Webcam Reviews

Bought the Intel ICS2USB Create-and-Share Tethered Camera and was shipped the older version - Intel PC camera pack from the year 2000 that retails for $59.99-$79.99 NEW, not the $114 that was paid. The guy (Heiu Nguyen)tried to say that the camera I got was actually better than the one I ordered, but that he would graciously allow Me to keep it because of his mistake on shipping the wrong item!!! When what he really needs is to get rid of the old, outdated version that intel no longer sells on their official website.

I have had this cam for about 3 years (actually bought 2 b/c I enjoyed the first so much, not a whole lot of tweeking and so on) good software, good support should you need it. Buy it you won't regret it. Great for a entry - mid level cam.

The camera and the accompanying software are first rate. I especially like the Scene Recorder, with its ability to take snapshots and record videos. Please note that you can record sounds, such as your voice, with the videos. And most importantly you can Trim them. Videos are saved with extension AVI. You can use a Publish tool to compress an AVI file to Internet streaming format with extension IVS. Microsoft IE 5.0 browser can display both types of files on the Internet. Intel also makes the IntelPlay QX3 Computer Video Microscope. It has magnifications 10x, 60x, and 200x. You can have the most fun possible with two computers side by side: one with the Create and Share Pack Camera and the other with the Microscope Camera. Set up a Live View on the display of the pc with the microscope. Hand hold the Create and Share camera, and point it at the microscope Live View on the other pc. Speak into a microphone and record a video with your voice on the pc with the Create and Share Pack. An AVI silent video file recorded with the IntelPlay Camera can be compressed using Create and Share Publish. Use Create and Share NetCard to send a message with an AVI video recorded with either the Create and Share Camera or the IntelPlay Microscope Camera. I am looking forward to a chance to use the IntelPlay Microscope to generate the video seen in a Video Phone sender view.

One other reviewer praises the ability to watch his kids in the other room. I agree the camera is useable for this. However, access over the internet for me, so far, has been impossible. I have jumped through all the hoops such as firmware and software updates, followed the very specific instructions supplied by veo for my linksys wireless ap/router, and tried using a different port than 80. I have tried and tried but now must face the fact that I cannot recommend this product in it's present form. A good idea but does not perform as advertised. Something better will come soon I think.

Some pros: Motion detector attachment works well although you can only send the resulting email snapshot to one address. This means you cannot email your phone as an alarm and at the same time have the snapshot sent to a remote computer that burglers will not be taking with them when they leave. You get either a virtual alarm or an email snapshot. Not both. I would think veo would have thought this through and could have easily had this feature.

In closing, obviously I had some idea that I could use this camera for security monitoring over the net. This has not been the case for me and I am not a total amatuer. I usually work stuff like this out.

Oh, and dont let me forget to mention that there is NO telephone support of any kind and my email went unanswered.

Setup's a toughie, no doubt, but I bagged the complex manual and went right to the telephone tech support. After a 15 min. wait, they walked me through the setup in about 45 mins. Works great and compared to other systems its cheap.

Note: For remote viewing you'll most likely need a web portal that will offer a "static" web address. TZO.com will do it for 25 bucks a year.

I hooked it up to my Linksys wireless network and I can now see my kids in the play room while I am working. Very easy to install, I was blown away with the remote pan and tilt features.

The first thing I like about this camera is that it is priced the same as some of the USB 1.1 cameras, but your getting firewire technology WITH a card! The card comes with 3 firewire ports so you have two extra for a video camera and one other item. I read the two reviews on the Pyro camera without the card and tried the recommendation of NOT installing the drivers; just putting the card in and plugging in the camera. I, as well as that reviewer, am running WindowsXP (mine is the Home Edition) and it worked like a charm! The stand works perfectly (and is also height adjustable) and while video chatting with my aunt and uncle in Michigan, I was able to hold photos up to the camera and they could see them perfectly!! I know from experience not all web cams can do this.

Now, the thing(s) I'm not as thrilled about, but can live with. This camera has very few software adjustments that can be made manually. (I did not install ANY of the chat software because I already have what I need, but did install the amcap software, which is where I found the options to make the few adjustments if needed. I set mine to auto.) On my end, the picture looked good, but I could see a very, very slight snowiness. My computer is maybe 5- or 6-feet away from a 5.8GHz phone so I don't know if that is the reason. My relatives said it looked great on their end, but I wanted to see for myself. I went to my mother's house and had my kids get on and do a video chat with me. I was VERY, VERY pleased to see that the picture and lighting was PERFECT! Couldn't be happier! I have a window without a curtain on it that is behind me and when you move out of the way, the picture goes black. When you cover the window or step in front of the camera...not even completely, the picture is perfect! And, no snowiness! That made me VERY happy!

