With the wife traveling more (and scheduled to be on the road 2-3 weeks per month for the next 6mo or so), I'm looking at upgrading our video-Skype capabilities and I'm running into some issues/questions. Our computers:
Mine:
P8700 C2D chip, 2.53ghz, 4gb RAM with ~1mb upload speeds (can upgrade to 1.5mb if necessary), integrated SD webcam
Hers:
~i5m something, 1.7ghz (turbo boosts up to 2.something), 4gb RAM, upload speeds dependent on the hotel.
We purchased a Logitech C310 webcam for her to use, and so far it's given us quite a bit of trouble. It will broadcast in HD (720p), but I think that her computer isn't quite fast enough to do the HD processing, and there's actually some problem with the communication between skype and the camera, so that when it tries to switch to 720p, it just crashes Skype requiring a full reboot. So now I'm looking at getting her a webcam that will handle some of the compression activities, allowing her slower processor some breathing room. The only thing is there's a surprising lack of information out there... (And the C310 should be fine on mine, since mine surpasses the 2.4ghz requirement to process the HD signal)
H.264 encoding webcams
There are several webcams from lesser-known manufacturers that natively encode H.264 (codec which Skype uses). Reviews on them are pretty few and far between, along with what specs are actually required (some say 2.0ghz, some say 2.4ghz, but I'm not sure if her computer could handle it all on "boost" with all other programs shut down. Generally, she's had the most success with shutting down everything before trying to video skype, which tells me that when it's worked it's been entirely on "boost"). My only question with this is, what about other programs and is there any danger of H.264 "going away" as the general video codec? Google has already hinted at this, and so I'm wondering whether it's worth focusing on an H.264-encoding webcam if there are other options out there?
Other encoding webcams
I've gleaned that a few of the other webcams do some native encoding, like the Logitech C910. It's *not* H.264, which means it might not be as good for Skype, but might be better at other applications? We'd like to use this for Skype (obviously), but as things move towards Google Hangout, I'm wondering whether this might be a better option? Since it does some encoding I would assume that the computer specs required aren't as high (as the non-encoding C310), but they still might be higher than my wife's computer.... Unfortunately there's a frustrating lack of information with regards to what it's native compression capabilities are.
So far, we've found out that:
a) My wife's computer is *almost* fast enough to run HD via C310. We've had 4 video conversations, and one of them was entirely in 720p. Two instances of crashing 1-3min into each conversation, and one was 640x480 (I'm guessing that the hotel internet wasn't fast enough). While 25% in HD isn't spectacular, it's telling me that it is possible, or just underneath the specs.
b) Hotel internet is mostly fast enough. As noted, in 3/4 of the cases this week the connection was fast enough for her to broadcast (or try to broadcast) in HD. Obviously when her internet is too slow, there's really nothing that can be done.
So....... any thoughts/suggestions/etc? Anyone with experience in these webcams, or some knowledge of the codec behind them? No, overclocking her computer is not an option due to it being a work computer, although her IT dept is probably dumb enough that they'd never realize it.
Mine:
P8700 C2D chip, 2.53ghz, 4gb RAM with ~1mb upload speeds (can upgrade to 1.5mb if necessary), integrated SD webcam
Hers:
~i5m something, 1.7ghz (turbo boosts up to 2.something), 4gb RAM, upload speeds dependent on the hotel.
We purchased a Logitech C310 webcam for her to use, and so far it's given us quite a bit of trouble. It will broadcast in HD (720p), but I think that her computer isn't quite fast enough to do the HD processing, and there's actually some problem with the communication between skype and the camera, so that when it tries to switch to 720p, it just crashes Skype requiring a full reboot. So now I'm looking at getting her a webcam that will handle some of the compression activities, allowing her slower processor some breathing room. The only thing is there's a surprising lack of information out there... (And the C310 should be fine on mine, since mine surpasses the 2.4ghz requirement to process the HD signal)
H.264 encoding webcams
There are several webcams from lesser-known manufacturers that natively encode H.264 (codec which Skype uses). Reviews on them are pretty few and far between, along with what specs are actually required (some say 2.0ghz, some say 2.4ghz, but I'm not sure if her computer could handle it all on "boost" with all other programs shut down. Generally, she's had the most success with shutting down everything before trying to video skype, which tells me that when it's worked it's been entirely on "boost"). My only question with this is, what about other programs and is there any danger of H.264 "going away" as the general video codec? Google has already hinted at this, and so I'm wondering whether it's worth focusing on an H.264-encoding webcam if there are other options out there?
Other encoding webcams
I've gleaned that a few of the other webcams do some native encoding, like the Logitech C910. It's *not* H.264, which means it might not be as good for Skype, but might be better at other applications? We'd like to use this for Skype (obviously), but as things move towards Google Hangout, I'm wondering whether this might be a better option? Since it does some encoding I would assume that the computer specs required aren't as high (as the non-encoding C310), but they still might be higher than my wife's computer.... Unfortunately there's a frustrating lack of information with regards to what it's native compression capabilities are.
So far, we've found out that:
a) My wife's computer is *almost* fast enough to run HD via C310. We've had 4 video conversations, and one of them was entirely in 720p. Two instances of crashing 1-3min into each conversation, and one was 640x480 (I'm guessing that the hotel internet wasn't fast enough). While 25% in HD isn't spectacular, it's telling me that it is possible, or just underneath the specs.
b) Hotel internet is mostly fast enough. As noted, in 3/4 of the cases this week the connection was fast enough for her to broadcast (or try to broadcast) in HD. Obviously when her internet is too slow, there's really nothing that can be done.
So....... any thoughts/suggestions/etc? Anyone with experience in these webcams, or some knowledge of the codec behind them? No, overclocking her computer is not an option due to it being a work computer, although her IT dept is probably dumb enough that they'd never realize it.
