Product Description

Look and sound your very best with the Creative Live! Cam Optia AF. The advanced autofocus lens, quality 2.0 megapixel sensor, and built-in Live! View technology ensure you'll look sharp in bright sunlight or even in a dimly lit room. The adaptive array microphones go beyond normal noise cancellation to give you the clearest voice chat without the background noise or the hassle of being tethered to your computer. Full featured software makes chatting more fun and safer for your kids. And installation is easy-the true Plug and Play install gets you up and running in popular IM programs like Windows Live Messenger, Skype, Yahoo! Messenger and AIM before you even install the CD. Other features include still image capture at up to 8.0 MP resolution, high quality auto focus lens, video capture at up to 30 frames per second using USB port, smart face tracking with 4x digital zoom, camera rotation up to 270 degrees with auto image flip and privacy mode, parental controls, and plug and chat.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #951 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Creative Labs
• Model: VF0560
• Dimensions: 8.90" h x 3.30" w x 7.90" l, .60 pounds

Features

• Autofocus lens for clear, detailed video & images
• Smooth, vibrant HD video with 2.0 megapixel sensor
• Voice chat without the background noise
• Cool video and voice effects plus avatars for more fun in your video chats
• Excusive parental control software to keep your kids safe

From the Manufacturer
Enjoy Superior Video Chat with Friends and Family
Always look sharp with autofocus lens

Look sharp no matter how much you move around. Live! Cam Optia AF is the only PC webcam with an autofocus lens, 2.0mp sensor, and Plug and Play functionality. Simply plug the webcam to your PC's USB port and be amazed!

Look Your Best
Whether you're chatting on the web, recording a new video blog, or snapping photos, you'll want to look your best. Creative's Live! View technology automatically selects the best setting for you so that your image always looks sharp and vivid. The Smart Face Tracking feature keeps you in the frame and looking sharp no matter how much you might move around.

Record video to your PC--perfect for posting a video blog, uploading to the Internet, or creating a home movie. You won't look grainy or fuzzy using Live! Cam Optia AF. A high quality 2.0mp (1600x1200) sensor, Live! View technology, and auto tuning give you video quality you may not expect from such a compact webcam.

Sound Your Best
The Live! Cam Optia AF incorporates Creative's superior audio technology by using a set of built-in adaptive array microphones. The dual microphones and Creative's exclusive Live! Audio technology cancels out background noise, so all you hear is pure voice over the Internet.

Have Some Fun with Your Webcam

Live! Doodling, live interaction! Just like a real doodling board, you can use your mouse as a digital pen and doodle on your video image. Give your friends a big laugh when they see whiskers coming out of your face.

Video Effects from Creative's Advanced Video FX Change the face of instant messaging! So you've heard all about video effects - the special effects like snowflakes, masks, eye glasses, hairdos, etc. that you add to your video image while chatting online. But wait, what about having a beautiful backdrop behind you like the Eiffel Tower or Sydney Opera House? Plus, you can morph your image into water ripples, blow bubbles out of your mouth, or simple become invisible. You can do all this with Creative's extensive, free collection of video effects and more.

Exclusive Voice Effects from Creative's Advanced Audio FX Let them hear you, in so many ways! Don't just doodle and morph your image, do something about your voice! Now with Creative's exclusive Audio FX technology, you can talk like a chipmunk, a robot, or a duck. You can even sound like a 5 year-old kid with squeaky high-pitched voice or an 80 year-old man with quivering low-drone voice. Try it to believe it!

Get Much More....

Exclusive Parental Control Creative stands by safe online chat! Live! Cam Optia offers exclusive parental control that is not found on any other webcam. You can enable parental control during setup. Simply create a login and password so that the next time someone uses the webcam, it requires your password before streaming live video over the Internet. Parental control, smart face tracking, and other software features require the CD software installation.

Greater viewing flexibility and privacy Live! Cam Optia AF's multi-axis swivel rotates to almost any viewing angle at up to 270°. Plus, the embedded image sensor detects camera rotation at 90º or above, so that your image is always upright. When you need privacy, simply rotate the camera downward (the lens faces down). This will automatically deactivate the webcam without disconnecting it from your PC.

