USB Webcam/Mic

Bloodrayne · 26 Mar 2020 at 19:45

Hi all,

A very basic question, but something I have no appreciation of (I shy away from all kinds of media that can stream my face to the unsuspecting great unwashed).

My son has an old laptop that does a fairly okay job of chugging along with various school level applications with minimal crashes, etc - but the in-built webcam/mic combo is quite poor (mic is very quiet even when maxed out in settings).

Is there a reasonable USB alternative that can sit on or near the laptop and do a better job of picking up voice and deliver a better quality of video? We're not talking professional quality, just something that's a bit better than a mid-range 2012-ish laptop.

(obviously asking this due to COVID and trying to take things remotely on a variety of classes, and making sure he can be seen/heard in these things!)

Thanks!

Mcnumpty2323 · 26 Mar 2020 at 19:53

Plenty of them
As always it's down to how much do you want to spend?
And do you have reasonable Internet speed to stream a decent resolution?
And load of them can clip to top
Of laptop screen

Bloodrayne · 26 Mar 2020 at 20:01

As it's only a temporary measure I not want to spend hundreds, but below that I am happy to consider most things that deliver decent results.

We have good enough internet speed - between 40-60mbs down, about 20 up (is this still good? I am of an age where I remember 56k being a breakthrough...)

Mcnumpty2323 · 26 Mar 2020 at 20:04

Yeah that's plenty fast enough

I also remember the screech of a dial up modem and 4Kbs download speeds lmao
Wouldn't be hundreds
Even really good one like c920 I think may be around £75 though not looked at prices lately

Mcnumpty2323 · 26 Mar 2020 at 20:08

Yeah 75 for logitech c920
50 for Microsoft lifecam
Can go cheaper than that but I have no personal experience of one's under those

Bloodrayne · 26 Mar 2020 at 20:14

Thanks - looks like the c920 is pretty much sold out in most places; but will look at the later models to see if there are any of those available.

Edit: will also look at MS Lifecam, but first few results look similar.

Looks like I am behind the curve in my thinking on this...

Mcnumpty2323 · 26 Mar 2020 at 20:16

Bloodrayne said:
Thanks - looks like the c920 is pretty much sold out in most places; but will look at the later models to see if there are any of those available.

It may have been replaced by c922 been a while since I bought the c920 and stuff moves on

[HB]Rugrat · 28 Mar 2020 at 10:37

Bloodrayne said:
Thanks - looks like the c920 is pretty much sold out in most places; but will look at the later models to see if there are any of those available.

Edit: will also look at MS Lifecam, but first few results look similar.

Looks like I am behind the curve in my thinking on this...

Yep, pretty much every webcam is sold out everywhere, bar the crazy £900 specialist ones.

You could try out something like Droidcam, which lets you use an Android phone as the webcam, until they start reappearing in stock?

Mcnumpty2323 · 28 Mar 2020 at 16:04

If all web cams are sold out due to people working from home
You can pick up something like a reolink c1 or c2 pretty cheaply
Paid 40 for c1 pro off auction site
It's a WiFi pan tilt cctv camera but see no reason it won't work as a Web camera
Though not tried as don't use Skype etc
Yeah it's bigger than a Web cam
But can double up as a pet camera, cctv, camera, baby camera etc
As got remote access from a mobile