I was at a Fry's here in Northern Cal and I noticed a huge shipload of refurbished Creative Live Cam Voice Web Cam's for $9.99. It is a great deal! I think it is only B&M because the online price is still showing $29.99.
eBay is showing them anywhere from $94 down to $39. Amazon has them for $37. So, $9.99 is a great price. Creative is offering a 30 day warranty with these cams.
Please forgive my earlier post in which I stated this cam would not work on Windows 7. With some wonderful help from Scaredsheetless [see his post below], I was able to install the Windows Vista Beta Driver and software for this cam and it works absolutely fabulous!
Anyway, hope this helps someone!
Soar
PS This cam design resembles those aliens on the War of the Worlds movie....aaaauuuuuggghhhhhhhh! I hope they are not hungry!!!
Some people who think they are living in the modern age called Windows 7 may not be aware that Windows 7 comes with most drivers. I installed an Acer laptop (with webcam) and Windows 7 has all the drivers needed (webcam, audio, video)
soarwitheagles said: I was at a Fry's here in Northern Cal and I noticed a huge shipload of Creative Live Cam Voice Web Cam's for $9.99. It is a great deal if you are still living in the ice age called Windows XP.
I checked Creative's Website and they have no Windows 7/Vista drivers for this webcam, thus, it makes it obsolete for me unless I can figure out how to run it in XP mode on Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit.
My apologies, this cam works just fine with Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit! Soar
Scaredwitless
Tired Member
posted: Nov. 14, 2009 @ 10:50p
Op, your post gave me a furrowed brow, and grear confusion as I looked up at my Live Cam Voice which runs perfectly on my Win7 Ultimate x64 system, using the Vista drivers, which are the "beta" drivers first on the list on creatives site: here
Pretty decent cam, I paid much more for mine a few years ago and after rebate too.
Scaredwitless said: Op, your post gave me a furrowed brow, and grear confusion as I looked up at my Live Cam Voice which runs perfectly on my Win7 Ultimate x64 system, using the Vista drivers, which are the "beta" drivers first on the list on creatives site: here
Pretty decent cam, I paid much more for mine a few years ago and after rebate too.
Scared Witless,
Thank you for your post! I was fully planning upon returning my Creative Live Cam Voice Web Cam to Fry's later this week after having no success in installing the software from Creative's website.
I tried the link you posted here, and sure enough, I found the driver [and software program] for this Creative Live Cam Voice Web Cam. After downloading and installing the driver and software, I crossed my fingers, plugged in the Creative Live Cam Voice Web Cam, and wala!!!! It works and it works really, really nice!!!
So I give my deepest heart felt apology to you SW as well as all other Fatwallet'ers that read my misinformed post. Now I would like to run back to Fry's and pick up a whole bunch of these babies [there was no limit on how many you could buy, and I saw about 30 of these in the refurb boxes].
My favorite part of all is the software that Creative makes available at their website...
It can do the following feats and seems to do them all very well:
Face tracking Pan and Tilt Video Recording Photo Capture [up to 5MP!] Motion Detection [yes, you can catch and record burglars with this nice cam]! Remote Monitoring [see if the milkman and da wife are doin' the no no's] Time Lapse Video [see how long it took the milkman and da wife to complete their no no's] Powerline Frequency Adjustment Flip Image Lens Correction [wide or full] Video Control [sharpness, gamma, + backlight compensation] Noise cancellation Directional Audio pickup
All said and done, I am now very happy with this awesome Creative Live Cam Voice Web Cam!
A big thank you to ScaredWitness and I will now do my best to edit my huge mistake!!!
Oh, I found some reviews by CNet on this cam. The reviews appear quite impressive:
The Creative Live Cam Voice is a well-rounded camera for IM and Internet-based voiceconferencing. We like its audio options and clear, vivid images and its plethora of image adjustability, physical flexibility, and ample software, but we weren't impressed with the poor integration of animated video effects. This won't be a great loss for professional pursuits, but if your kids like to play with animation, the less expensive Logitech QuickCam Pro 5000 is a better choices. For $99, the Creative Live Cam Voice offers many options, but if your needs are more basic, we recommend the less expensive Logitech QuickCam for Notebooks Deluxe or the Creative WebCam Live Ultra.