Smooth video, uninterrupted live chat Experience smooth, full motion 30 frames per second digital video and top quality images with hi-speed USB 2.0 throughput. Live! Cam Optia is also backward compatible and works with any USB 1.1 connection.

Say goodbye to mounting woes Live! Cam Optia fits easily to almost anything - notebook displays, CRT monitors and flat panel displays. Or simply let it rest comfortably on a table or other flat surface.

Creative Stereo Headset Chat away with greater ease and comfort using the included hands free headset.

Customer Reviews

It works OK.
The overall video quality is comparable to the logitec camera I got for $20

Good:
The set up went fine -- follow the instructions, just don't plug and pray...
After set up, the device works well
The video seems a little slower than I would like to see.
It is good to have the indicator light so you know when it is activated.
It is good to have it rotate downwards so that you know it is not pointing at someone.
The backlight compensation worked ok for me.
The autofocus worked ok which may be helpful if you are moving around, but otherwise somewhat distracting.
The audio works OK.

Bad:
The package did not include the hands-free headset as promised.
The mount did not fit our flat-screen monitor very well as I had to use tape to keep it in position.
The video frame rate seems somewhat slow.
The price point seems high for what you get.

I did not expect much and was not impressed or disappointed.

Creative scores a home run with this new WEB Cam - Mac OS X Review
QUICK UPDATE Before you read the review:
The listing states that a Creative headset is included...it is NOT!!!! There was no headset in my box. Come on AMAZON/CREATIVE at-least get the listing right. I would downgrade to 4/5 for that mis-information.

Hello All,
First of all...yes I have received this camera for free under the Vine program at Amazon. However, my review is unbiased and honest. I am comparing this to a Logitech Webcam that I already have.

So it begins. I received the camera this morning and immediately broke it out of the box so I could start using it.
THE BOX INCLUDES:
The Camera, simple one page documentation and a CD with software.

FEATURES:
The Creative Optia AF has an autofocus lens,
A 2mp (1600x1200)sensor which can take photo's at 8.0 megapixels and video at 2.0 megapixels,
A noise canceling microphone.
****(NOTE: Photo's are taken at 2.0mp and upconverted using the software included with the camera. The pictures are captured at 2.0mp.)

This unit was plugged into a USB port on a dell monitor connected to a MAC pro running OS X version 10.5.6. Also, I am comparing this camera to the Logitech QuickCam Vision Pro (Logitech QuickCam Vision Pro for Mac (Black)).

There are sample images attached of one camera taking a picture of the other camera in the same lighting conditions.

First things first, I plugged the creative camera into my monitor and it was immediately recognized by MAC OS X. I used photobooth to take pictures from both cameras. What I found interesting at this point was that when the creative was plugged in, it took preference and was the default camera...even though the logitech was still plugged in. Very interesting.

The pictures: I can tell you that, without a doubt, the creative has better autofocus control and the lighting looks better. The logitech looks 'yellowish'. My untrained eye suggests that the pictures from the creative web cam are far superior. Mind you, both of these units have small lenses and so no masterpiece will come out of them...but as far as web cams go the Creative seems to have more of a natural look and not an overexposed yellowish look.

The video: While I dont think that a web-cam should be used to capture high end video, this unit can be used to capture video at 640x480 and then up-converted to 1600x1200 using the included software. The upconversion is a useless feature for me since I believe that web-cam video at 640x480 is PERFECT for the time being. We are not doing HD broadcasts with web-cams are we? If we need higher video broadcast quality then we should be using real cameras that can send out hq video.

Skype Test: I am sure all of you know what Skype is so I wont get into any details. I made a test call with Skype to my office and made sure that the person on the other end was paying attention to the image detail. First it was the creative and then the logitech. Here are the comments from the other end: "The first video was much clearer and I could see that you have not shaved today, The second video looked like you were sitting in the SUN and hid the scruff on your face. The first was clearly better!" Enough said if you ask me. Now granted this was only one test call..but sometimes that is enough to tell you what you need to know. This was tested over a Cable Modem connection (Comcast) that has about 15mbps down and 2mbps up. A variety of other programs were running while skyping (is that a word?).

