I am having a hard time believing that the video quality on this webcam is as terrible as people keep saying it is.

How canthis video review guy get, from what I would consider, pretty damn good looking video quality and yet everyone is bashing it as terrible and grainy.

I am starting to believe people don't know how to set this camera up, which is pretty sad considering all you have to do is plug it in.

I can't vouch for this product in particular, but I have a Blue Yeti mic and it's fantastic.

Picture was grainy, never got the resolution that was specified, mic quit working after about 6 mo's. Threw it away, got a good one from MS.

this seems like a 5 buck type item.
clearance bin at big lots, mixed in with some John Wayne DVD's and old no name deoderant packs of two.

maybe some pairs of miss matched gloves and a cheap watch or two.

John Wilkes Booth is buried in Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore. His grave is unmarked, but if you dig around the Booth family plot long enough you will find him. You can thank me later...

gvlax50 wrote:John Wilkes Booth is buried in Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore. His grave is unmarked, but if you dig around the Booth family plot long enough you will find him. You can thank me later...

John wilks Booth Died of old age in Enid oklahoma in a rest home which is now called Garfield Furniture.

Only one of many Gov cover ups.

what in the heck is the price of tea in China now?

zeathy wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=934i--wN6N0&NR=1

Another one.

hey thanks!
That is much better than I thought it would be.

Still not buying one, But not becuase I hate it. The reason would be that I doubt anyone would want to see me. LOL

Audio: I've been in radio broadcasting for years, and now do media work for two large local nonprofits. I've been able to use this mic with a laptop to record decent audio for multimedia productions, public service radio announcements and other things. Works well with Dragon Dictate as well. (Always remember your surroundings influence the quality of the recording. If you are inside a 50 gallon drum, it will sound that way!)

Video: Never used it much, as I bought it for the mic.

As an aside, I also have their "Blue Icicle" USB adapter for XLR type mics.

LastApeMan wrote:hey thanks!
That is much better than I thought it would be.

Still not buying one, But not becuase I hate it. The reason would be that I doubt anyone would want to see me. LOL

I'm with you. It seems the mic, the main thing I want, is always very quiet. I have not started to mess with audio a lot but I imagine boosting it to solve that would muddy up the sound.

It is a shame. I actually like the way it looks and the very short cord would not be a problem for my set up.

I plan on using it for in-game chat; my old headphones have a crap mic and the software sucks. I also like the retractable camera; I'm sort of a privacy nut that way.

salockwood wrote:Nice idea. Only down side is that if I bought it then I would be going for the webcam portion...got the webcaster from woot a few months back. Don't need to buy a car to get an ashtray, ya know!?

I think I will pass and take my smart alek comments somewhere else....now where did my wife go!

When was the last time you bought a new car? They don't come with ashtrays anymore. You have to buy an aftermarket "smokers package" that fits into the cup holder. Yes, I do have that dirty, filthy habit and had to buy the package for my 2007 Ford Explore Sport Trac and my wife's 2011 Buick LaCrosse CXS.

Ordered one - like others, I'm really just looking to use the Mic, and this is a brand I'd already been considering at full price - at 25 bucks shipped, I'll take a chance.

Blue is known for their superior audio equipment. Keep that in mind, from almost every review I've read and also watching sample video, this camera on this is garbage. I own a Blue Yeti USB mic and it is incredible. It is studio quality for a fraction of the cost. I paid about 100$ for my microphone which I use to record and overdub my youtube videos with and record music I make. People will sit through a video with less than perfect quality visually however one of the biggest turn offs for people is a video with terrible audio. If you are into making podcasts or youtube video's I highly recommend Blue microphones. The difference is blatant

People keep mentioning the Blue Yeti... stop that. Comparing the audio from a Blue Yeti to the audio you get from a Blue Eyeball 2.0 is like comparing the speed you get from a corvette to the speed you get from a huffy 10 speed bike. There is no comparison, they are worlds apart. Yes, Blue makes wonderful microphones - but this isn't meant for pure microphone usage. If you're going to be podcasting, this is NOT the tool for you. The audio is low and picks up way too much ambient noise than can be filtered out even in post processing. If you want to sound professional at all, the host of the show should use a nice microphone that has a good condenser, which the Blue Yeti has. If you aren't terribly worried about sound quality, this would be a great microphone for guests you happen to have on your podcasts... but if you want a fully professional sound, you'd get another professional mic that is geared towards podcasting (which Blue's other microphones like Yeti and the Blue Ball are geared for.)

With no driver installation needed, could this work with an iPad for Skype and IM?

IseWise wrote:How canthis video review guy get, from what I would consider, pretty damn good looking video quality and yet everyone is bashing it as terrible and grainy.

The image sensor type used in most webcams is extremely sensitive to low light levels. It needs a lot of light to work correctly. When the light level drops too low, the camera compensates by extending the exposure time which has the double effect of both reducing the frames per second and increasing the softness (or graininess) of the image.

These sensors are also sensitive to the type of light that you're using. Sunlight is best, incandescent is good, and fluorescent (like those new energy efficient bulbs) is pretty bad. I keep a low wattage incandescent desk lamp on when I Skype just because of how much it improves the image quality.

And for those of you who keep saying "I care more about the video quality than the audio", what good is it Skype'ing with grandma if you can't hear what she's saying? But if you can hear her, even if the image is a little soft, it's not that big of a deal. Audio quality should be your first priority.

jman1971 wrote:With no driver installation needed, could this work with an iPad for Skype and IM?

Ummm... I'm pretty sure that the iPad doesn't have any USB ports. So, I guess the answer to your question would be "yes", if you can figure out how to plug it in. =)

Guessing that at this price, it records mono, not stereo, right?