The other thing about this camera is that I believe the company has discontinued either this camera or all web cams so support on their site, although there is some there, is limited. I have not tried to email or call them so I can't comment on that.

I bought this camera for the firewire technology, the fact that the card had 3 ports instead of just the one, and for the price. And, although it doesn't have a lot of adjustments, the picture quality is just what I hoped for so I have no complaints. I also bought one for my sister-in-law so she and her husband could (hopefully) do video chats (he is in Iraq. Support our troops and God Bless all of them!)

Lots of versitility with this cam. Very good quality shots up close or far away! Only thing missing is a good lcd screen, but since those really eat up the batteries, this cam is the next-best-thing!

This is a great web cam for infrequent users who want decent picture clarity. It's also good as a starter cam for playing around. The 6' USB cable allows a bit of mobility for the cam-I needed to move it a couple feet to my side because at first I looked like a pale ghost...moving the cam brought out my fair complexion. I also needed to film in a brightly lit room at high noon-night time pics show spots. Adjusting settings in the program for hue and (color) saturation helped take away any unwanted redish colors. Brightness and contrast can also be adjusted in the settings while focus is either automatic or manual based on your preferences.

For the techies: it needs DirectX 8.0 to function. It upgraded my system from DirectX 6.1 to 8.0. Unfortunately (for me) my
2 1/2 year old system needs DirectX 6.1 in order for some games to function.

Downs are that the clarity isn't good at night and it might mess up your ability to play games on older computers.

Ups are that it's a nice cheap web cam that takes decent pics during the day.

This little camera gets lots of attention whenever I use it. The camera will stay where it is pointed and will not flop around or fall over. My only wish is that it had a higher resolution but then it would cost much more. I am surprised these are so hard to find and that there are no real competitiors.

This thing is great, runs long on a single 9 volt, or use the little power cord wherever you take it, USB powers the base station. Picture is definatly worth the price. I would only recomend one thing, get a rechargeable 9 volt battery (or more) because even though you can do alot with this thing, you cannot recharge it. so before you go bonkers buying a few batteries, break out the cash and get some rechargeables, because the kit does NOT contain one, nor the means to recharge one. other than that, Logitech hit this one out of the park, but it swayed just a bit out side of the right field line.

How can you beat the price!! Everthing works great. I would definetly recommend.

this is a great camera that i have at my home in CA already. I use it to tape myself skating at Woodward. Great Camera!

Ok, I bought this camera to watch my kid in a room while they were asleep. I'm telling you this camera barely shows anything in anything but full light conditions. Horrible. If there is light though, it does ok, hence the 2 star rating. But low light conditions, 0 star. This camera also has buggy software and will not accept your router configuration completely. You must not disable SSID transmission (like I had for security reasons)otherwise the camera doesn't transmit to your router either. Now this is a basic security issue with wireless routers, you should not have to transmit your SSID to everyone in the world, not good for security. So if you only need to have this operational in the day and don't care about details, then it will work. But I personally regret buying it, too expensive for its performance. Very weak in low light, almost ridiculous.

First the good. The camera is very easy to setup, and the picture is nice. Now the bad. The frame rate is terrible. I have yet to see 20fps on any setting. At 640X480, I get 1.5fps average. I have a DI-624 as my wireless router, and I am very familiar with setting it up, so I don't think this is the problem. Another annoying thing is that the frame rate is very inconsistant. One time I had the camera at 11fps. By the time I got my wife into my office to take a look, I was at 0.6fps. The camera will also freeze up for no reason. I use the included software with motion detection and have been monitoring traffic outside my window as a test of the software. It has great detection, but sometimes the camera will freeze up for 2 hours or more, so what good is the great motion detection if there is no picture for the software to monitor? Not sure I can recommend this camera for any security operation. So what is it good for? Not sure.

UPDATE: I have gotten the camera to stabilize somewhat by keeping the ambient temperature constant. I narrowed down the times it was flaking out to the time of day that the sun peaked through the window and hit the camera. The sun was not hitting the lens, but it seemed to be heating up the camera. I used an IR temp gun to measure the case temp and it was not over the 50 degrees celsius that the camera is rated at, so maybe I got an overly sensitive one or something. I went ahead and bumped my rating up to 3 stars, which is probably overly generous.

The installation of this camera is simply plugging it into a wall socket and either accessing its web based interface via it's IP address wirelessly or wired. Then from there you can set everything, like FTP upload times, new IP address, picture quality, etc. After configuring it all the way I wanted I unplugged it from my PC and the wall and mounted it where it was going to stay. After mounting I plugged it into the wall and thats it. I have done little tweaking to the setting since my initial setup, but I didn't have to move the camera, and when you have this convienence of wireless it is hard not to appreciate it.