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Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

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Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#171

Post by Someone1234 »

raesene9 wrote: post #97
murkt wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The article doesn't really go into a lot of depth about which Logitech cameras they looked at. All of them. Brio is better, but still has much worse quality than any top smartphone.

Depends what you're looking for I guess. The brio's been fine for me for video conferencing and even the odd conference talk.

Hard to justify the ($200) price. You can literally buy an entire smartphone with two cameras for the cost of a Brio.

It is pretty clear that there's no competition in the webcam market, and that the offerings have stagnated for years.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#173

Post by Mauricebranagh »

piranha wrote: post #19
Mauricebranagh wrote: post #13

I think the author lost me when they said that a good webcam has to have "decent sound quality" and uses the MacBook as an example. I have literally never seen anyone suggest using your webcams /laptop mic except as a last resort.

Macbook Pro mic is literally much better than most webcams mics right now.

My point for webcam audio you want to use a headset, USB mic or a real sound card and an XLR mic.

Using a laptop / web cam mic is the fourth/fifth best option - its a bit like playing Association Football (Soccer) in League Two

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#174

Post by mattgreenrocks »

iamacyborg wrote: post #138
muro wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dell sells good monitors.

Sadly the implementation of USB-C on models like the U3419W isn’t to standard and causes known issues when used with Apple laptops.

I’m guessing this is why the cursor seems to visibly ghost when hooked up to my MBP.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#176

Post by bserge »

mattowen_uk wrote: post #20

I've also investigated this quite deeply. As I'm sure most of us know, the main problems with 'webcams', either the built-in ones or USB ones that you perch on top of your monitor, are the lens size, and the CCD/CMOS image sensor size. Manufacturers spouting specs like '4k' are deliberately misleading the public if the sensor and/or the lens aren't also upgraded. The only cost-viable methods to get 'broadcast quality…

Canon has webcam software for their DSLR's, although I couldn't get 1080p output out of my 750D. Quality was great, though.

You can also just use your phone's main camera, the quality is up there with rather expensive webcams (even for midrange phones these days), add some better lighting and you're set.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#177

Post by bserge »

diarrhea wrote: post #131
ansgri wrote: post #25

Sony recently added support for webcam-over-usb to a lot of their cameras, apparently. And they are known for video quality and good lenses. So that’s $700-800 for a very good camera (new) that also works as webcam. https://support.d-imaging.sony.co.jp/app/webcam/en/download/

Sadly, the software is quite terrible. Last I checked, it only did 720p. Even an entry-level Sony at that $700-800 price range outclasses what the software can do by a long shot. So there's no way to make use of high-end Sony gear for mind-blowing webcam quality, since the software is a huge bottle neck. Very disappointing and a missed opportunity (not to mention Sony was months behind Canikon and others with their s…

Canon's software has the same limitation in my case, people say it's because of the USB 2.0 port on the camera (750D).

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#178

Post by coldtea »

TulliusCicero wrote: post #120
pembrook wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dell used to have good offerings, but all they seem to push now is the same 27” not-quite-4K 3,840 x 2,160 panels everybody else does. Now even the 22" inch LG ultrafine that used to be 4069 x 2304 is bigger at 24" and a worse 3,840 x 2,160. The only good option for mac is the 27 ultrafine 5k. 27 4k a bad size & resolution for the current computer market. Windows scaling looks like crap, and MacOS has to do more reso…

> not-quite-4K 3,840 x 2,160 But...that is 4K. It's what 4K is defined as, exactly 2x 1080p resolution in each dimension. > Windows scaling looks like crap I don't understand. 2x each dimension (so 1 pixel in the old resolution is 4 in the new) is, like, the easiest possible scenario when it comes to scaling in software.

>But...that is 4K. It's what 4K is defined as, exactly 2x 1080p resolution in each dimension.

That's irrelevant though, except if we're talking about consuming movies fullscreen.

For a monitor I don't want 4K, I want insivible pixels at viewing distances, so hi-dpi.

I would also prefer no scaling for assets that are bitmap in nature. This ideally means pixel doubling (less cpu/gpu demanding and less fuzzy than fractional scaling).

This, for 27" and more, means higher resolution that 4K. I don't want to restrict myself to pixel-doubled 1920x1080 on my 27" or 32" monitor.

You do get nice DPI, but needlessly large buttons and other assets (compared to something closer to 5K).

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#179

Post by bserge »

nickjj wrote: post #155

I don't think it's fair to put high quality sound as a requirement for a webcam. A webcam sitting 2-3 feet from you is not going to sound good, especially not with a dinky microphone that has to fit in a device that's 3 inches wide. Even $2,000 cameras have poor sound quality and pretty much everyone who does semi-serious recording (Youtube, etc.) will use an external microphone. Honestly, the classic Logitech c920 i…

Sound is really important (more important than video tbh). Fortunately, good microphones are aplenty, even a cheap Boya PVM1000 for like $50 works great (takes batteries, connects directly to a 3.5mm jack).

Or you can go for a Zoom Hx, those work via USB, great inbuilt mics, too.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#180

Post by rasz »

Webcams suck because until recently video calls sucked.

> but his camera can't output a live stream into HDMI

Buy different camera.

Sony a6000/Sigma 1.4 16mm lens plus Camlink looks like this: https://twitter.com/feliciaday/status/1268379532823683072

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/834329198?t=00h09m50s

Pretty much every time new person streams/zooms with Felicia they ask about the setup to replicate it :)

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