|
| Creative Live! Cam Optia AF (VF0280) | 
 enlarge
| Brand: Creative Labs
Category: CE
List Price: $116.21
Buy New: $76.32
You Save: $39.89 (34%)
New (29) Used (2) from $62.79
Avg. Customer Rating:  25 reviews
Sales Rank: 2919
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 8.3 x 3.9
Warranty: 1 year warranty
MPN: 73VF028000000
Model: 73VF028000000
UPC: 054651131385
EAN: 0054651131385
ASIN: B000O0M5EA
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Customer Reviews:
 Creative Live! Cam Optia AF Worked Well With Our Macs February 6, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
We had success with the Creative Live! Cam Optia AF.
We have a new iMac-24" aluminum with OS 10.5.x, and a built-in iSight camera. However, we wanted to show a full room, and the built-in iSight camera did not provide a wide enough angle. So we tried the Creative Live! Cam Optia AF, on the end of a 16-foot Tripp Lite U026-016 USB 2.0 Active Extension Cable (both purchased through Amazon). The camera was placed on top of a high book case, in the corner of the room.
It worked very well for us. We plugged the Creative Live! Cam Optia AF into the Mac, opened the iChat Preferences, selected the Optia camera for video ("unknown USB device"), and selected the iMac for audio input. (The Optia camera has a microphone, but as it was placed high up in the corner of the room, we used the iMac for the audio input.)
Our remote chat partner was also on a new iMac-24" aluminum, with the built-in iSight camera. He was able to see and hear all of us well. We held the iChat, over our local wireless Airport connection, for about 2 hours, with no drops. We did see the remote screen refresh itself, like a progressive sweep across the screen from left to right. The remote picture was a bit blotchy, certainly not television quality, but video and audio were acceptable for our solution.
There were three small annoyances.
When our iMac went to sleep and then woke, iChat could not recognize the external Optia camera. To restore its function, I quit iChat, disconnected the cam, plugged it back into the USB port, and then restarted iChat. It was then available in the iChat preferences.
The software that comes with the Optia camera is Windows only. So we had no access to whatever controls a Windows user might have. I don't know what those controls are -- perhaps focus, pan, zoom and various video effects. The upside of this is that the Optia camera plugs in and works with absolutely no additional software or drivers. It is a "UVC (USB video device class)" camera, so support is built into the Mac, the Optia camera, and into iChat.
There is no manual zoom control on the camera. The camera does have an easy pan up-down swivel. It also perches very well on a Mac or any corner surface.
Autofocus worked perfectly, and the camera changed focus quickly from "talking head" to "full room."
I called Optia and talked with their tech support fellow, Enoch, before I made the purchase. He was quite helpful.
All in all, that was $100 well spent!
auto focus is cool January 7, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
works as well as advertised, but it's still just a webcam. i wanted that high def pro camera look but realistically i didn't spend a thousand or two that it takes to buy that kind of gear. i guess it's as good as it gets for my budget. ohh, the auto focus is cool!
 CREATIVE's Superb Webcam December 28, 2007
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
It is a superior product in its class. Superb clarity and sound. This item arrived in perfect packaging and was delivered within committed time. Superb. Recommendable to everyone who wants a quality webcam product!! Cheers !!
 serious software and hardware issues December 4, 2007
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
I bought this cam to replace my aging intel webcam. My intel webcam worked great, and also functioned as a detacable ditigal camera, which I made good use of. Intel's software was simple, but easy to use. Unfortunately, intel no longer makes cameras, and no brand seems to make detachable webcameras anymore.
However, since my webcam was several years old now, I wanted to update it and creative's optia AF seemed to offer the best specs. The camera worked like crap right from the start. At the high resolution modes, the camera is very choppy. At the lower modes it smoothes out, but the picture gets extremely dark. Then the camera, after only one use, stopped working at all. I called creative and they quized me up and down. I asked them about the software issues and they told me they were unaware of any software issues with this product despite the fact,that their own website forum list numerous complaints about software bugs with this product. Because it was in the first 3 months they finally agreed that I could send it in. After over a month later, I get a call saying they can't fix it and don't have a replacement to send me. I told them I wanted a refund, and they told me that wasn't their policy, that I could exchange it for something else. At first they offered a lesser webcam, which was cheaper then what I had paid for and had worse specs. Then they offered me a mp3 player, but I had to pay them another 50 bucks cause it was more expensive, also I'm getting a refurbished model. That was their best offer. Don't buy from this company.
 Support for Mac OS X Questionable December 4, 2007
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
This is a very stylish camera. The manufacturer claims that its compatible with OS X (10.4.9 and later) but I've experienced one very annoying problem with it. My Mac will not recognize the camera after it awakes from sleep. I'm running Leopard (10.5.1). I have to reseat the USB 2.0 plug if I want to use the camera after my Mac wakes from sleep. Aside from this, the camera works great. I'm satisfied with image and sound quality. In this regard, the camera lives up to its promises. Unfortunately, the manufacturer does not do a good job responding to customers on its website (forums). I haven't been able to get any help. My final rating is sub-par because I'm a little disappointed. This problem should be solvable, but the manufacturer doesn't seem to care very much. I'd like to give a better rating because its a nice camera, but unfortunately, it doesn't work properly on the Mac.
|
|
|
Copyright
©
2006 Adminpal LLC | |
