Plug in a webcam and there are all manner of things you can do, and the new ones now have much better features than ever before. You may ask why would anybody want to see you when you’re using your PC?
Well if you have family or friends around the world that you don’t see very often you actually get to see them as well as just talk to them – that simply is priceless. It’s not hard to set up, it won’t break the bank and is more than capable of giving you the sort of image quality needed for a cosy online video chat.

Not all webcams are the same though. As with full size cameras the specs vary from model to model. Basically, the things to look for are the resolution of the camera, whether it can take still images, and the sort of connection it has.

Almost all webcams are USB, some are Firewire, but very few. If you can, it’s worth getting a USB 2.0 one as you will get better video because of the wider bandwidth available through the 2.0 connection. Once you have the specs in mind, it’s also worth seeing what sort of software that you get. Then, just follow these steps to webcam happiness (or You Tube if that tickles your fancy).

Get Buying

First you’ll need a webcam. Shop around as they do vary in price. You need an empty USB port on your PC. If you don’t have any, then you will need to invest in either a USB PCI card that has ports on it, or a hub.

Bits and Bobs

Follow the installation procedure and read the instructions. You may need to install software before plugging in any hardware.

Getting it together

Put the supplied CD-ROM into your PC, click the install button and you’re off. With something like this you won’t need to do much tinkering to the install options. All you need to do is click Next until you run out of options. Click on full installation and all the software will be installed in one fell swoop. If you don’t need parts of the software you can always uninstall them later on.

The power of USB

During the installation you will be asked to connect the camera to your PC. For this you need to have one free USB port. As your webcam gets all its power from the USB port you should be careful about where you plug it in. If you have a powered USB hub, you’ll be fine, and if you have a spare USB port on your PC itself, then again you’ll be fine. Problems may only occur if you try and plug it into a port on a keyboard for example as it won’t be able to provide enough power to make it work.

Video settings

With all the software installed and the camera plugged in, the penultimate step is to set the video settings of your camera. Where these are in the software depends on the model. With the Creative WebCam Instant you get four settings up to 352 x 288. This doesn’t sound that high, but you won’t get very high resolutions from any webcam.

Looks like fun

With all the software installed, the hardware in place and all your settings configured, you’re all set and ready to go. What you now do with your webcam is entirely up to you. You could make your own home movie or just use it to make video calls to your friends and family on the other side of the world. The choices are, quite literally, endless. Enjoy.

Published on 11th January 2007