Logitech has recently launched the Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920 webcam, and this one is of particular interest to people because the H.264 video compression is done in the camera itself. Yup! you heard that right, we are talking about built-in hardware compression here. If you are not familiar with how this works, usually, webcam capture video and an uncompressed stream is sent to the computer, where the main processor (CPU) performs the video compression before it is sent by a software like Skype and facebook video calling software. The compression can vary from a video-call software to another, but the principle stays the same. By having the camera perform the hardware, it is possible to have excellent video quality, even on a mildly powerful computer..
Context:
I use Skype quite a bit in the office, so we decided to put the camera to the test to see if it lives up to the hype. Note that to take advantage of the 1080p video streaming in Skype, one needs to install Skype 5.7 (beta for now) or above. To test this, I have decided to try the Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920 on my old Macbook Air (Core 2 Duo + 4GB), as it is not a powerful computer. I was really curious to see how the camera would perform.
Results:
The result was very interesting: both the image quality and the fluidity of the Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920was noticeably higher than even the Logitech HD Pro Webcam C910 which is just a notch below, and the difference is particularly noticeable when compared to the older Logitech Quickcam Pro 9000 that was one of the best webcams just a couple of years ago.
