3Com 001689 Bigpicture Video Phone

Other products by 3Com

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00000JDHW
• Item model number: 001689-02
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #246,171 in Electronics (See Bestsellers in Electronics)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 4, 1973

Product Description

Amazon.com Review
If online chatting and e-mail don't satisfy your communication needs, add live video to the picture with 3Com's popular Bigpicture video phone. This PCI-based video camera and capture card will have you online in vivid 24-bit true color at a remarkable 30 frames per second, in no time.

Although the Bigpicture video phone requires installation of a PCI video capture card, setup took us no more than five minutes. 3Com's simple step-by-step installation guide walks you through the process with large diagrams and helpful instructions.

The incredibly tiny, sphere-shaped camera is designed to sit on top of your monitor in a rubber mount; we did, however, find it difficult to secure the Bigpicture video phone in place. You can easily adjust the manual focus to achieve the clearest image. The camera also includes contrast adjustment, back-light compensation, and white balance buttons, which, if you fiddle with them, produce quality images in any environment.

Creating videos and still clips with the Bigpicture video phone is painless. The unit also comes with a cute postcard program for sending images via e-mail. We recommend compressing your images before sending them. The compression process is simple, but you must know what type of video compression your recipient has, so that he or she can open the image. We compressed our file with the Intel Indeo Video R3.2 format (a widely used standard), which took about two minutes to complete. The 30-second file, shot at 30 frames per second, was compressed from a whopping 32.6 MB down to a manageable 1.86 MB.

Using the Bigpicture launcher, you can click to either CUSeeMe or NetMeeting to start chatting instantly. Both require a simple registration process and, once inside, you can enter public chat rooms or conduct private conferences in "reserved" rooms. The Bigpicture video phone comes with a built-in microphone to connect to your sound card, but you probably won't want to depend entirely on the audio to communicate--the sound can be very choppy and lag behind the video.

One of the nicest features of the Bigpicture video phone is the outstanding software bundle, which gives you all the tools you need to create videos, capture still images, send images via e-mail, videoconference, and connect to your choice of online video chat rooms. Most applications are just one click away, with an intuitive GUI (graphical user interface) that makes performing any function exceptionally easy.

Pros:

• Outstanding software bundle
• PCI card offers more frames per second
• Terrific image quality
• Easy installation

Cons:

• Camera difficult to position in mount
• Installation of PCI capture card required

Product Description
Bigpicture video phone is the #1 selling PCI camera and capture card. This premier videoconferencing package includes a high quality NTSC Color Camera with built-in microphone for "Best of Class" video communication through your PC.You also get a PCI bus video capture card that delivers high performance audio and video quality far above parallel or USB cameras, as well as a full suite of video editing and communications software.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fast frame-rates and excellent colours, December 1, 1999

By A Customer

Pros: Great image quality, accurate-focus quality and perfect exposure in the background and foreground. Camera can also capture video frames from camcorders and VCRs. Unlike most desktop cameras, the Bigpicture has controls on the camera itself to control power, contrast, backlighting, white balance and image quality.

Cons: The images that the Big-picture camera produced were a little dark. Installation might be a bit tricky if the person installing is not familir with the insides of a PC.

I also own the 3com homeconnect digital camera, and have tested out numerous other USB webcams (Logitech quickcam pro, Kodak DVC325, Intel Create & Share) and have to say that the two 3com cams stand out.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars It works but no driver support for NT, July 23, 1999

By A Customer

I have both a USB Video Phone Camera and this PCI Video Phone Camera and I found the USB one is half the price and better quality.

This product is a pain to install and doesn't run on Windows NT or Linux. And the company doesn't even bother to post any updates to this product for Windows users. The the positive side, it does have a good mic.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great for online merchants, but mediocre for chating., July 27, 1999

By A Customer

I'm sure this camera is fine for net-chats, but this device reaches its full potential for online auctions. Simply put your item on a lazy-susan, give it a spin, and take your video. This instantly provides a 3D effect for your customers. As for the camera...it is hard to get the camera level. The tension on the cord is enough to swivel it. And dont planning on using this with windows in the background; it makes a white glow around your face. However, the framerate is wonderful, and the picture is better than average for consumer-grade computer cameras. I'd recommend this camera to an online merchant rather than a nethead. Get a USB camera if you want to talk over the net.