A webcam is just a webcam, right? I've been living in the UK away from family in the US for over 3 years now, so I've been using webcams for a reasonably long time to stay in touch. For the longest time I did think a webcam was just a webcam--it'd have clunky drivers (that I'd prefer not to install when I could because they didn't seem to do much) and the picture quality would be mediocre but you'd deal because it's better than just talking. But with the recent release of some new webcams from Logitech, combined with the new Skype 3.6 Beta, I'm changing my tune. High Quality Video on Skype is here, and it really does make a difference. I've been able to test out a Logitech QuickCam Pro for Notebooks for the past few days and I'm pretty impressed.

First Impressions

The Logitech QuickCam Pro for Notebooks is quite a nice looking device, with a shiny aluminum body. It has a well designed clip on the back so that it can rest easily on top of your notebook's LCD or on the included 12" desktop stand. It also includes a nice neoprene travel case and a clear instruction booklet with a software CD. [Do note: the CD with my test unit included QuickCam software v10.5, but you need v11.5 to use High Quality Video with Skype, which you can download here]. We have a somewhat older Logitech webcam in our office, the QuickCam for Notebooks Pro (you'd think they could have come up with a better naming scheme), and I found the new clip to be quite an improvement--the clip on the older camera couldn't fit the top lid on my Thinkpad while this new one can. The newer camera also has a button on top that allows you to snap photos quickly no matter what you're doing on your computer.

Functionality

Having an older webcam, the QuickCam for Notebooks Pro, in the office gave me a good baseline for comparison. While the older webcam has a 1.3 megapixel sensor, the newer QuickCam Pro for Notebooks has a 2 megapixel Carl Zeiss glass lens. I could see the difference immediately when I plugged in the new after the old--even when I set both cameras to capture video at 640 x 480, the newer QuickCam Pro captured a larger picture with a wider angle. The new camera also has a very good autofocus, in addition to RightLight 2 (which adjusts the image even in dimly lit and poorly lit settings) and RightSound (which minimizes background noise and echo when you aren't using a headset).

I tend to be a minimalist on my systems and don't like clunky drivers, but while the Logitech 11.5 driver isn't small, it does have a lot of neat features and is well worth installing (and is also necessary to get High Quality Video on Skype). The software package has some built-in programs including Quick Capture, which lets you take photos at up to 2 megapixels (or 8 megapixels interpolated) and video at a resolution of up to 960 x 720, and Video Effects, which allows you to change your appearance on camera to anything from a stick figure to a shark.

The driver also has a full settings menu with loads of options, including adjustable options for Pan and Tilt, Autofocus, Face Tracking, Brightness, Contrast, Color Intensity, White Balance, and Anti-Flicker among other items.

High Quality Video

Because not everyone has one of the three Logitech cameras needed for High Quality Video on Skype yet (the QuickCam Pro for Notebooks, the QuickCam Pro 9000, and the QuickCam Orbit/Sphere AF), Logitech has set up a few testing stations at their offices to give High Quality Video a try.

I made a call to one of the test machines, let it connect, and then a few seconds later I saw this:

I think clicked on that top banner, and saw this:

The icon in the upper left indicates that you're making a High Quality Video call. The photo doesn't really do justice to how good the quality of the video was.

I learned a few things while testing out High Quality Video calls:

• It takes a little while for High Quality Video to start: Skype won't inform you that you're using High Quality Video with the banner until your framerate goes above 25 frames per second (you check your framerate by clicking on Tools -> Options -> Advanced -> Connection then checking the boxes for 'Display technical call info during calls' and 'Display Skype bandwidth usage'--then you can hover your mouse over the video to see your frames per second sent and received).
• It takes a decent amount of bandwidth and processor power for SENDING High Quality Video: Skype and Logitech recommend a 384 kbps upstream broadband connection and a dual core processor for High Quality Video--640 x 480 video at up to 30 frames per second is a lot of data to process and send. The Skype software works with the Logitech drivers to do some compression on it, hence the need for a decent processor. (You can receive High Quality Video with a 'lighter' processor.)
• Sometimes even when everything is set properly, you might not reach High Quality Video: Logitech set up three different test accounts, and when I called one of them, my video would only get to about 15 frames per second, so I never got the High Quality Video banner. It might have been a temporary bottleneck on my network, their network, or the Skype network generally--it's tough to tell.

Conclusion

I was really pleased with the video quality I got with High Quality Video--having a larger picture and smoother framerate really does make the webcam experience better. To get the full experience, you do need some things you might not have already (one of the 3 supported Logitech webcams [QuickCam Pro for Notebooks, QuickCam Pro 9000, QuickCam Sphere/Orbit AF], Skype 3.6 [still beta but will go gold soon], the Logitech 11.5 webcam driver, a dual core processor and 384 kbps broadband)--but when everything's in place it really is something you need to see to believe.

You can pick up the Logitech QuickCam Pro for Notebooks at the Skype Store internationally for £69.99 in the UK or €99.99 in the rest of Europe (and it includes a free headset, free shipping and up to 3 hours of SkypeOut credit), or for $79.99 in the US (after $20 rebate).