Well done PC World!!

[Dos_Box]

Now there is a phrase I thought I never type out on this forum! Ric and I were sorting out the online streaming for the conf next week and were searching for a suitable HD capable webcam. We eventually narrowed it down to the Microsoft LifeCam 720p camera. It turned out PC World sells these and if you were to pop in and buy it off the shelf it would set you back £60, which was the price we were expecting to pay anyway, however, if you were to order it online and pick it up in store it goes down to a mere £40.61. Nice!

So if you can't make the conf, you will at least be able to watch it live on the site

[Hightower]

PC World is great for things like that. Ordered stuff online many a time and collected in store to get those extra discounts which actually make it a good deal.

 

It's the getting stopped by a monkey in store that puts me off. I've since bought a white cane, sunglasses, and 2 fake hearing aids so the next time I go in I can pretend I can't hear them or see them =)

[tmcd35]

Did the cashier try and sell you the three year guarranty when you picked it up?

[RichB]

You can also go into store and get them to price match there online price straight away with anything off the shelf, done this a few times with bits and pieces....

[Guest TheLibrarian]

I recently missed a good deal at the local Purple Temple of Doom - they'd miss-priced a 1Gb ATi Radeon 5770 at £90!

 

I didn't realise that was a good price until a few days later - at which point there were none left.

[SimpleSi]

Beware MS Lifecam drivers!!!

 

One of the biggest bloatware ever seen.

 

Allow 45 mins to install them - really - no joke.

 

regards

 

Simon

[powdarrmonkey]

Allow 45 mins to install them - really - no joke.

 

Was this a Win98 install though?

[Dos_Box]

Beware MS Lifecam drivers!!!

 

One of the biggest bloatware ever seen.

 

Allow 45 mins to install them - really - no joke.

 

 

 

regards

 

Simon

 

It took 2 mins, including the time it took to download new firmware to the camera.

Are you are still using 98 Simon? C'mon, I know you have a 98 box around your person somewhere.

[SimpleSi]

I have no Win98 physical machines left (but plenty running as virtual file servers )

 

Maybe MS has pre-installed the drivers into Win7???

 

(Or maybe they are different to the old ones???)

 

I'll try it out on my XP machine next week

 

Si

[Hightower]

 

Maybe MS has pre-installed the drivers into Win7???

 

(Or maybe they are different to the old ones???)

 

 

Or maybe it's about time you fed the hamster in your computer again. They can't run on an empty stomach! =)

[EduTech]

Awesome! Glad to managed to get one.. hehe

[Domino]

I have no Win98 physical machines left (but plenty running as virtual file servers )

 

Maybe MS has pre-installed the drivers into Win7???

 

(Or maybe they are different to the old ones???)

 

I'll try it out on my XP machine next week

 

Si

 

We've rolled em out to most offices here - mix of xp to win7 boxes, no issues at all.

 

*sorry si*

[Ric_]

We've rolled em out to most offices here - mix of xp to win7 boxes, no issues at all.

 

*sorry si*

 

Can you guess why we chose the Lifecam Cinema? (glances over at the OCS compatibility list)

[Domino]

I know you love it Ric_ :-p

[StewartKnight]

 

It's the getting stopped by a monkey in store that puts me off. I've since bought a white cane, sunglasses, and 2 fake hearing aids so the next time I go in I can pretend I can't hear them or see them =)

 

Surely if you've got the hearing aids in, you CAN hear, thats why they are there.

 

A white stick, with two red bands at the top indicates deaf and blind

[SimpleSi]

Ok all you quad core xeon people

 

I downloaded lifecam 3.21 and ran it at 19:37

it extracted some files and I clicked on a next.

 

Nothing for 2 mins

 

1939 - was able to continue clicking

 

1940 - it started downloading (what I ask myself) and installing

 

1948 (8 mins later!!!!) it asks me to plug in my lifecam

 

19:50 said it was ready (Laughs out loud)

 

at 1958 I managed to capture a few frames using Helium Frog StopMo prog

 

Between 1950 and 1958 - the hard drive/net light was in conitinous use and it popped up its own window.

 

So I don't really see how the 2 mins is acheiveable unless the driver is pre-installed and you just plug in the webcam

 

Of course this was on my Win3.11 setup

 

regards

 

Simon

 

PS _ Try it out on your XP machine and see how long it takes to get to plug in the webcam state

[SYNACK]

I'm going to back SimpleSi up here, I'm guessing it is dependant on the model of cammera also. I got a free Lifecam VX-5000 of Microsoft after one of their presentations and it took forever to install on my laptop, at least 15 minutes Core2 Duo 2.2GHz, 2GB RAM, 7200RPM HD. It needed a restart too and I am certain it was all the rubbish realtime face morphng junk that it added which slowed it down. The OS which I am sure people will blame was Vista Enterprise SP2 but it was abnormal slowdown and must have updated a large pile of stuff in the background. Weirdly it won't even show us as a capturable source in Windows Movie Maker so I am glad that it was free.

 

I am glad to hear that a good cammera has been sorted out for this year, the Lifecam HD series has impressive specs and I look foward to the resulting footage.