Platinum Range : Max-I-Swann USB 2.0 Webcam with Audio product reviews

I really liked this webcam, it was easy to install and to use, had a nice clear picture. I do prefer plug and play items, but installing it was not so bad.

I have only recently upgraded my machine to usb 2.0 with an add-in pci card running on my windows 2000 machine. I suspect the card may be slightly faulty since it kept resetting itself every few minutes and causinig much annoyance by always bleating at me that I had 'unplugged some device without stopping it first'. So I took this webcam to a friend who had a "native-usb 2" system and we started to install it there. It was so easy to install with the drivers on an auto-loading cd. It took the usual three reboots that windoze demands for any new hardware but everything went so smoothly that it still only took 10 minutes to set it all up. Since my mate already had a usb 1.1 webcam installed we were able to compare the performance difference quite easily. It was amazing the difference between them. His cam was a high-end logitech unit when he bought it for $190 about a year ago. It gave a somewhat yellow/red image, slightly foggy appearance, and the microphone was passable but only for voice-over-IP it was useless for voice recognition. We then flipped to this one and what a difference. My mate started hinting that he would love to have it if I didnt want it. Tough luck, after seeing it in action it was MINE! The image was crisp and sharp, and a bit of fine tuning later it was colour correct as well. The microphone did a great job with only a slight dropout when doing voice recognition. It wont match a headset for clarity but it beat out any desk mounted microphone I have tried. Three very minor let downs which still didnt put me off: 1 - there is no flip-down visor to obscure the lens. With hackers able to activate the cam remotely when you are not expecting it, this should always be considered. However a small cardboard box cut to size fitted snuggly over the cam, stopping that issue dead in its tracks. 2 - The mircophone has a separate plug at the end of the cable. My hub is on top of my desk, but the mic jack is about 30cm further down. It required some butchering of the cables to make it work, so though I am not overly worried, you may not wish to grab the craft knife and say "Now zis vont hurt... much" as you start separating the cables. Perhaps Logitech had a good idea with their system of piping the mic thru the usb channel... although that could also explain the reduction in sound quality on their unit. 3 - There was nothing but drivers supplied with the cam. No cool security software, webcasting server, nothing. However, it is easy enough to find suitable software online so no big deal really. In the end, it came down to one little thing - style. The swann cam has it in spades, and the little desktop eyeballs dont. This is clearly a camera and not some cyberpunks wet dream of an electronic eyeball wired into their machine. Oh and I must mention the stand. Fold it one way and its a desktop stand, fold it another way and it is a meaty-as clamp that will happily fit over the thickest of lcd monitor casings. Very cool indeed. Swann wins hands down.