Microsoft LifeCamVX-1000

Microsoft LifeCamVX-1000

Aniket Kadam, May 26, 2008 1646 hrs IST

Microsoft's eye-catching entry-level webcam. Does it do all it says it can?

Live blogging (only to Windows Live Spaces), one-touch e-mailing, sturdy build.

Extremely overpriced, additional software needed to work with Vista, retention clip doesn't secure the camera well, poor audio quality.

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First Impressions

The surprisingly small Microsoft LifeCamVX-1000 is a pleasure to look at. Its small size, however, doesn't detract from its sturdiness. This is one solidly constructed webcam, able to survive small drops unharmed. It does have a clamp of sorts, albeit without a spring to solidly hold it shut. It has a decently long 6 foot cable.

Cam on its clip

An LED above the lens lights up when the cam is in use. Its rubberized base provides a reasonable grip, which makes it unlikely to slip much while in use.


With complete 360 degrees of horizontal and about 110 degrees of vertical motion, it assures that users never have to twist around to accommodate its field of view. On top of the webcam is a button that claims to start a conference call in MSN Messenger; however, it doesn't seem to do much besides start MSN Messenger as tested on a Windows XP SP2 machine. It's simply more convenient to click the "start video call" button in your conversation window. The manual focus ring works quite well; it is easy to adjust and gives a decent image when done right.

Demonstrating degrees of motion


Installation

Although it isn't plug-and-play compatible, the bundled driver CD gets it working on XP even though the installation takes several minutes. Note that the software on the driver CD cannot be installed on Vista; to get the webcam working on Vista, users would have to get software from the Microsoft site.

The webcam comes with a built-in microphone as well, but it picks up interference a great deal more than your voice and is frustrating to use for calls. A separate headset would serve the purpose much better.
Microphone's location
Even in fluorescent lighting, with just one light source, the image quality is excellent with a range of resolutions -- 160x120, 176x144, 320x240, 352x288, and 640x480.

Note: Field of view is how wide the camera can see while in a fixed position.

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USER COMMENTS

ssss

by Anonymous, sss, on Oct 28, 2008 11:26 AM, Report abuse   Reply

by dervis, alabay, on Nov 05, 2008 02:14 AM, Report abuse

fine

by dinesh bansal, sri ganganagar, on Oct 10, 2008 05:18 PM, Report abuse   Reply

good

by khan, mumbai, on Jul 08, 2008 01:56 PM, Report abuse   Reply

bunty

by rose, jalandhar, on May 28, 2008 09:17 AM, Report abuse   Reply

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