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Opal Tadpole – A webcam for laptops

opalcamera.com

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Re: Opal Tadpole – A webcam for laptops

#11

Post by _joel »

yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #8

If the microphone can do what they say (only listen in that immediate area) then that's really cool. (Big if - I believe you can filter by angle, but my understanding of physics precludes filtering by distance; someone please correct me if I'm ignorant) The mute button is a good idea - I strongly prefer having a nice dedicated button, though in my case it's on the headset - but that placement seems guaranteed to put…

> If the microphone can do what they say (only listen in that immediate area) then that's really cool.

Isn't that just some EQing for the vocal presense range and a level activated gate to turn it on when it's only above a certain threshold?

Re: Opal Tadpole – A webcam for laptops

#12

Post by solardev »

berbec wrote: post #5

What is the market for this product? I can't see their being enough people who a. have a laptop without a camera/need a better camera b. are willing to lug this thing around and c. are willing to pay $200. How is web design this bad acceptable? It's insanely slow, annoying to read and impossible to navigate.

I've actually been looking for a good webcam (with a big DSLR-like sensor) for the last few years, and this seems like the perfect product. Too bad it waited so long to come out...

Most laptop webcams are terrible. Heck, most desktop ones are too. Even the high-megapixel ones have an image quality comparable to 10 years ago, and the average smartphone will blow them out of the water (hence Apple adding the iPhone as webcam feature, I guess).

It's actually rare to see a webcam with a sensor this big (half inch/12.7mm).

--------

But yeah, god, that is probably the single worst product page I've ever seen in my life. When I tried to scroll down to the specs section, it locked itself into a giant version of its logo and I couldn't do anything else. Sigh. So annoyed by the website I left, even though the product is of real interest...

Re: Opal Tadpole – A webcam for laptops

#13

Post by Obscurity4340 »

_joel wrote: post #11
yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #8

If the microphone can do what they say (only listen in that immediate area) then that's really cool. (Big if - I believe you can filter by angle, but my understanding of physics precludes filtering by distance; someone please correct me if I'm ignorant) The mute button is a good idea - I strongly prefer having a nice dedicated button, though in my case it's on the headset - but that placement seems guaranteed to put…

> If the microphone can do what they say (only listen in that immediate area) then that's really cool. Isn't that just some EQing for the vocal presense range and a level activated gate to turn it on when it's only above a certain threshold?

I love this place just for comments like this

Re: Opal Tadpole – A webcam for laptops

#14

Post by johndough »

USB 2.0 at 200 MBps sounds like a serious limitation. 1080P is of course more than sufficient for the average video conference, but it seems kind of wasteful to use a 48MP sensor and then discarding most of the information, followed by lossy compression.

Re: Opal Tadpole – A webcam for laptops

#15

Post by _joel »

Obscurity4340 wrote: post #13
_joel wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If the microphone can do what they say (only listen in that immediate area) then that's really cool. Isn't that just some EQing for the vocal presense range and a level activated gate to turn it on when it's only above a certain threshold?

I love this place just for comments like this

Yea, I know, I know, but really is it that hard to implement?

It's not an rsync, ssh, backup etc. ;)

Re: Opal Tadpole – A webcam for laptops

#18

Post by heeton »

I could never recommend this. I own a C1 and it's completely ruined by terrible software. On MacOS (various versions, on M1 and now M3), it stops randomly, needs regular reconnecting. I'm on an old version of the app because the new version doesn't even work at all (hard freeze after an hour).

Countless examples from forums and elsewhere of the same issues.

Shame, because the hardware is cool.

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