Customer Reviews

Creative WebCam Live! Ultra for Notebooks VF0070

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

I travel a lot and I purchased this model for my laptop and Creative's Webcam Live! Pro 2.0 for my home computer. My intention was to use the two, in conjunction with MSN Messenger, to talk to the wife and two little ones while on the road via a high-speed internet connection. I won't get into every little detail, rather I will hit on the major items. These apply to both products unless otherwise stated;

PROS

- Software installation was simple
- Hardware installation was simple
- Unit worked perfect right out of the box
- Configuration took about 2 minutes
- Sync with MSN Messenger took about 30 seconds.
- Picture looks good, just as expected.
- The notebook cam comes with a decent little headset and a little carry bag for travel
- The unit is very wife friendly
- I was able to teach my wife and 7 year old son how to make and receive calls on MSN Messenger in about 3 minutes.

CONS

- I have a new IBM Thinkpad and the front lid edge is fairly thick. The camera mount will fit but it is a tight squeeze and I am afraid I might eventually break the mount off. Instead, I am able to spin the lens up and lay the canera on it's "belly", hooking it on the lid edge. It is stable enough and it works just fine. It is actually easier to setup that way.

NOTES

- I have a brand new laptop and a 1 year old desktop
- I am using USB 2.0 ports
- I am running Windows XP Home on one computer and PRO on the other. SP2 on both
- I am using only high-speed internet connections, one end is from a hotel.
- I am running the latest version of MSN Messenger
- I use my personal MSN Messenger account (the free hotmail one) on the laptop, and I setup a new account on the home computer
- My wife can barely turn the computer on and she was able to learn how to make and receive a call in a few minutes
- The camera came with a headset, but I use my laptop's built in microphone and speakers - works great. I use my desktop speakers and the supplied mic with the desktop version.
- I am very impressed with both these products. They work just as I expected and they are simple to use.

I read a lot of great reviews on this webcam and decided to purchase this cam over many other one's in or around it's price range. I am very glad with my decision. It has it's cons but it's pros overtake them.

The quality is wonderful, but only in well lit areas. You will want to have at least a little bit of light if you want to take video or pictures. It takes massive photos (1.3 megapixel camera which equals 1024x780 photos) and videos up to 640x480.
It does not have an auto focus so you have to focus it manually, but once you focus it the first time you never really have to fix it.
It has a very sturdy grip and Ive never had a problem with it slipping off my laptop lid. The best grip I've seen on any laptop webcams.
It has many neat features such as motion sensor and a security feature which allows you to use it like a security camera.
You can customize the settings to a great deal, brightness, contrast, gamma, exposure, zoom, face tracking, sharpness, lighting, etc.
I can not find a self-timer for the capture feature, though. It's available on the video capture but appears not to be on the photos.
Does not have a built in microphone, but comes with an earpiece, which is kind of awkward to use. If you get this camera, you might want to invest in a microphone as well.
It's wide angle lens is terrific! It really does capture so much more then you're used to capturing. It works best in letterbox mode.
The software is very easy to install, almost too easy. Had no problems installing like I have with most other cameras.
It's very small and stylish, but lightweight and you must be careful with it! It comes with a carrying bag to help protect it when you take it with you.

Overall, if you want a high end web camera, you should think about purchasing this one. Anyone who doesn't need any fancy features or bigger photos, should stay with the cheaper models.

I was surprised when I got this product. It IS for video ONLY.
All Logitech webcams I used before come with an integrated microphone. This one does need a separate microphone to talk through the net.
There is a tiny microphone in the package though, but I am really uncomfortable to hang it on my ear when I need to talk. You may need to purchase a bigger microphone to free your ear up.

I wasa thrilled when I saw the size of the cam and it fit my Dell perfectly. I have had several different cams over the years and this one worked better in low lighting conditions than any of the others, but I was majorily dissappointed with the quality of the picture. It is grainey and must be manually focused. On the plus side, the face tracking system works incredibly well and I was impressed that more than one person easily fits within the screen. I debated whether to send it back and ultimately decided that its positive attributes made up for its faults and decided to keep it. Good luck and Happy camming!

