Limitations of Webcams. Nothing new in years

[domineaux]

It probably has a great deal to do with the people who actually manufacture the webcams...not the broker distributors that brand name them. Look at the motherboards today... Intel and AMD are still using 8 year old base processor technology, just adding cores. I suspect the offshore motherboard manufacturers have gone through large support problems with changing technology. Seriously, I doubt for the most part they know little or nothing about what they are doing...except running their CNC machines and pick and place robots. I am still running a Intel Q6600 processor with 4 gig of ram, and 1 gig video card. The processor is running at 2.6 and I can easily overclock, but I don't need the extra speed. I do alot of animated graphics in addition to video production, and rarely experience a memory issue.

IMO, the GoPro and Blackmagic would be the best sources to come with new and better webcams. These companies have state of the art video technology and the people to develop it. Maybe, we should be nudging those companies to produce webcams.

The C920 I suspect could be improved alot with updates to the software.

[jamesdelfresco]

Webcams use a lot of software tech to drive its quality. They really have not been improved since 2012 because what they have currently is good enough for most. Apple is currently leading the way when it comes to laptop webcams. No one is even coming close on the PC side and its really sad.

Logitech has no reason to even try at this point because no one is competing with them and the c920 is better than anything else on the market.

Bottom line. It comes down to competition

[domineaux]

It is sad.

America has always had people who strived for newer and better constantly. Status quo improves nothing.

Sad commentary about America...for sure.

[andrewzarian]

does anyone have experience with higher end PC based laptops and their webcams? I have yet to find one that has a decent webcam built in. something close to the Facetime camera that mac has.

[domineaux]

Think about it.. You can buy a new in the box C920 for around $70. The C920 has a 1/4 inch taped holed in the mounting bracket and you can use with tripod, and across the top of a laptop. It folds up real snug and you easily carry it with your stuff. No sense messing with a built in laptop camera, which is just a baker dozen item. In other words, instead of a dozen donuts you get 13 donuts. Which is just a cheap way to give you something extra to encourage a sale.

http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Webca.../dp/B006JH8T3S

[mjgraves]

The webcam market as a whole is a commodity space. The C920 and C930 are best of breed considering the broad user base. The volume market is in the sub $100 range. the last big advancement was putting the compression engine into the camera, which is why we have the C920/930e.

For more particular applications, like corp video conferencing, there's the Logitech BCC950 & PTZ Pro Webcam, also the AVER VC520...but these are in the $1k range. They have better lenses, and mechanical PTZ with remote control.

VDO360, HuddleCam and a few others are this space. But the cost goes up considerably. They usually target corporate applications since there's a well-defined, funded market there.

Beyond that you're into the low-end of the professional AV market, like churches and smaller cable/TV stations.

Some people have been making use of DSLRs as higher performance webcams. They often take an HDMI output into a capture card.

[dasme]

When you look at who would commonly need webcams the most: parents, kids, grand parents etc you'll see that the bulk of their computing devices already come with a webcam. Every tablet, phone and laptop these days has one stock. So when the vast majority of your potential customers won't buy your new product, you are less likely to innovate in the consumer space. I would honestly surprised to see many new standalone high end web cams come to market.

What we as podcasters will have to do in the near future is setup more pro rigs with real video cams and tripods to get better resolution or performance.

It's a little sad, but expected. Tempted to play around with some old iPhone or iPod Touches to see how they would fill the need in case my C920 dies in the near future.