Surprised they didn’t test a cheap mid range previous gen Android phone
Why webcams aren’t good enough
261–270 of 297 posts
Re: Why webcams aren’t good enough
#262Earlier quoted context omitted.
The camera in your MBP isn't the Apple Silicon camera that's used in their mobile devices. In the near future, when Apple drops Intel from their entire laptop product line, it is very likely that they'll bring their Apple Silicon cameras from their mobile products to their laptop products. (Yes, there's a 'version zero' MBP with the M1, and a teardown showed that it's literally a drop-and-swap of the motherboard with…
Apple aren’t actually designing its own sensors, are they? I expected they would be using an off the shelf Sony sensor just like (most) everyone else. I generally disagree with your premise here. Yes, you can do some pretty amazing things with image processing in software, but you have to have a decent starting point. A good example of this is just how minimal the image processing improvements are in the M1 MacBooks…
You assume that this year's M1 MacBooks have a different camera package from the Intel MacBooks prior to them, and/or that the camera package used in Intel MacBooks could be improved by Apple Silicon.
I think that the iPhone/iPad camera package requires Apple Silicon, and that Apple simply hasn't installed it (or one like it) in their MacBook yet, so that it doesn't matter if it has Intel or Apple Silicon, it still looks terrible because it hasn't been upgrade to one that takes advantage of Apple Silicon yet.
I don't know who makes the sensor inside that package, but I have no assumptions that the sensor is the sum total of the package. Apple is all about bizarre integrations and coprocessors (such as the iOS/bridgeOS/whatever chip inside their Lightning-to-HDMI dongle) and I'm simply not willing to bet that the Apple Silicon package can operate on an Intel computer, or that it's just processing of the sensor, without a teardown showing us that they're the same in the face of a significant quality improvement.
Re: Why webcams aren’t good enough
#263Earlier quoted context omitted.
Good optics need physical space that a super flat screen doesn't have (in depth). My Macbook screen is like 1/4th of the depth of my iPhone
If people don't mind a bulge in their phone, I doubt they'd mind a camera bulge sticking out the back of their laptop.
Pretty annoying place for a bulge though, and it would be more disruptive on a laptop.
Re: Why webcams aren’t good enough
#264Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm an amateur musician with a USB audio interface, several hundred dollars worth of microphones (though for office work, it's just the Shure SM27 condenser), and wired set of good headphones. And it is glorious. Until everyone got used to it, I got consistent compliments on the sound quality. You'll sound like a radio DJ. Because everything is wired, latency is minimal and a lot less of "okay, go head. No, go ahead.…
I always thought a headset is better than external mike as you can move around and dont get background noise. Is there a reason not to use a headset mic? Half my team use speakerphones and it drives me nuts.
Last time I researched this (when I settled on a desktop condenser mic), the only headphones that had good mic quality were the very expensive ones, $200 and higher and/or the professional ones (the ones you see used in sports on the field).
The problem is that, just like cameras, size matters for mics. In order to even sense the full frequency range of the human voice it helps to have a larger diaphragm size. For headsets they range from microscopic to tiny which results in the voice recorded with the headset sounding like "telephone" voice (ie it's designed to capture the most important frequency range of the human voice, the medium frequencies) however, to me that sounds bad, artificial, cheap so I wanted more. Capturing more of the frequency range allows you to sound more natural, you know, like you are actually there in the same room talking to that person.
Depending on your usecase this may or may not be a consideration.
EDIT: as for noise issues, it's always best to avoid recording it if possible but even then there are software techniques to remove it post-facto. In order to achieve the former you can get super/hyper-cardioid pattern microphones that are very sensible recording sound that comes directly in front but not from other directions. However, no pattern will save you if you use a condenser microphone in a noisy room. It may be possible to use a second mic positioned away from your mouth and use software to remove the noise by essentially computing the difference between the two (some headsets can do that). Alternatively you can go for a desktop dynamic mic, just make sure you speak loud enough, but at least you won't get noise :)
Re: Why webcams aren’t good enough
#265Earlier quoted context omitted.
If people don't mind a bulge in their phone, I doubt they'd mind a camera bulge sticking out the back of their laptop.
Johnny Ives was obsessed with thinness - it’s the same problem which lead to the bad keyboards. Now they’ve been putting people who haven’t forgotten about usability in charge I would not be surprised if the next case design included a non-terrible webcam since it’s unlikely that anyone is going to stop video conferencing even if we do go back to the office.
I have no doubt that Johnny Ives was obsessed with thinness.