Great design, as long as you do not intend to connect it to a laptop or desktop using certain ATI chipsets. There is a known USB issue with no work around. Check the Creative Labs Web Site Support Section prior to buying the "ULTRA" model to confirm you do not have one of these incompatible chipsets. (most commonly found in hp and compaq laptops using the x200 ati chipset, like mine) :(

No such problem effect the "Pro" version, which I bought subsequently and have been very happy with (cheaper :) too)

I should have checked the Creative Labs web site first. After I tried and failed several times to install this web cam to my notebook computer (even with the Creative Labs tech support), I checked their discussion forum to learn that this is a wide-spread problem. There is some design flaw with the camera or the drivers and there appears to be a large number of notebook makes and models that do not recognize the device when you plug it into the USB port.

First I'm not going to repeat what the other reviewers had said. The camera works fine, but it gets a little hot, I'm using Windows XP Pro SP2 and 1GB of RAM and when I run the software (Creative WebCam Center) always stops responding for half a minute or so and then starts to work, I'm sure with an update this problem could be solve (the version of the software is the same since June 2005).

Don't expect the USB 2.0 to work wonders it is the same as other cameras the only difference is when you are using broadband connection and broadcasting you are able to send images in super WebCam.

A cool face tracking utility is included in the software. The auto adjust image works fine with poor light as well as the opposite.

The last thing is that Creative takes a loooonnnng time to send your rebate.

I bought this webcam a few months ago so I could have webcam
conversations with my family in Sweden. Now I am finally able to
use it the way I want thanks to the new version of Skype 2.0
(beta). All other IM programs I tried were way way way too slow.
The picture froze most of the time and the voice quality was
poor. Now it works great and I am very happy with the webcam.

Positive

* Great small design

* Fairly sturdy construction. Still feels a bit plasticy but that
is what it's made out of.

* The clamp sits sturdily on most things because of the strong
and rubberized design. I use it on my Dell Inspiron 6000
without any problems at all and I imagine it fits well on most
laptops and LCD screens.

* Picture quality is good for being a webcam. I find the picture
clear and it works well in different lightings. This is the
first webcam I have tried though so I have nothing to compare
it to but I am fully satisfied with it.


Negative

* The program isn't the best. But I use it in Skype without the
program installed.

* The price is quite high but I couldn't find another webcam that
was small, well built and had a USB2 connection so I would say
it's worth it (if it is bought with a rebate).


The webcam itself is very good, but to use it for webcam
conversations it needs a good program. Just a few days ago when
Skype 2.0 was released this became possible. Now I am very happy
with the performance of the webcam.

I bought this camera after using an old logitech webcam for a while. The description stated "Two times great image quality" and other vague claims. I got it anyway.

Image quality is very impressive. I'm used to grainy washed out colors from most older cams, this one has very good color and quality. It does better in low light than most cameras, most likely due to the CCD sensor instead of the cheaper CMOS (used in most cameras). CCD's don't get as grainy in low light, and this cam simply looks better.

The live ultra cam works well through Skype, no problems connecting or using it. However, I'm getting slow video with Skype (3-4 fps?) compared to my older webcam. This is probably due to true VGA resolution (640x480) instead of the older SIF/CIF resolution (320x200). I do have a normal cable internet connection with great download (6 mbits) and bad upload (450 mbits, 55kb/s). Even with that bandwidth, video is slow. I haven't tried other IM programs, another may be better. I also haven't tried lowering the resolution (no way to do it through Skype.

Overall, I recommend this camera over the previous generation cams (like the live! pro, and live! webcams... not even in the same league). However, I haven't tried other comparable cams (like the Logitech Ultra's) nd this one is a bit expensive [...].

I recently received the Creative Webcam Ultra for Notebooks and must say it is great!

I actually bought and returned the Logitech QuickCam for Notebooks Pro because it never held on to my laptop securely and kept falling off.

So, I purchased the Creative Ultra and am absolutely pleased because:

-It has a great CCD camera with clear pictures
-High speed USB 2.0 for smooth video using MSN Messenger
-Fits securely on my laptop screen
-Comes with a pretty good headset/mic combo for clear and private discussion using voice chat
-Its cheaper than the Logitech QuickCam for Notebooks Pro
-Comes with a little carrying case to protect your webcam and headset