Though it's fairly large, the Creative Live Cam Voice is surprisingly stable. The camera's bulbous body, which is reminiscent of E.T.'s head, sits atop a claw-like stand. The spring-loaded leg securely holds the camera in place on top of a flat-panel screen, and the leg folds in completely, so the camera can also sit on a desk. The camera offers 360 degrees of horizontal and 65 degrees of vertical range--impressive, considering that the Logitech QuickCam Fusion offers only 90 degrees of vertical movement.
The Creative Live Cam Voice comes with a single CD that includes drivers, a manual, and software. The bundled apps include Creative Muvee software for creating and editing basic videos; My Orb for accessing files such as remote-monitoring images from a computer or a PDA with an Internet connection; SightSpeed, a voice and video calling service; Creative WebCam Center for remote monitoring and taking time-lapse photographs, videos, and still photographs; and Creative Photo Manager, which organizes videos and still photos by date. This is a remarkable bundle, especially since many Webcams offer only basic photo and video software.
The real value of the Creative Live Cam Voice lies with the WebCam Center software, which makes it easy to adjust color, image size, and frame rate. Two tabs at the top of the WebCam Center's main interface lead you to intuitive menus with a plethora of adjustability options. Creative also offers a bonus set of features that you can download from its Web site: Advanced Video FX adds special effects, such as psychedelic color trails and exotic backgrounds, to your picture or video, and WebCam Audio Control lets you choose from normal; Live Audio, which reduces background noise; or Directional Live Audio, which transmits sounds from in front of the camera only. Each of these control panels launches in a separate window, which could make for a cluttered desktop; we'd rather see them incorporated into the main WebCam Center interface. Using the Video FX software is also difficult and requires switching from the standard Live Cam Voice driver to the Creative WebCam (with video effects) driver with a drop-down menu in WebCam Center. Switching drivers results in markedly worse image quality and lower image resolution. We prefer Logitech's Avatars, which work directly in the software window without switching drivers or sacrificing image quality.
We tested the Creative Live Cam Voice under a variety of lighting conditions and were pleased with the image quality. Colors looked accurate and images were sharp. We did, however, notice a slight bit of digital noise in both still and moving images. Video was generally smooth, but quick movements, such as the waving of a hand, appeared jerky and blurred. Video records at a maximum 30 frames per second at resolutions ranging from 160 x 120 to 1.3 megapixels, which is standard for this class of WebCam. You can capture still images at any of those resolutions up to 1.3 megapixels, and the Creative Live Cam Voice can take 5-megapixel still photos, but they're interpolated. The WebCam Center software was a bit frustrating, and we were occasionally greeted with a "Failed to capture image" error message.
The camera's built-in microphone is one of its most valuable assets. In our tests, the mic picked up a normal-level conversation from about 20 feet away. At closer range sound quality was average using normal mode, but with the Live Audio option selected, sound is and clearer with less background noise. The Directional Live Audio option was the most impressive, recording only sounds coming from directly in front of the microphone. We tested this by speaking loudly to the front and then loudly to the side of the microphone--from the side, no sound was audible.
Enjoy!!!
Soar
festisio
Member
posted: Jan. 14, 2010 @ 11:24p
I bought one of these after work today @ Frys... Last one, open box
This is by far the worst piece of crap, ever, period.
I'm taking it back... It only does about 5fps max, its blurred with no way to set focus...
what a piece of garbage!!!!!!
Only thing I can think of, is that it might be defective...
Edit -- I checked around on the internet... it's not defective, it's garbage...
Anything that is not 12in from the lens is blurred, distorted and out of focus.
Even then, you need ALOT of light....
Sooo disappointed. My wife was really excited about it at first
Scaredwitless
Tired Member
posted: Jan. 15, 2010 @ 12:45a
I don't have a problem with mine, but then again I don't expect much from webcams.