But ... my shiny new Lenovo Carbon X1, which is an engineering laptop if there ever was one, is developing key impressions all over it's very expensive 4K OLED screen because they didn't put enough space between the keyboard and the display when it is closed, presumably to keep the thing thin.
It ain't just Mr Ives.
Re: Why webcams aren’t good enough
#266Earlier quoted context omitted.
Johnny Ives was obsessed with thinness - it’s the same problem which lead to the bad keyboards. Now they’ve been putting people who haven’t forgotten about usability in charge I would not be surprised if the next case design included a non-terrible webcam since it’s unlikely that anyone is going to stop video conferencing even if we do go back to the office.
I have no doubt that Johnny Ives was obsessed with thinness. But ... my shiny new Lenovo Carbon X1, which is an engineering laptop if there ever was one, is developing key impressions all over it's very expensive 4K OLED screen because they didn't put enough space between the keyboard and the display when it is closed, presumably to keep the thing thin. It ain't just Mr Ives.
No, but I was responding to someone who said MacBook. I think there’s also a dynamic where once the thinness race started with the PowerBooks everyone else spent the last couple of decades chasing Apple — the difference in height is really easy to see whereas a crappy camera or keyboard indentations doesn’t show up until after the purchase.
Re: Why webcams aren’t good enough
#267Is it possible to tag promotional blog posts? This must be titled: Why using our software is better than buying a web cam.
Tagging promotional posts gives you a false sense of security. It's best to rely on your own judgment.
Ok lets remove Google Ad indicators. To rely on peoples judgement:)
Re: Why webcams aren’t good enough
#268Hmmh, I couldn't care less about webcams. I'm not that pretty and not all that eager to share the interior of my dwelling. I do however care about sound quality. With my accent and mumbling I need all the help I can get. Others reported that the camera in their phone beats most webcams, but what about the microphone(-array)? The sound quality of phablets hasn't quite won me over. Is there anything better available, s…
The Blue Snowball is significantly better than anything in a webcam or phone and it's only $50.
I have heard this as well so I have got one. To my big surprise people on video calls can not tell the difference whether I am using the snowball mic or the one built in the webcam.
Re: Why webcams aren’t good enough
#269Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wanting to see one's colleagues is not narcissism. There's a valid accessibility reason as being able to see the other person helps people with hearing challenges and also, it's pretty rude to refuse to let yourself be seen. I never understood people who "didn't want to be seen" on camera during meetings (especially meetings with hearing accessibility issues) because those same people were willing to work in the phys…
Being seen is consequence of working in a physical space, not the objective. Not unless you're a stripper. Phone meetings worked just fine for decades, video chat is pure narcissism. If there were somebody deaf on my team then I suppose I would reconsider it, but there isn't, so spare me the moralizing.
I'll be honest. I'm that guy with the hearing accessibility issue. That's why I'm mad about people who refuse to be seen.
If we use MS Teams or Google Meet, then it's mitigable because those support computer generated captions (albeit not perfect). But other technologies like Zoom, Webex, etc. don't have that feature, so literally, if there are no captions and I can't see you in order to lipread & read some body language, then we are unable to have a productive meeting. You might as well be speaking a foreign language.
Even if everyone has normal hearing, it's still a good thing to be able to see each other to check-in on everyone's body language and well-being. If someone looks really unhappy or looks like they're not taking care of themselves at all, then this is information that they need help with something.
Re: Why webcams aren’t good enough
#270Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wanting to see one's colleagues is not narcissism. There's a valid accessibility reason as being able to see the other person helps people with hearing challenges and also, it's pretty rude to refuse to let yourself be seen. I never understood people who "didn't want to be seen" on camera during meetings (especially meetings with hearing accessibility issues) because those same people were willing to work in the phys…
>The way I see it, if you refuse to be seen in a virtual meeting, you should _also_ refuse to be seen in person as well Unfortunately, I don't have a golden goose. Virtual meetings, by virtue of being new, gave me an opportunity to push back onto the need of seeing one another. Not being in the office would be met with manager talks. >also, it's pretty rude to refuse to let yourself be seen. Are we really doing this?…
I responded to Stretchcat with extra detail because I am that guy with a hearing accessibility challenge.
In response to what you said, I will add that I live by myself. If I can't see a coworker such as yourself over video, when am I going to get to see anyone? The only in-person interaction I have had since March outside of a neighbor on the sidewalk/going to the grocery store and seeing the cashier/going to the doctor, has been only my mother and only 3 times. This is pretty isolating!
You are helping me out by feeling a little bit more connected to people if I can have a video chat with you.
I'm very used to isolation, but I can also tell it isn't ideal for my mental health and 2020 hasn't been excellent.
Make an exception for me please.