Product Description

This full-featured webcam, with ClearFrame image-processing technology, delivers smooth, detailed video and crystal-clear audio.

Product Details

• Color: Black
• Brand: Microsoft
• Model: H5D-00001
• Dimensions: 8.00" h x 2.53" w x 7.50" l, .87 pounds

Features

• 720p HD Widescreen Video
• Auto Focus
• High-precision glass element lens
• ClearFrame Technology for smooth, detailed video
• Digital, noise-canceling microphone o

From the Manufacturer
Share every detail with friends and family with the Microsoft LifeCam Cinema. This full-featured webcam, with ClearFrame image-processing technology, delivers smooth, detailed 16:9 video in full 720p HD quality and crystal-clear audio. Optimized for Windows Live and Windows 7, the LifeCam Cinema also works with Yahoo Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger and Skype for video calls and messaging.

Features:

720p HD Widescreen Video 720p sensor captures true HD quality video at up to 30 frames per second.		World-class Optics With Auto Focus and a high-precision glass element lens.		Clear, High-quality Video ClearFrame Technology for smooth, detailed video.
Crystal-clear Audio Digital, noise-canceling microphone helps improve speech quality.		Aluminum Body		Flexible Stand Fits any notebook and desktop PCs.

Also includes a 3 Year Limited Warranty

System Requirements: Windows® 7/Windows Vista®/Windows XP (with Service Pack 2 or higher) Intel Dual-Core 1.6 GHz or higher and 1 GB of RAM (recommended: Intel Dual-Core 3.0 GHz or higher and 2 GB of RAM) 1.5 GB free space CD-ROM USB 2.0

Customer Reviews

Excellent Hardware, Lackluster Software
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1EN44PBAXWTNV Summary: It's a great product, but the software is lacking. It does require a lot of processing power to produce decent videos, so do everything you can to let the capture software have all of the processing power.

For reference, I was using an AMD Athlon 64 XP Dual Core 6400+ CPU with 4GB of RAM when recording this video. I am running the software on a Windows XP 32-bit machine.

This video was recorded with minimal software interference, but I'm also happy with the quality of the processing for low-light conditions. In this case, I was looking to get the best motion performance, so I turned off all of the auto features in order to get the best picture with the light I was using.

As you will hear in the video, the built-in microphone isn't terrible, but it does have a pretty high noise floor. That is fine if you're using Skype, but lousy if you are trying to record higher quality videos. In this video, I used the Audio Technica AT2020 Side Address Cardiod Condensor Studio Mic (except for the built-in mic demo).

All in all, it's a great webcam for producing online videos. If you don't have external software, or don't have a top of the line computer, there may be a webcam that does what you need without so much hassle. For high quality stuff, this may well be the best hardware on the market.

A great alternative to Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000
I'm a big Skype user and have used the QuickCam Pro 9000 for quite some time. While Skype doesn't recognize this as an "HQ" cam (or at least not yet, if ever), I have found that this cam excels as compared to the QuickCam Pro 9000 in three ways:

1. This cam produces much richer colors. Some may say it borderlines oversaturated or "technicolor" but I really enjoy the brilliance of the colors
2. Low light conditions keep rich and bright color. I find with the QuickCam it loses contrast to brighten up the picture.
3. Launch time. I find with the Quickcam Pro 9000 the "ramp up/turn on" time is undesirably long when receiving an auto answer Skype call. This cam is ready to go immediately.

As far as focusing goes, both the QickCam Pro 9000 and this cam aren't great at it in dark lighting conditions.

The widescreen view is a really nice change from the normal 4:3 perspective. It really helps show your surroundings more and give a better feel to where you are.

Installation was easy, and the cam itself seems far smaller than I was expecting.

Under some conditions Skype callers on the receiving end prefer this video over the HQ Skype capable Quickcam Pro 9000. In some cases they prefer the Quickcam.

I saw that some people mentioned the high hardware requirements so I wanted to let you know what I'm using it on:

Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit
Core i7 2.66
3 GB memory

I'm not going to outright say that this is a better webcam than the QuickCam Pro 9000 but it definitely gives it a run for it's money, and offers a few unique features that the QuickCam Pro 9000 does not, all in a smaller more attractive cam size & style.

Good in very low light
I like the Lifecam Cinema webcam because it is the best webcam in very low light. With only the computer and TV on at night, the Lifecam Cinema webcam produces a viewable video for chat. In this same light settings, the Quickcam Pro9000s video is all black.

In better light conditions, the Lifecam cinema will produce a good video with good color.

This camera will focus as close as 1 inch. Good to play around with as a microscope, but a hassle everytime it does an autofocus. I turn off autofocus most of the time.

People mentioned that this camera takes a powerful CPU. It only uses a lot of CPU power when you turn on the video effects, such as modifing the eyes, nose, face, and others.