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Webcams aren't good enough

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Re: Webcams aren't good enough

#541

Post by Macha »

nine_k wrote: post #452
Macha wrote: post #354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My window faces onto a neighbour's house. They have painted this area white. On my webcam, the window is behind me and it picks up this area outside the window and assumes the picture is overexposed because it doesn't expect to pick up large areas of basically #ffffff, and tries to dim the rest of the picture and darkens everything inside. Too much in fact, so it looks like I'm in a really dark room. The Logitech sof…

I wonder how you can work on your screen: the shining white window behind you should give large reflections that strain and fatigue (my) eyes very quickly. My rule of thumb at workplace is no uncovered windows behind me.

Bright matte screens are pretty good at minimising reflections, plus with my current monitor angling the only one directly opposite the window has me between it and the window.

Re: Webcams aren't good enough

#542

Post by theelous3 »

atombender wrote: post #355
theelous3 wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> that would be like if Apple stopped releasing new phones after the iPhone 4S (launched 2012), and it remained the bestselling phone through now. If I can be a bit cheeky - this sounds like exactly the kind of frankly ridiculous comparison a founder would make about their product alright. The reality is - nobody really cares that much . Whatever image you record is going to be gigga-smashed by whatever application y…

You're commenting about an article that is literally about video quality. Everyone here is talking about video quality.

Yeah... on HN in a thread about video quality of course there is a gigantic selection bias of people who care about video quality.

I'm speaking more broadly about the world outside of hn - which is the world that actually matters - contrary to the imaginings of hn.

Re: Webcams aren't good enough

#543

Post by theelous3 »

GekkePrutser wrote: post #393
theelous3 wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> that would be like if Apple stopped releasing new phones after the iPhone 4S (launched 2012), and it remained the bestselling phone through now. If I can be a bit cheeky - this sounds like exactly the kind of frankly ridiculous comparison a founder would make about their product alright. The reality is - nobody really cares that much . Whatever image you record is going to be gigga-smashed by whatever application y…

I don't agree, my boss uses his iPhone a lot and I have commented on the quality of his video and I've seen tons of others do the same. This is with most people using their laptop's cams though which are admittedly terrible. And with MS Teams which is not very good at coping with poor video sources (even the free Jitsi is tons better). Audio is important too yes but we all get noisecancelling headsets in work that ma…

> By the way how does the gopro work out as a webcam? Never thought of that but it might be an option.

It works very well. The newest versions can be used directly and natively in webcam mode. Possibly even wirelessly. I have a hero 7 black. I use a cheap adapter and it works flawlessly. One thing to bear in mind is processing power for real time is limited - you won't be able to stream in full 4k with stablisation and so on. But you'll get a high quality feed from a dedicated camera, from which you can tune exposure and so on. Also, the fisheye + different lens output selection is actually quite nice.

I commented elsewhere addressing the rest of your comment - selection bias here is extremely strong for "highly specialised tech nerds who care" when my argument is is "the world at large doesn't care".

> Audio is important too yes but we all get noisecancelling headsets in work that make this a non-issue.

It's not the audio out that matters. It's the audio in. Everyone uses shitty mics.

Re: Webcams aren't good enough

#544

Post by atombender »

theelous3 wrote: post #542
atombender wrote: post #355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're commenting about an article that is literally about video quality. Everyone here is talking about video quality.

Yeah... on HN in a thread about video quality of course there is a gigantic selection bias of people who care about video quality. I'm speaking more broadly about the world outside of hn - which is the world that actually matters - contrary to the imaginings of hn.

How do you know? This sounds like your opinion, not anything rooted in fact.

Re: Webcams aren't good enough

#545

Post by newsclues »

grishka wrote: post #382
newsclues wrote: post #366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The physics of optics are still a hard problem and laptop screens have less room which is why the suck.

There's no such limitation with a dedicated webcam, the kind you mount on top of your monitor. Yet these also are noticeably worse than what you'd find in a 5-year-old phone.

I think the webcam industry probably doesn’t develop it’s own parts and just picks cellphone parts off the shelf.

Economy of scale and good enough.

Re: Webcams aren't good enough

#547

Post by pitkali »

herbst wrote: post #538
m348e912 wrote: post #437

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hijacking top comment to mention that Apple is planning to let you use an iPhone as a webcam soon. https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/6/23156834/apple-iphone-webc...

I just had to check the date. It says really 2022. Are you actually telling me that you can't use the iPhone as Webcam right now?

You can, with 3rd party solutions. It even works on Linux with Iriun Webcam. The news is about having it built right into Mac.

Re: Webcams aren't good enough

#549

Post by oblio »

atombender wrote: post #544
theelous3 wrote: post #542

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah... on HN in a thread about video quality of course there is a gigantic selection bias of people who care about video quality. I'm speaking more broadly about the world outside of hn - which is the world that actually matters - contrary to the imaginings of hn.

How do you know? This sounds like your opinion, not anything rooted in fact.

Because his opinion is supported by the status quo (crappy cameras everywhere).

My anecdata says the same. In most video confs your video is put up on maybe 1/16th of the screen, to the corner, and people generally share something like a presentation. I guess if you're in sales, it matters more since your face will be fullscreen.

But even then... most people don't work in shiny offices anymore, are you sure you want to display your dirty socks on the shelf in the back in all their 8k glory? :-D

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