Microsoft LifeCam VX-7000 USB Webcam Review

Design of the VX-7000 USB Webcam
The VX-7000 camera might as well have "keep me stationary" stamped on it in big red letters, because even a cursory examination will instantly tell you the designers of this webcam meant it to sit on top of a computer monitor and move as little as possible: The unit's satin-finished plastic housing looks like it would scratch after one trip in a notebook bag, fingerprints stick to the shiny black front plate like white to rice, and there's minimal protection for the lens. While it's true that Microsoft also has a line of mobile webcams designed for the road warrior, I'm not sure why there's a difference - why not make one webcam that a user can use anywhere? However, there are plenty of positives: the camera comes with a five-foot USB cable, so making the connection between an available USB port and the top of your monitor shouldn't be too difficult, and the mounting clip does a good job of adapting to the top of either notebook or LCD screens to provide the proper balance.

The exterior of the VX-7000 webcam is satin-sheened plastic with a black face and a blue activity LED.

The VX-7000's universal mounting clip adapts well to a variety of LCD sizes.

The VX-7000 hooked onto the front of the desktop LCD monitor.

In addition to the mounting clip, the VX-7000 USB webcam features a Windows Live Call Button that activates Windows Messenger's video call feature at the press of a button, a glass element lens for better image clarity, a 2.0 megapixel high definition image sensor, and a front-mounted blue LED that turns on when the camera activates, so you'll always know when you're recording.

The camera's LED blinks when plugged in, and stays lit when recording.

LifeCam Software
Microsoft's LifeCam software package acts as the heart of the fully integrated Windows Live system, simultaneously adding additional features to the VX-7000 USB webcam and coordinating between the webcam, Windows Messenger, Windows Media Player, Windows Live Spaces, and Windows Movie Maker for a complete Microsoft communications package. In real terms, this clever system means that you can use your webcam to not only video conference with your Windows Messenger-using friends and colleagues, but also record podcasts and video podcasts and upload them to Microsoft's social networking site to share with others.

The package comes in two pieces: the aforementioned Windows Live Call Button, and Microsoft LifeCam, where you can switch camera resolutions (as low as 160 x 120 and as high as 2.0 megapixels), choose photo resolution for snapshots (either Same as Video or 7.6 megapixels), record audio, video, take photos, add in animations or images from the included gallery of video effects, and then email, upload, export, or view the results.

Dashboard for choosing different video effects.

Panel for choosing video & image resolution.

Using all of the available options can be a little confusing, because the relationships between different items on context menus aren't always as intuitive as they could be. For example, pressing the Windows Live Call Button will open up Windows Messenger and bring up a window so you can select a contact to call, but because of the highlighting color in the contact window it's not readily apparent that you need to highlight a contact to select them. In addition, choosing the contact launches a new IM window; you still need to press the Video Call button to make the connection. These problems aren't deal breakers when it comes to using the VX-7000, but they are a little oddly idiosyncratic.

Picture Quality
Perhaps as a result of the camera's compression algorithm, the VX-7000 USB webcam has two thresholds of video quality: between 160 x 120 and 800 x 600, there's no lag between the action in front of the camera and the reproduction on screen (though the camera appears to sacrifice some image quality at 640 x 480 and 800 x 600, as the image grows progressive grainier at each level); while the 1024 x 768, 1.3 megapixel, and 2.0 megapixel options, though much smoother in appearance, blur any onscreen movement. This blur extends to recorded video files, which lessens the VX-7000 USB webcam's usefulness as a high quality video recorder - why pay for high definition when any movement on screen makes the subject look like he or she is going through some sort of time warp? I also noticed in the process of testing that the VX-7000 seems to switch sensors when switching between the two quality thresholds, requiring the camera to spend a few seconds automatically adjusting lighting levels to achieve an optimal balance. What these quality observations mean for you: because most video conferencing takes place at lower resolutions, quality probably won't be too much of an issue. However, if you need to make higher resolution captures - for a series of training videos, for example - the blurring effect could become annoying very quickly.

Video quality at 800 x 600 resolution.

Stills from the VX-7000 USB webcam follow roughly the same pattern of quality, but - in results that are consistent with still images from video cameras - the overall quality is less than moving images. The VX-7000 has an interpolation option that boosts the image quality of still images up to 7.6 megapixels, but despite being nearly four times the file size, the results do not show any marked improvement over 2.0 megapixel images. In other words: this webcam will work if you're looking to take a quick profile picture for an online profile or for use as an avatar in your favorite instant messaging program, but it won't replace a dedicated camera for really high quality pictures.

Video quality at 2 megapixel resolution.

Both Microsoft LifeCam and Windows Messenger video call offer the option of inserting one of a number of animations or images as an overlay over your video or still capture. These animations and images appear in an uneditable gallery along with controls that allow you to zoom in and tilt the camera image, and can be activated one at a time or removed entirely. Though I found that the animations are fun to play with (I had a good time making faces at the kite flying around my head, for example), they seem to be around the same level of usefulness to the average user as PowerPoint animations: good for getting a quick laugh out of your audience.

Snapshot taken at 7.6 megapixel (interpolated) resolution.

Video demo of low-light performance, video effects & built-in microphone sensitivity.

Audio Quality
The audio quality of the VX-7000 USB webcam won't win any awards, but that's not surprising: the main goal of a webcam is to compress audio and video to the point where it's small enough to stream without interruption, but not to the point where it's unintelligible. As a result, you'll hear a lot of burbling noise in the background of any video call on Windows Messenger, but it isn't loud enough to really interfere with the conversation or mask your voice. The microphone itself is as likely to pick up background noises behind you as your voice, but its adjustable level of sensitivity means you'll be louder than anything behind you because you're closer to the pickup.

In addition to using Windows Messenger for audio tests, I also recorded audio using Microsoft LifeCam, trying out both the audio only and audio with video options. I found that the audio quality stays about the same for both types of recordings, while displaying a much lower level of compression than audio sent over video calls. There are many fewer background artifacts, and in a quiet room you could use the LifeCam microphone for some very nice sounding podcasts. One thing I did notice: you'll need a fairly recent computer to be able to record video podcasts at 1024 x 768 or higher quality; otherwise the audio skips and - since there's no built in monitoring - you won't be able to tell until you play back your audio file.

Recap
While I thought Microsoft did a good job constructing a desktop-friendly camera that fits well on any LCD and handles video conferencing and smaller size video podcasts without any problems, I was disappointed to find that the camera's high definition options were usable only with a sacrifice in quality. As a result, while this camera is a good option for someone looking to make video call or lower resolution podcasts, there are other cameras out there that will accomplish the same task for less money.