Last week, I was given a Logitech QuickCam for Notebooks. I installed it, and then ripped it out. This is my story.
I already had a Webcam, one I'd found in the bargain basement bin of a discount housewares outlet, and it worked just fine. But this Logitech model recorded at higher resolution and had a built-in mic. Useful features, I thought.
Packaging
The first sign of trouble came with the packaging. You know, the clear stiff plastic case that requires a very sharp, very strong knife to slice open? Chimpanzee-proof, I call it. All the while I'm worrying that the sharp edges of the plastic will slice me. It's happened before. Not a good customer experience.
I scanned the features on the cardboard packaging. To me, they seemed contradictory:
- 640x480 VGA resolution. Check.
- 1.3 megapixels. Hold it! That's 1280x1024 resolution. Oh, there's an asterisk: *1.3 megapixel image interpolated from native VGA sensor. So, not 1.3 megapixels, just 0.3.
- Full screen Live Video. Yah, I guess if your monitor displays 640x480. Otherwise, it's upscaled and looks ungreat.
- Two pictures on the packaging simulate results from this cam. They sure are too nice looking to be at 640x480 resolution.
Installation
Setup called for installing the software, then plugging in the cam into the computer's USB port.
Setup installed a huge whack of software. It bothers me when 294MB are needed, such as for this cam. I recall when 0.007MB was sufficient for feature-laden, AutoCAD-specific, graphics board drivers. What are the other 293.993MB used for today?
The second sign of trouble came during software installation. Logitech tries to adds unwanted software, so I always go the Custom route to ensure only necessary software is added to my computer(s). First, I click on a feature so that I can read what it consists of, and then second, I click the checkbox to turn it off. Except that the dialog box would not let me turn off features. I found a workaround: click Back, Next, and then click off the unwanted features.
The unwanted (by me) features offered by Logitech include the following:
- Fotowire will print the crude 640x480 images made by this camera. Or as Logitech words it: "Convert your digital photos into professional prints on photographic paper with the Logitech Print Service provided by Fotowire." Checking the Fotowire site, it turns out to be a francising operation, where local operators do the work. But you are not told if you have a nearby Fotowire franchisee until after you sign up. Talk about a poor customer experience.
- Sample images: "Copy sample images into your Logitech Quick Cam Gallery for ideas on how to use your camera." I am guessing that the suggestions might include taking pictures of me, pictures of other people, and pictures of the blank wall behind me.
Cutting out the extras reduced the hard drive footprint to a mere 274MB. Logitech gives this bizarre advice on how to not install the extras: "To remove, use the 'Add/Remove Programs' in the Windows Control Panel." I think the word "later" is missing, as in "To remove later..." Otherwise you would just click the checkboxes. Maybe they hope you'll install, and then forget to uninstall.
Click Next. Setup takes some time to install the several hundred megabytes worth of device driver.
Then the time-wasting stage that I disdain: reboot the computer.
Cam
After rebooting, setup continues. Time to plug the cam into the USB port. The software takes a long time to detect the cam.
After a while, I notice that the Next button is active, so I click it. A warning appears: It turns out that I am to click Next only if I do NOT want to have the cam detected. Wha?
I click Back, and continue waiting. Finally the cam is detected, and a very grainy image of me appears in the preview window. The quality seems quite different from the images on the QuickCam packaging. Maybe I'm not handsome enough.
The dialog box recommends that the room's lighting be placed between me and the notebook computer. Except that in real life, that's not the way it goes: lights are elsewhere in the room, such as behind me -- resulting in severe backlight conditions. You'd think Webcam inventors would think of this, and add backlight compensation. Maybe the QuickCam software does this, but I never find out.
Anyhow, setup is done, and now the real disappointment begins. I doubleclick the Logitech shortcut icon to start the software and try out the cam. A dialog box tells me the software cannot be started, and suggests I reinstall it.
I try a few tricks, like accessing the software directly in the cam's folder, but the same message ensures. I now have two choices:
1. I can spend the time reinstalling the software and rebooting the computer, only to find it still doesn't work, perhaps. Or....
2. I can spend less time uninstalling the software, and removing the cam.
I choice Door #2. Maybe it'll for work for my daughter's computer in college.
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