I bought like four of these last time they were wooted. The audio doesn't work on almost all of them. Webcam is no better than VGA. Really, really disappointing.

All I can think of right now is making my own Busta Rhymes style music video.

I have bought 3 blue snowflakes, which look identical to this model without the video, for fifty dollars each, and the money was very well spent. They are all holding up well, except for the one that the two year old grandson dropped in the toilet. Can't have everything.

Any video would be a plus. Just for the mics I'm saving 30 dollars each. So I'm in for 3.

I also bought this during a previous woot! deal. I think the camera and microphone are great for just using with skype. I am not a podcaster or trying to do anything incredible. It outperformed an older Logitech that my brother had loaned me. When I first got it, the video was pretty grainy. Then I read on a forum to make sure I was using a USB 2.0 port. Apparently, in what I can only suppose was a cost cutting measure, my laptop has two USB 2.0 and one of the older USB ports?! Naturally, I was using the older port.

For me the only real downside is the size. I travel regularly for work and take this along with me, but it is a bit bulky in the laptop bag. 2.75" W x 3.75" D isn't great, but worse is the mic piece that sticks up and makes it about 2" high.

Honestly, all that is fine, it's just getting my family to use Skype more regularly that is the real challenge!

I am a law student and use this to record class. This is THE BEST. I have the model w/o a camera, but this price you would be Jatravartid not to take advantage of the deal. Further, Blue has great customer service and fixed problems under warranty without a question.

- Dan Bremmer

The video does suck, BUT, the audio quality is awesome, and that is the only reason I bought this. If you look at Blue Microphones, they usually run in the $100-$300 range and their quality is excellent. I bought this microphone about a year ago on Amazon for about $80 and it has served me very, very well. I think I will buy another one from Woot simply because the deal is so amazing.

quantamm wrote:Ummm... I'm pretty sure that the iPad doesn't have any USB ports. So, I guess the answer to your question would be "yes", if you can figure out how to plug it in. =)

That's what the camera connection kit is for. It's been proven that USB mics work with the iPad

http://www.maclife.com/article/feature/seven_hidden_features_ipad_camera_connection_kit

But the only possible problem is if the mic draws to much power...

I have this mic without the camera and use it for webcasts teaching online university courses. I paid 3-4 times this price for the mic alone and have been very satisfied with it. I don't need the camera, but think I'll get one for my other computer at this price.

Mac users BEWARE! I bought one of these a few months back (non-Woot) and went through 3 of them before finding one that worked correctly on my Macbook Pro. At least Blue was very helpful getting me a working one, but it was a pain. If you get one of these and it doesn't show up on your Mac you got a bad one. The bad ones I got worked fine on Windows...

kamikaze07 wrote:What's today's item? I was too distracted by the repeated capitalization of the word "Dumpster"...
(which led me down a rabbit trail to research the word's origin - it's a brand name - who knew?!)

Thank you, Woot, for bringing out the inner philologist/etymologist in all of us.

Oh, and cool product, too. Whatever it is.

The Dempster-Dumpster, no less. And it's "rabbit holes", when you need 'em.

One use for these, given rather mediocre video, is as a security cam. With software like EvoCam you can have it upload to a webpage or even make it accessible via your iPhone (run a server on your Mac and then use a browser to access it). For these purposes you only want stills anyway.

What a coincidence! I bought this on Woot back in September, and unpacked it and tried it out last night, a couple hours before it appeared again.

It looks cool, and one youtube video makes it look and sound impressive.

But my camera is like most people's, crappy and blurry, unless I stand perfectly still. Like an acid trip.

And my mic, so far, generates a hum.

Comments I've seen so far:
1, Change the usb port to optimize.
2. Make sure you are using usb 2.0 instead of 1.0.
3. Some units are defective and need replacing.

So far, no noticeable improvement.

Also, a drawback that others have mentioned is the lack of software and drivers. People mention, "setting the camera up." The problem is that you can't. In order to make things work "easy," Blue has apparently hampered our ability to make them "work."

Might be nice, if everything works out for you, but Buyer Beware.

The mic on this alone is worth >$40. It's a great deal.

how well does the mic cover work against the T's and P's? aka spit guard?

From what I have been seeing from videos Ive looked at and been reading. The video quality is much more dependent on the power of your computer and the software you're using with it.

forsjef wrote:Guessing that at this price, it records mono, not stereo, right?

Yeah. Voice recording is 99% done in mono, which is the purpose of the mic on this item.

Stereo mics are fairly specialized.

My apartment complex just installed a new Dumpster today. Coincidence??!...

Woot is one step closer to controlling the world.

might have to get one of these to set up next to my Moving Lips Speakerphone

Video relies on light to function. It's true in professional television/movie/video shoots. And it's true for home vlogging and such.

The better you set up your lighting, the better video quality you'll have.

Just the light from one monitor will not be enough. Daylight is great, but not always available. If you have desk lamps using incandescent bulbs or "daylight" bulbs, turning those on when recording will give you awesome video quality.

MagickalMan wrote:The mic on this alone is worth >$40. It's a great deal.

How is the microphone alone worth $40 when you can buy this item for $35 new with free shipping on amazon.Woots price is good but why would anyone pay over $40 for the microphone rather than the $35 amazon price for the combination?

The camera must not have a very wide field of vision or else the microphone dome would be in the way. Right? I mean, the lens sits back behind the mic, so no peripheral vision on one side.

Not sure this is safe to try but the IPad does have a USB conncection on its charging cord!! Would be interested to hear answers from some tech savvy people!!