- Average user rating: 2.0 stars out of 34 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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10 out of 14 people found this review helpful
1.5 stars
"Not worth the money!"
Pros: Easy to install and good mic quality.
Cons: Everything else!
Summary: I purchased this camera at Best Buy yesterday, and have already decided to return it. I'm a bit surprised that there aren't more reviews here on C-Net about this camera, but I hope this one helps prospective buyers!
Out of the box, the camera and software are extremely easy to install. The quality of the built-in mic seems to be very good. That's about where I have to stop saying good things about it.
1) The base does NOT "securely" attach to an LCD monitor like the C-Net review stated. It doesn't even really "attach", it just sits there perched like most other webcams do. Definitely not a show-stopper, but I wanted to let readers know that it doesn't fit "snugly" onto LCD's.
2) Overall video quality is extremely poor, especially during video conferencing. The video was fuzzy, and could not be corrected by focusing. The camera's ability to handle different background lighting is notably poor. I had a light in front of me on my computer desk and the video was overly-bright on my face and head while the rest of the room looked ok. I had to turn on the overhead light just to get the video to within acceptable viewing. The colors are not bright and vivid, and are far from an accurate visual representation of what the naked-eye sees.
3) The software is not as "user-friendly" as the review leads you to believe. You cannot seem to set different video resolutions within video teleconferencing. It's as if while you are in Messenger Live or Yahoo, the resolution is set FOR you and you cannot increase or decrease it. (And note that the claimed 1.3mp video is NOT during teleconferencing.) IF there is a way to adjust the resolution during teleconferencing, then it is NOT an easy thing to figure out. The only options available on the camera settings are lighting, B&W, and the other basics.
Adding to the software not being user-friendly, the digital face tracking is VERY jerky and annoying. It's pretty much a useless feature. I couldn't even get it to work during teleconferencing, only during video capture!
BOTTOM LINE...
My wife and I sat nearly side-by-side to do a teleconferencing test. I was armed with my new VX-6000 attached to my top-of-the-line desktop which is connected via CAT5 to my wireless DSL router. My wife was armed with my Logitech Quickcam for Notebooks Pro and my HP laptop, connected via 802.11G wireless to my router.
Same lighting of course.
We teleconferenced using both Messenger Live and Yahoo Messenger. My Quickcam blew the VX-6000 out of the water. Overall video quality was much better than the VX-6000, and the lighting was EXCELLENT (probably as a result of Logitech's "RightLight" technology.) Video on the VX-6000 remained fuzzy and "color-challenged" while the Quickcam had sharp images and vivid lighting.
I hope this helps.
- 3 replies to this review
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you are absolutely right about this webcam,i bought one yesterday and the picture is awful it is going back to the shop today.i only wish i had read your review first as i would never have bought it.logitech are by far a much better webcam and crystal clear picture on the pro 5000 only thing is keeps going wrong on my computer as it doesnt like windows xp media centre otherwise an outstanding camera for any potential buyers
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you are absolutely right about this webcam,i bought one yesterday and the picture is awful it is going back to the shop today.i only wish i had read your review first as i would never have bought it.logitech are by far a much better webcam and crystal clear picture on the pro 5000 only thing is keeps going wrong on my computer as it doesnt like windows xp media centre otherwise an outstanding camera for any potential buyers
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I wish I would have read this before buying. NavyMustang is on the money with his post for this cam. I just returned the Logitech Orbit as the face tracking would not return and picked this one up. Mistake
On the positive it did install very easy.
Where to buy
Microsoft LifeCam VX-6000:
$24.99 - $59.99
| store | price | in stock? | rating |
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$32.99 | Yes |
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$59.99 | Yes |
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$54.99 | Yes |
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$59.99 | Yes |
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$59.99 | Yes |
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