ie8 fix

Microsoft LifeCam VX-5500 review

The new 3D video effects include face-tracking technology, so you can conduct video chats with a distorted head or while wearing a funny hat. The collection of video effects is a big improvement over the lame collection of 2D graphics of past LifeCams. Still, the software has some annoying quirks, such as Auto check boxes under the settings tab that you cannot check. And the LifeCam window shows only your last video or still image captured as opposed to the more useful strip of thumbnails that Logitech's QuickCam software provides.

You can also share video messages via a Vista Gadget, but you'll need to have a Vista PC and a LifeCam on both ends of the exchange. Maybe Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates exchange video messages this manner, but I doubt many others will find this feature all that useful. I did not test this feature. I did try out Microsoft's Video Messages Web site, which anyone with any Webcam, LifeCam, or otherwise, can use--you need a Windows Live ID. The site, tabbed as being in beta, offers 2GB of online storage space and lets you record videos up to 2 minutes in length. The site was slow to load, buggy, and unintuitive, and it worked only in IE for me.

Microsoft backs the LifeCam VX-5500 with a three-year warranty. It does not work with Macs.

ie8 fix

Quick Specifications

  • Release date08/9/08
  • Video Input / Camera Type Web camera
  • Interfaces 1 x Hi-Speed USB - 4 pin USB Type A
  • Software type Drivers & Utilities
  • Color Silver

Matt Elliott, a technology writer for more than a decade, is a PC tester, Mac user, and amateur photographer based in New Hampshire. Matt is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CBS Interactive. Full Bio

ie8 fix
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