Excellent review just the information i was looking for and the best way to demo the camera features was by this video clip. Cheers

Awesome review. I have just started looking for a "first" webcam for my niece and this looks perfect. The sound was great and so was the picture. nice one.

[Deleted by the author on 25 Nov 2008 11:33 GMT]

Excellent review. Can see the video quality and hear about the features. Thanks

Julian,

Thanks for the very helpful review. A question for you.....I need a webcam mainly to record myself playing the guitar and singing, so I can build up an online repertoire and upload to Youtube. Would the separate desktop microphone by Logitech be compatible with this webcam? I realise there is a built-in mike in the webcam, but a microphone nearer to me and possibly of higher quality might be useful. I would be very grateful for your opinion on that or any better suggestion you might have. I have more sophisticated audio recording equipment (Line 6 Toneport) from which I can make CDs, but the audio files it produces will not upload to Youtube.

All the best,

Chris Aylmer

Hey Chris

I should start with a warning - I have ALWAYS struggled with the audio settings on a PC. I just don't get how it's set up. This is largely because I insist on getting sound cards which are too advanced for me though.

Anyway, it wouldn't be a problem to use a different mic if you wanted - the webcam is USB but you can just use the Logitech Quickcam software you use to install it (or your alternative) to adjust which device is used for audio input. Here's a screenshot of the audio input selection for you :

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=5ltnqc&s=5

I'm actually thinking of getting a standalone mic myself since I use Skype to call landlines and although my sound quality is perfectly fine, it sounds different to what people are used to from phonecalls and I get accused of sounding like a robot (could be worse). Thinking about it, this is a bit of a negative point for the webcam, but it's partly based on the room I use it in, and relatively speaking it's still excellent overall. Edit : Following this question I reset the defaults on my soundcard to try and reduce background noise and it's noticably better. I don't understand why since the webcam doesn't connect to the soundcard but then again, I did warn you that I don't understand audio...

One point to note, I know this will work fine with a mic you plug into the soundcard but I can't be 100% sure about USB mic compatibility (like the popular Logitec one). I'm pretty sure it would be fine though, it's just another device. I also can't vouch for the quality you'll get from that for recording music but that's a question for someone else :)

My advice would be to get the webcam and check out the audio for yourself - the picture quality is great and if the audio isn't up to scratch for music you can always get an alternative input.

Thank you very much for your helpful message Julian. I will try out the webcam and see how it goes.

Best wishes,

Chris.

This was very helpful, and many thanks to Julian, im buying !

Julian,
Just to report back on the pro 9000 I bought. The camera is very good. I've done a video review but it's not approved yet. The logitech desktop microphone works OK in duo with the webcam but it's not nearly as good as the built-in microphone in tone or quality...I would not recommend buying it. I guess it might be fine for voice but not singing or playing instruments. Even with the desktop right by my face and 4 to 5 feet away from the webcam, the built-in mike is best! When I use "rightlight" I get problems with too few frames per second(as seen on my video review) so will need to adjust lighting manually. Thanks again for your help.

Chris.

Great review - I'm moving from a "Logitech Quickcam for Notebooks Pro" cam (about 5 years old and it doesn't sit correctly on my LCD as its made for a thin lid of a notebopok - the quality is also only OK for me compared to what I've just seen) - but I travel a lot and the old cam has a great folding action and hard plastic travel case so it never got damaged. http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/480/3386 - how would this cam fare - what does it come with?

Mike