What to look for when you are buying a web cam.

[riky]

     What to look for when you are buying a web cam.


     



IResolution:
Standard rez is 320x240 but some will do 640x480. There is no resolution beyond VGA yet.

Frame rate:
Aim for 30 frames per second. Most mid-priced cams will do this frame rate these days. Your internet connection will be the bottle neck on the frame rate.

Internet connection:
You should also check the upload speed on you Internet connection. It is a fraction of the speed of your download connection. To get an image of 15 fps you need an upload speed of about 256 kbps.



Price:
The higher the price the more onboard image processing in the camera. So if you have an old computer go up market on your webcam to take the load off the old PC.

Your PC's age:
The older your PC the pricier the webcam you should buy because image processing will be done in the camera and not on the computer.

Lens:
Typically it is not spelled out on the box but the pricier the cam the more likely it will have glass rather than a plastic lens. Glass will give you a clean image.

Light sensitivity:
The higher end cams have better performance in low light.

Image:
You'll get a sharper crisper image on the high end -- which is $79 to $99 US

Pan and tilt:
Up at the top end of pricing you'll get pan and tilt capabilities. That's past the $100 US mark.