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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?

#711

Post by fomine3 »

leetcrew wrote: post #387
itsoktocry wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can see a huge difference compared to my Dell Latitude laptop display. And outside of a few occupations that might actually require pixel-perfect colour, what does this matter? Is this like the audiophile world, where people argue about seemingly subjective things that no else cares about? The customer interprets colours differently than you, the customer sees colours differently than you, and the customer is usi…

monitor image quality is quite a bit more objective than what audiophiles look for in high end audio equipment. sRGB defines a specific physical color that ought to be displayed for each RGB sequence. if you can get a very accurate display for <$1000 just by doing a bit of research, why wouldn't you?

A similar thing to audiophile is that better quality doesn't always mean improve QoL for just a consumer (not designer or similar use). Sometimes I think that it's happy if I satisfied with $100 headphones or cheap laptop display quality.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#712

Post by pmontra »

iso1210 wrote: post #356
eptcyka wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple has it's fair share of issues, and it's often a pain to diagnose them remotely without the user looking up the specific model code which isn't all to easy to identify. They often don't change any visual appearance and certainly don't distinguish between different models in their marketing. It's easy for me to look up what common issues Lenovo's had with a specific T series model, but if I'm buying a used MacBoo…

> without the user looking up the specific model code which isn't all to easy to identify My 7 year old macbook has "A1465" written in perfectly legible text on the bottom. "About this mac" has the serial number two clicks away, which is convertable online to exact specifications.

My old laptop from 2006 had nc8430 written close to the screen hinges. The new one from 2014 has ZBook at the bottom left of the keyboard. Maybe it's one of the differences between $300 laptops and $1000+ ones.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#713

Post by gonehome »

wyclif wrote: post #707
gonehome wrote: post #555

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I think they’d sell instantly. I looked all over for one and it doesn’t exist. The mirrorless camera solution sucks because there’s not an obvious winner there either (and you usually need a capture card/camlink to convert the output from the camera). The room scale ones like the LG meetup are overpriced and generally awful, the PTZ versions from them are even more expensive, use proprietary connectors for the m…

Let's say you have a Mac. What hardware/software do you need other than the tripod to get a good mirrorless camera setup? I notice a lot of pro YouTubers use setups like this, but I'm not a photography guy so I don't know much about this.

You need something like the elgato camlink 4k and a camera that supports clean hdmi out.

That’s it - the software options today are bad.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#714

Post by userbinator »

gaudat wrote: post #118
pembrook wrote: post #40

The reason you can’t buy a good webcam is the same reason you can’t buy a high quality monitor outside of LG’s unreliable apple collab. The lazy conglomerates who sell these peripherals often don’t actually produce the parts in them. They simply rebrand commodity cameras and IPS panels in a crap plastic housing and slap their logo on it. Then they give the product a hilariously user-hostile product name, like “PQS GR…

Tip: try to find out what panel the monitor you are buying has. Then look the panel up in a database like panelook.com. This way you can get the specifications without any marketing bullshit. It also works the other way round. Find a panel that is good enough for your eyes, then see if there's a mass marketed display with that panel. If you are adventurous, you can grab "DIY" or "assembled" monitors with the panels o…

...and if you're really adventurous, you can buy just the bare panel, get the backlight inverter and "scaler board" elsewhere, and build your own custom monitor. The "3663" seems to be a common model of scaler.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#715

Post by fomine3 »

jasonwatkinspdx wrote: post #668
pembrook wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think that’s it. Apple is the most valuable company on earth right now, entirely due to their thesis that people will pay for quality hardware. The “creator” market is much more profitable than the gamer market where kids only have as much as mom will allow them to spend (vs The tech workers, coders, designers, youtubers, etc that need high quality displays to make a living). It’s why Apple is able to get ins…

> The “creator” market is much more profitable than the gamer market where kids only have as much as mom will allow them to spend (vs The tech workers, coders, designers, youtubers, etc that need high quality displays to make a living). This is a common misunderstanding of the gaming market due to stereotyping. The biggest age category in gaming is 18-34 by far. They generally also slant strongly to people with both…

Fully agreed. It's impressive how "Gaming" brands upselling their products with RGB.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#716

Post by wenc »

rasz wrote: post #691
dathinab wrote: post #638

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you by new $250 isn't close to getting you anything decent which also works for streaming as far as I know. Plus for many cameras you need to capture their video output, i.e. USB is not enough (through that currently changes). So you need a capture chip with low latency or else things are bad for "life" usage. This is often another 60-130€ for something decent if brought anew. Plus they don't have a monitor clip s…

AverMedia PW513 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5MfenW7EqA

Not a good buy

https://www.reddit.com/r/AverMedia/comments/jwuj70/just_got_...

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#717

Post by arvinsim »

raegis wrote: post #189
arvinsim wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried to use the Elgato Camlink with my Macbook and Sony ala6400. But everytime I use it, the fans would ramp to a noisy level. Turns out that processing is still being done by the Macbook.

I have the Elgato 4K and the Sony a6400 and my computer (NUC8 running Debian) does not overheat.

Perhaps the NUC handles thermals a lot better than the laptop. I consistently get around 4-5k RPM when connecting with Elgato Camlink.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#718

Post by chapium »

lmilcin wrote: post #41

If you are looking here to improve your webcam because you started to do remote work, don't. First try to improve lighting and audio. Any camera will look bad in bad lighting. It is always better to first improve your lighting before you invest in a new camera. Use high CRI lightbulbs and ensure even source color temperature in your room (ie. all lightbulbs should be emitting same color temperature). Audio is also ve…

Everyone will be happy if you up your audio quality. Cracks, pops and other distortions are in headphones are not fun. Noone really minds visual quality unless you are presenting something on the camera.

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#719

Post by FeistySkink »

spyspy wrote: post #697
kylecordes wrote: post #624

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I understand these are all awful in their own way, typically with quality problems and extra latency as well as the extra complexity of the software. The obvious solution is a camera mode in which it presents itself over USB as a webcam… As far as I know no "real" camera at any price does this. I solve the problem with a Camlink, but it really should not be necessary.

My Sony a6500 has been perfectly fine with my macbook since Sony released the new drivers. I haven't noticed any latency and love getting compliments from zoom peeps on the non-AI blur I get with my 16mm f1.4 lens.

What are the max supported resolution and framerate in this mode?

Re: Why can’t you buy a good webcam?

#720

Post by oftenwrong »

wongarsu wrote: post #569
stan_rogers wrote: post #551

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For resistive loads (like the heating element in a kettle), half the voltage gives you a quarter of the power. (Electric kettles work just fine on 110/120; they just haven't been a thing in the US. They've been ubiquitous in Canada, although they've been pushed aside somewhat by drip coffee makers. You just need a lower-resistance heating element than would be practical with 220/240.)

Electric kettles in the US typically are 1000W-1500W, while in Europe any kettle is 2000W-2800W. This is simply because houses are typically wired with outlets for 10A-16A everywhere, regardless of grid voltage. That ofc makes electric kettles much less useful in countries with 110V grid. It also keeps stovetop kettles relevant in these counties, since stoves don't suffer power limitations.

Houses in the US are typically wired with 240v split phase, so nothing is stopping a mad lad from installing a 240v outlet in their kitchen, and running a kettle from it.
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