From the top of my monitor where it sits, to me in my desk chair is about 32".. No problem with blur, do you really sit within a foot of your monitor? It is definitely a fixed focus lens but it has a deep depth of field and I'm in focus along with everything behind me. I don't doubt it blurs that close up as you mention though. i only use a normal desk lamp, and it's fine.
that said, this is a pretty old webcam now, if you got it for the price the OP mentioned back in.. November, I'd say that's a good price for what it is.
festisio
Member
posted: Jan. 15, 2010 @ 12:52a
Scaredwitless said: I don't have a problem with mine, but then again I don't expect much from webcams.
From the top of my monitor where it sits, to me in my desk chair is about 32".. No problem with blur, do you really sit within a foot of your monitor? It is definitely a fixed focus lens but it has a deep depth of field and I'm in focus along with everything behind me. I don't doubt it blurs that close up as you mention though. i only use a normal desk lamp, and it's fine.
that said, this is a pretty old webcam now, if you got it for the price the OP mentioned back in.. November, I'd say that's a good price for what it is.
Well, I am going to give it a try on my work machine, which is on XP PRO, and in a well-lit office.
My home machine is vista-64 and a notebook I tried it on is also vista (albeit 32bit) -- both performed terribly.
The focus seems to be about 16-24 inches from the lens, direct line from center... everything on the sides and past that is significantly blurred.
The colors are horrible on my vista 64 machine, cartoonish, the laptop actually looks somewhat natural..
The camera gets really hot when connected, it still is possible defective. -- wonder if creative will fix it, if I return it?
The framerate is horrendous... although I put a 500w halogen shop light in the room, and it jumped up to 6-7fps from 2-4fps
I figured it may be worth the 12 bux if it works well in my office on my work pc... I can monitor people at the office when I am away
If that also fails... it's going back...
Scaredwitless
Tired Member
posted: Jan. 15, 2010 @ 2:08a
festisio said:
Well, I am going to give it a try on my work machine, which is on XP PRO, and in a well-lit office.
My home machine is vista-64 and a notebook I tried it on is also vista (albeit 32bit) -- both performed terribly.
The focus seems to be about 16-24 inches from the lens, direct line from center... everything on the sides and past that is significantly blurred.
The colors are horrible on my vista 64 machine, cartoonish, the laptop actually looks somewhat natural..
The camera gets really hot when connected, it still is possible defective. -- wonder if creative will fix it, if I return it?
The framerate is horrendous... although I put a 500w halogen shop light in the room, and it jumped up to 6-7fps from 2-4fps
I figured it may be worth the 12 bux if it works well in my office on my work pc... I can monitor people at the office when I am away
If that also fails... it's going back...
I think it is very probable yours is defective. I use mine on win7 64bit now and previously Vista 64bit. Frame rate is definitely not that slow on mine, and while it appreciates light, my typical usage is with a plain old incandescent desk lamp. Mine really doesn't have any blurring on the edges, it is a very wide angle lens with some fish-eye, but not blurring. And finally.. mine doesn't get hot.. I just felt it up (lol), and it is faintly warm, but I'm not even convinced that's from the camera itself. I use a flat panel LCD TV as a monitor, it sits on that, and that is also exactly where the TV vents, so it's pretty warm already. But I can unequivocably tell you mine does not get HOT.. So.. Hope that helps, and good luck.
festisio
Member
posted: Jan. 15, 2010 @ 3:47a
Scaredwitless said:
I think it is very probable yours is defective. I use mine on win7 64bit now and previously Vista 64bit. Frame rate is definitely not that slow on mine, and while it appreciates light, my typical usage is with a plain old incandescent desk lamp. Mine really doesn't have any blurring on the edges, it is a very wide angle lens with some fish-eye, but not blurring. And finally.. mine doesn't get hot.. I just felt it up (lol), and it is faintly warm, but I'm not even convinced that's from the camera itself. I use a flat panel LCD TV as a monitor, it sits on that, and that is also exactly where the TV vents, so it's pretty warm already. But I can unequivocably tell you mine does not get HOT.. So.. Hope that helps, and good luck.
I'll try it tomorrow at work.. I had mine on the top of my 32" lcd but the image was horrible as it was outside of the focal region... the top of my LG monitor is not hot at all, in fact it is nearly freezing in the house and this little cam is very warm, -- hot to the touch...
I'll try getting a replacement from creative. - this was the last one at Frys
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