Logitech C910 HD webcam launched

It’s been a while since Logitech had launched new high-end webcams and the Logitech C910 lifts webcams to the next level: HD. It is the first Logitech webcam that the company qualifies as 720p capable for video calls and if users are recording to their local hard drive, it can snap videos in 1080p resolution. The webcam can also captgure 10 Megapixel still images. On the audio side, Logitech is using a pair of microphone to enable noise-canceling.

Despite featuring noticeably better video quality, the webcam is also smaller than its predecessor, the Quickcam pro 9000 and it looks flat and wide – like a little HDTV. We’ve took it for a spin, and folks from the other side of a Skype video call have noticed the improvement in image quality. However, if you want to see the full 720p resolution, today’s software of choice is Vid, Logitech’s own simple video chat software. It will take a bit of time before others can implement the necessary changes to accommodate 720p video calls, but it will come. Take a look at the screenshot of a Vid video-call (Flickr)

It might snap 720p resolution video, but don’t expect “movie quality” 720p over a video call. High-quality movies are compressed using a 6Mbps bitrate or more, while consumer video chat uses 1Mbps of bandwidth. As the networks get better, we might finally close the space gap. In the meantime, Logitech has taken yet another step towards this goal, with a friendly consumer price. The Logitech C910 HD costs $100, and there’s a less expensive C510 model that goes for $60.

To use this webcam to its full potential, you will need a computer with muscles. On our Dual Core AMD X2 3.0 Ghz, it was choking a little sometimes. On a faster machine, things went smoothly. Logitech’s driver seems to use multi-core fairly well, so a Quad-core will perform better with video chat. A 1Mbps of upload bandwidth is also recommended, although won’t doesn’t hurt (we had 2Mbps in upload speed during the test).

Logitech has updated its blog with a video that pitches the C910, here it is:

Hubert Nguyen
Categories: Computers, Top Stories
Tags: 720p, hd, Logitech, Skype, video call, webcam