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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent webcam -- best on market, January 1, 2004
By A Customer
I've owned a Unibrain Fire-i for about a year now. This is the best webcam available today. The FireWire interface is a must for something as demanding as digital video (much better picture than a USB cam). The picture quality is fantastic. Of couse, for videoconferencing, all VC apps end up pixilating your image, but a lower quality camera will produce poorer results. I have not directly compared this to the iSight, but based on other user descriptions, this cam produces as good if not better images than Apple's iSight webcam.Customer service is excellent. My Fire-i stopped producing an image after about 9 months. I contacted the manufacturer - the email was very responsive, and after a few emails back and forth and determining it was the cam that was defective (and it was not a problem with software or the cable), they allowed me to send this one back, and they shipped me a new cam immediately. Five stars for customer service. I videoconference w/my parents using iChat AV (we both have Macs). Even though both of us are able to use our miniDV Sony camcorders as a webcam using the Firewire connection, the Fire-i is a lot more handy and a WORTHWHILE INVESTMENT. First, the Fire-i is very small and powered by the FireWire connection, so it does not need a power cable. Also, it is a hassle to plug and unplug a FireWire camcorder to use as a webcam, having to plug/unplug a power cable and firewire cable all the time. It is nice to just leave the Fire-i by the computer. So I just purchased a second Fire-i for my parents. The only negatives I can think of with this webcam are that the clip mount only opens so far, so that it will not clip on my LCD display, which has too thick a bezel. So you may find it challenging to find a good way to mount this cam (I found a good enough solution.) But the mount DOES swivel in many positions, which is a BIG plus. Also, note that the Fire-i has no microphone, so you will need an external mic for audio. Other positives, beside excellent picture quality, is the manual focus ring for super-sharp focus (many webcams are fixed focus), and the fact that this has TWO FireWire ports, so that it can be part of a FW daisy chain. I think some don't realize or read the instructions about the manual focus ring, so they give this cam one star (duh!). I would highly recommend this webcam to anyone. It is a simple plug and play with the Mac OS. It also comes with a lot of software, including a $40 value videoconferencing title. But this webcam works great with Apple's iChat AV and also iVisit (two other programs I have tried it with.), and comes in at about $60 less than Apple's iSight cam.
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