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Last update Oct 2, 2005

Creative Live Ultra Notebook, July 14, 2005, $99.99 This is a good camera, if given a decent balance of white or mixed colors within the frame. The available settings for color adjustment, as is with most of the Creative cameras, is restricted to Auto, Incandescent, fluorescent and Outdoor. If you change the color settings, it may take a minute or so for the camera to show any major change. The camera has good low light sensitivity and now that I have the color problem figured out I'm quite pleased overall. This camera has a wide angle lens which seems to be very popular with the webcam makers right now. I don't have any problem with the wide angle lenses, but they do require you to use a larger image to be seen easily, taking up more bandwidth. Creative seems to have solved the mounting problem I reported with the earlier notebook camera. This one clamps nicely to my notebook screen and stays put. I do wish it had a horizontal swivel though. You still have to sit directly in front of the camera. At least the mount allows me to place the camera anywhere along the top of my notebook screen, the previous camera would only fit in a few spots. Creative again supplies a headset. Personally I think having a headset just reduces the overall mobility. I don't want to deal with extra cables or another item to worry about. The Apple iSight for example has a built-in microphone and it picks up my voice fine from where I'm sitting. I think Creative should have integrated the microphone in the camera but also give users the option to use the headset if they choose to speak more privately. This is a true USB 2 camera, but I find that it appears to have a maximum speed of roughly 15 frames a second when used with a 640x480 image, at least that is my impression in viewing the preview window in my ConquerCam program. If you are going to make full use of the frame update speed, I recommend you turn preview off unless you need it. With preview on, about 50% of my notebook computer's processor power is occupied managing the preview image. With preview off, or the application minimized, only about 1% is used by the camera except when it captures a still image, then it jumps to about 10%, and some of that is most likely the uploading of the file. This camera is a good improvement to the earlier Creative Notebook Camera and I am giving it high ratings all round. My new best pick for a portable camera. Product Specifications Image sensor: VGA CCD 640x480 Video capture: Up to 640x480 pixels Still image capture: Up to 1280x960 pixels, 1.3 megapixels Frame rate: Up to 30 frames per second (with P4 2.8ghz system) Lens: 76° wide angle view, Manual focus ring 4x digital zoom in all applications 180° rotation for adjustable webcam angles Creative hands-free headset USB 2.0 Hi-Speed connection (compatible with USB 1.1) Included Software Smart Face Tracking Live video-enabled MSN/Yahoo! Messenger Video broadcasting software ArcSoft® VideoImpression, PhotoImpression, Multimedia Email Creative WebCam Center Bundle Minimum System Requirements (PC) Windows® 98, Windows® 2000, Windows® Me, Windows® XP Pentium® P3 1000, AMD Athlon® processor, or higher 128 MB RAM 100 MB free hard drive space CD-ROM drive 16-bit color display adapter USB 2.0 connection for best operation Screen shots of camera configuration settings Advanced         Device         Extended Pluses Good image with proper lighting USB 2 Decent refresh rate Compact Mount improved, stays on my notebook Good low light response Minuses Color can be difficult to adjust if unusual room or clothing colors No swivel with mounting bracket