Background music was playing at a nominal volume so as to check if noise canceling and adaptive microphones worked properly, it did! The other party did hear the music when I was not speaking but said the music drowned out immediately when my voice was being transmitted.

Physical Aspects:
The creative unit comes on a clear acrylic base which you can simply sit on your desk. It also does however have a curved design at the bottom which allows you to place it on top of a monitor. (The logitech also has these features, but the creative looks sharper!). The camera can be rotated about 270 degrees. It has two microphones to the left of the lens so that it can clearly pick up your voice and cancel out the noise...(this was also tested in the skype chat with background music playing).

Software: I personally do not feel the need to install extra software on my system but I must inform you that is available and adds a few features to the camera. Here are a few of the key points:
1. Parental Control - so you can lock the camera from being used.
2. Avatars - You are able to use avatars and add video and voice effects to your video chats. This feature also allows you to create avatars from your own pictures.

The software is not a necessity on any system that can recognize USB devices, primarily newer operating systems that have camera support built in. However, please note that the software will be required if you want to use the parental lock features and if you want your images to be upconverted (interpolated) from 2.0mp to 8.0mp.

Overall this camera has proven to be clearly superior to the Logitech and in my testing the video, still shots, and voice quality have shown vast improvements. Before you make the purchase, make sure you know what you are buying...it is a great WEB-CAM for your computer...it will not replace your digital camera and or high quality video camcorder. If you buy it with that in mind, you will be more then satisfied. However, if you are looking to start broadcasting HD video and High Quality images...stick with your regular hardware...this wont cut it.

I will be using this permanently from today onwards and will be reporting in from time to time.

Please share your comments on this review and ask any questions you may have so that I can investigate and answer them thoroughly.

5/5

Not So Impressive
I have been using Microsoft LifeCam Show which also is a 2.0 mega pixel high resolution webcam and have been very happy with it. Since Creative Labs has a great reputation in webcams (at least better than Microsoft), I naturally expected better quality from the Live! Optia AF than the LifeCam Show. However, the Live! Optia did not outperform the LifeCam Show.

First of all, the product description here is misled. There is no Creative stereo headset that comes with it. The Live! Optia has a built-in noise cancellation mic and does not need any external mic. The built-in mic works pretty well, and I do not have any complaint about it. Since I normally use a webcam in a silent room, the noise cancellation feature does not attract me much. I did not feel much difference when it is on or off.

For the picture quality, yes, it provides a pretty decent picture, but not the best one I have seen so far. The auto focus feature sounds great, however, I do not have any focus issues with the other web cams I have (I currently have 4 webcams and 2 built-in webcams in notebook computers). You can turn off the auto focus and set the focus manually. By the way, the Live! Optia provides very detailed setting through Creative's Live! Central software. You can adjust anything you can imagine. But the backlight compensation of the Live! Optia was disappointing. We do not use a webcam in a perfect lighting condition, so the ability, like the backlight compensation, is important not to show your dark face to others. The LifeCam Show I used works pretty well for a backlight situation, however, the Live! Optia does not. The Live! Optia has a backlight adjustment control, however, it did not help much, no matter how I set it.

I would give 5 stars for the mount of this webcam. I have an LCD monitor from Sony and no other webcams fit on top of this monitor. The Live! Optia is the first webcam that sits on my Sony LCD without a problem.

As far as the compatibility is concerned, the Live! Optia works with every messenger I use, such as Skype, Yahoo, and MSN. It is from Creative and I already expected this. I have 2 other Creative webcams and they always show great compatibility.

The one thing that I miss is a motion capture software. Other webcams provide this type of software and I sometimes use it for security purposes (take picture if something is moving and send it by email).

As other reviewers stated, you should not expect 'HD' video from this webcam. It does make decent videos, however, it is way far from the HD video. I did not test the Avatar creator software and the muvee (make music video within few minutes) software, since I use the webcam solely for a video conference or a video chat.

If I did not use other 2.0 megapixel webcams before, I might praise the Live! Optia for its good picture quality. But with a $85 price tag, I think the Live! Optia should provide more than the average 2.0 megapixel webcam. For some people, the auto focus and the dual mic with a noise cancellation features might work great. But for me, it is a just another 2.0 mega pixel webcam with a high price tag. I really like the flexible mount, though.