldn't bother trying to use them. I'm not including the tests I did from the side, because you can't hear me, so it's not worth the disk space the files occupy.
Screen shots of camera configuration settings
Advanced
Device
Extended
Audio
View
 | Sample images showing how this camera performs under different lighting conditions |