Creative Labs WebCam Live!

by Creative

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0002UE9WI
• Item model number: 73VF005000001
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (110 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: July 7, 2004

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Capture Live! High Quality Video and Audio for Your Instant Messaging

Let them see you too! The Creative WebCam Live! brings you closer to friends and family with live video over the Internet. Using high quality webcam sensor and lens, the WebCam Live! delivers amazing colors and fast frame rate. Grab 1024x768 resolution photos instantly and use the included software to create digital postcards, calendars, and more. Creative understands that clear voice is important when you're instant messaging, and that is why we bundle a separate microphone.

Features

• 640x480 CMOS sensor delivers high quality videos
• Video capture at up to 30 fps
• Still image capture at up to 1024x768 resolution (software enhanced)
• Dedicated microphone for superior audio
• Snapshot button makes it easy to take a photo
• USB 1.1 connection
• Sleek design perfectly compliments home and office PCs
• Flexible three-way base sits on any surface or attaches to flat panel or notebook displays
• Works with Yahoo! Messenger, AIM, MSN Messenger, Windows Messenger, and other instant messenger services

Product Description

Creative WebCam Live! VF0050 - Creative WebCam Live! makes your instant messaging come alive with high quality video and audio. Designed with a high quality VGA (640x480) resolution CMOS sensor, the Creative WebCam Live! provides superior video quality and sharp still pictures at 1024x768 resolutions (enhanced through interpolation). Enjoy voice and sound capture clarity through the external microphone which is uniquely designed. Besides flat surfaces, the flexible and versatile three-way base allows Creative WebCam Live! to fit snugly atop monitors, flat panel displays and notebooks. With a handy snapshot button located at the tip of the Creative WebCam Live!, just click to take photos instantly. To top it all off, Creative WebCam Live! comes bundled with 3 exciting and easy-to-use software products that include useful features like turning instant snapshots into multimedia post cards, remote capturing and monitoring, motion detection and much more. Auto Exposure/ White Balance/ Color Control Multi-functional base Store videos in AVI Format Store Digital Photos in JPEG and BMP Formats. Maximum still image resolution at 1024x768 (software enhanced) Includes USB cable REQUIREMENTS - Intel Pentium II or AMD Athlon processor running at 266MHz or higher; Windows 98SE, Me, 2000, or XP; at least 64MB RAM and 100MB free disk space (excluding third party software installation); CD-ROM drive and USB port; Display adapter capable of 16-bit color

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

157 of 165 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Comment on Creative Labs WebCam Live!, January 26, 2005

By 

phoenix (Phoenix, AZ) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Creative Labs WebCam Live! (Personal Computers)

This is the third Creative Labs webcam I have bought. Compared to the previous ones (a first generation webcam and a more recent Pro eX), this one produces better pictures - brighter and better color rendering. It works well in low light environment. So as far as performance is concerned, I am pretty happy. However, if you're looking for a webcam that can be SECURELY mounted on your laptop, this one is definitely not for you. This webcam does NOT have a clip or a snap-on mechanism. It does allow you to put the webcam on laptop computer's display panel without falling off if the computer is on a leveled surface without any kind of movement. Even that is little bit shaky if the dispaly panel is thin (like my Dell Inspiron 700m). I give this webcam a 4 star instead of 5 mainly for this reason.

A note about installation (Windows XP with SP2):
This is not a big deal but I thought I would just share with everyone in case someone gets confused. Like other Creaive Labs stuff I have bought before (webcams and MP3 player), the installation procedure in the manual doesn't quite match what you actually experience. The manual indicates after you finish installing the software (drivers and apps), then you plug in the webcam and Windows will discover the hardware and you go from there. In reality,you will be asked to plug in the webcam before you finish the software installation and you never go through the Windows hardware discovery process.

40 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars So-so video quality, installs lots of hidden spyware, January 13, 2006

By 

Gadgester "No Time, No Money" (Mother Earth) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Creative Labs WebCam Live! (Personal Computers)

Please note that I bought this webcam (Creative Labs Webcam Live!) a month ago from the local store of a national office supplies chain for $10. You shouldn't be paying more than $15 or so because this is an old model and has been discontinued by Creative Labs. The follow-up models (like the "ultra" model) are barely better than than one (despite Creative's deceptive claims) and definitely not worth shelling out more than $40 for.

This is a basic webcam. It does not have auto focus; nor is it focus-free. This means you should adjust the manual focus ring on the cam to make sure your subject is in focus. The focus range is rather small, but since you probably just sit there when it's working, it doesn't matter much. It does matter, however, if you want to use it as a motion detector, since it might be capturing videos of a thief in your home or cubicle out of focus, defeating its usefulness.

The included Creative WebCam Center application is very bloated at something like 50MB on installation, plus it installs no fewer than eight start-up services (without telling you). It includes video recording, motion detection, time-lapse video, and webcam. You can choose to compress the video capture; uncompressed video (the default setting) takes up 1MB per second! That's 60MB for every minute of video, or 3.5GB for a whole hour! But the video compression in Creative WebCam Center is very inefficient. Anything less than a Pentium 4 will slow your machine down to a crawl.

My biggest beef with the software Creative throws in our face is it contains too many hidden components with uncipherable names. It also installs tons of "get AOL for free" links and icons everywhere on your hard drive. Creative Labs has no shame whatsoever. I never asked for AOL, nor will I ever use AOL, an evil company that overbills its customers and provides the worst service possible (even Verizon is better as an ISP). I really don't like installating a 50MB application with tons of hidden components just to use the webcam. (Unfortunately, it's the same for Logitech, the biggest name in webcams.)

The cam does work very well with MSN Messenger, the best video conferencing software now available (and it's free). It also clips securely on my LCD monitor. But I really hate the spyware-like behavior of the Creative software suite.

In summary: consider Logitech, because they don't install tons of annoying "get AOL!!!" links on your PC. If you have to buy this, make sure you don't pay more than $15.

74 of 87 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars good deal, October 24, 2004

By 

Yun Feng Zhu "Yun" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Creative Labs WebCam Live! (Personal Computers)

I have been looking for such a webcam for a long time because I can't find a cheap product with good quality and brand.
This webcam is what I wanted although it is USB 1.1, but it doesn't influnce the speed even when I used it to talk with my friend in China. Furthermore,I get my order in only 2 days with free shipping. Easy to install and use. And I love Creative very much because it's rebate probably working. @^:^@

The only weak point of this webcam is when I set up the "banding filter" at "outdoor" model, the webcam seems to be a little dark although in this setting will make the motion without delay. So, I give it 4 stars. Hope it can help!