720p sensor captures true high-definition (HD) quality video at up to 30 fps.Try to install Microsoft LifeCam Cinema 3.5 on my home Windows XP - SP2. Digital, noise-cancelling microphone helps improve speech quality. The LifeCam Cinema full-featured webcam, with ClearFrame image-processing technology, delivers smooth, detailed video and crystal-clear audio.I’m not just talking about copying the form factor here, either. Thankfully with the LifeCam Cinema, Microsoft’s design team has taken a different approach to this all-too-familiar market, drawing their inspiration from sleek bullet cameras or perhaps the Apple iSight. If a webcam wasn’t modeled after a sideways pepper shaker or a billiard ball, you could at least be certain that it’d be as square as Bill O’Reilly’s mandible.
Microsoft Lifecam Cinema Software 720P Sensor Captures![]() ![]() It also houses a shortcut to the classic webcam properties panel for tweaking everything else the LifeCam has to offer including the white balance, exposure and focus levels to name a few.Another bonus to be had when installing the LifeCam software is the plethora of video effects to add a some much-needed distraction to your teleconferencing sessions or get a few laughs out of the kids. As an added bonus, the 6′ USB cable has an integrated cable management clip to keep things tidy.Here’s third generation LifeCam interface I’ve altered the screenshot so the text in settings are more legible.Installing the LifeCam software also provides access to the LifeCam dashboard, a handy way of fine-tuning the basic webcam controls including microphone volume, image flicker, and ClearFrame noise reduction. Even so, this is more than made up for by the Cinema’s uncanny ability to not only adjust the pitch of the camera, but the yaw as well. Still, there are three things I’d like to see in a future driver release: 1) Allow me to change the output folder. It’s stable, easy to use, and well laid out. For me at least, the problem seems to be a result of my dorm room’s overhead lighting coupled with the shiny affliction that is my military haircut.All-in-all, I think the new LifeCam software holds up well on its own. To be fair, Logitech’s own 3D effects often face similar challenges, but then again Logitech had the good sense to include a Calibrate feature in their drivers. That is to say, roughly half the time they miss my head and can’t tell which direction I’m facing, sometimes rendering a few inches or so off-center at a skewed angle. At least the included filters allow me to express the extent of my profound love for chili in a still format!As for the 3D accessories, well, they’re hit and miss. Both the automatic white balance and default saturation levels were spot-on, keeping white walls white and flesh tones fleshy. Logitech and Creative both feature motion triggers in their webcam drivers, why can’t Microsoft? So-called HD Video QualityThe LifeCam’s video quality is nothing short of astounding. 3) Implement motion-triggered security recordings with timestamps. Personally, I found that if I wasn’t planning on pacing around the room or inviting multiple guests into the frame, it was best to manually configure the focus in the drivers and just be done with it. Also, unless you’re keeping the camera steadily aimed at a fixed object, don’t even think of trying to use the auto focus for macro shots. In dim lighting, however, the auto focus can easily lose track and has a tendency to repeatedly span the full focal range offered by the drivers. In decent lighting conditions it can easily detect the proper focal point to keep the foreground and the background in perfect harmony, if not slightly softened. Though enabling ClearFrame isn’t exactly necessary at low resolutions like 640×480 (the upper limit of most videoconferencing programs), at higher resolutions it can make a huge difference, especially if you’re wearing dark clothing.The LifeCam Cinema also sports an automatic focus that’s in many ways both a blessing and a curse. Divx download for macFine details are well preserved at each step in the resolution, and you never get the sense that there’s any pixelation as you do so. I must say that I am quite impressed with just how well the resolution scales from 160×120 all the way up to 1280×720. Microsoft beat a lot of other major manufacturers to the punch with this one by offering one of the first two 720p webcams to the market. Now let’s talk about the one juicy marketing bit that is High Definition – the current driving force in consumer electronics. Most of these situations can be improved somewhat if the settings are tweaked manually, but the automatic picture quality is still something to behold as you’ll see in the video below.So we’ve already established that the LifeCam has an excellent picture then, yes? Good. The reason for the limit is that we (Microsoft Hardware) have defined specific experiences based on CPU capabilities (single core, dual-core and quad cores in different GHz ranges). Why?“This behavior is by design. Both of these are better supported by third party applications, but they’re also capped at 15fps for any resolution greater than 640×480. So, what happens if you install the LifeCam drivers? Well, you’ll have access to the LifeCam Dashboard features I mentioned earlier, but the drivers will also change the MJPG and YUY2 color spaces to RGB24 and I420. But not so fast! You’ll need need special 3rd party software such as the $30 AMCAP utility in order to do so, however, since most programs will scoff at the more capable MJPG color space and instead opt to use the uncompressed YUY2 format that’s limited to 720p at 10fps due to available USB 2.0 bandwidth. Only without drivers as a UVC-compatible webcam would actually be able to hit 720p at 30fps. A future driver release is supposed to unlock 30fps recording, but this will arbitrarily be limited to quad-core CPUs only. Still, I’d much rather have the option to override this limit at my own discretion if I know I won’t be using effects and am only interested in capturing video. Laptops are almost guaranteed to choke under this load. That doesn’t leave much breathing room for other processes in the background, let alone another 15fps. Next you’ll need to edit Skype’s config.xml under your user profile. I’ve had the most success with v4.0.0.226, and v4.1.0.166, both of which handle widescreen resolutions under Windows XP and Windows 7 without complaint. As it stands, the current Skype beta (v4.2.0.141) locks video to 640×480 at 30fps in 4:3 while the latest stable client (v4.1.0.179) simply doesn’t work. So, what about video calling? With most IM clients limited to 320×240 or 640×480, the best mainstream option left is Skype.To get started, you’ll need to download an old version of Skype that doesn’t enforce artificial limits on resolutions and framerates.
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