Creative Live Cam Voice

Manufacturer: Creative Labs Inc. Part number: VF0170

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$79.99 - $104.99 at 7 online stores

CNET Editor rating:
3.5 stars Very good
Average user rating: 1.0 stars out of 14 reviews

More product information:: Editors' review; User reviews; Specifications; Manufacturer info

Bottom Line:: With beefed-up audio features, the Creative Live Cam Voice is one of the best overall cameras for IM and Internet-based voiceconferencing.

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CNET editors' review

Creative Live Cam Voice

price range: $79.99 - $104.99

With beefed-up audio features, the Creative Live Cam Voice is one of the best overall cameras for IM and Internet-based voiceconferencing.

The good: Stable stand; ample physical flexibility; impressive software bundle; three audio options; advanced image adjust options.

The bad: Noise is visible in still and moving images; fast movement in video looks blurry; must switch the driver to use video effects; occasionally fails to capture photos; features launch in separate windows instead of one main interface.

The bottom line: With beefed-up audio features, the Creative Live Cam Voice is one of the best overall cameras for IM and Internet-based voiceconferencing.

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The Creative Live Cam Voice is a well-rounded camera for IM and Internet-based voiceconferencing. We like its audio options and clear, vivid images and its plethora of image adjustability, physical flexibility, and ample software, but we weren't impressed with the poor integration of animated video effects. This won't be a great loss for professional pursuits, but if your kids like to play with animation, the less expensive Logitech QuickCam Pro 5000 is a better choices. For $99, the Creative Live Cam Voice offers many options, but if your needs are more basic, we recommend the less expensive Logitech QuickCam for Notebooks Deluxe or the Creative WebCam Live Ultra.

Though it's fairly large, the Creative Live Cam Voice is surprisingly stable. The camera's bulbous body, which is reminiscent of E.T.'s head, sits atop a claw-like stand. The spring-loaded leg securely holds the camera in place on top of a flat-panel screen, and the leg folds in completely, so the camera can also sit on a desk. The camera offers 360 degrees of horizontal and 65 degrees of vertical range--impressive, considering that the Logitech QuickCam Fusion offers only 90 degrees of vertical movement.

The Creative Live Cam Voice comes with a single CD that includes drivers, a manual, and software. The bundled apps include Creative Muvee software for creating and editing basic videos; My Orb for accessing files such as remote-monitoring images from a computer or a PDA with an Internet connection; SightSpeed, a voice and video calling service; Creative WebCam Center for remote monitoring and taking time-lapse photographs, videos, and still photographs; and Creative Photo Manager, which organizes videos and still photos by date. This is a remarkable bundle, especially since many Webcams offer only basic photo and video software.

The real value of the Creative Live Cam Voice lies with the WebCam Center software, which makes it easy to adjust color, image size, and frame rate. Two tabs at the top of the WebCam Center's main interface lead you to intuitive menus with a plethora of adjustability options. Creative also offers a bonus set of features that you can download from its Web site: Advanced Video FX adds special effects, such as psychedelic color trails and exotic backgrounds, to your picture or video, and WebCam Audio Control lets you choose from normal; Live Audio, which reduces background noise; or Directional Live Audio, which transmits sounds from in front of the camera only. Each of these control panels launches in a separate window, which could make for a cluttered desktop; we'd rather see them incorporated into the main WebCam Center interface. Using the Video FX software is also difficult and requires switching from the standard Live Cam Voice driver to the Creative WebCam (with video effects) driver with a drop-down menu in WebCam Center. Switching drivers results in markedly worse image quality and lower image resolution. We prefer Logitech's Avatars, which work directly in the software window without switching drivers or sacrificing image quality.

We tested the Creative Live Cam Voice under a variety of lighting conditions and were pleased with the image quality. Colors looked accurate and images were sharp. We did, however, notice a slight bit of digital noise in both still and moving images. Video was generally smooth, but quick movements, such as the waving of a hand, appeared jerky and blurred. Video records at a maximum 30 frames per second at resolutions ranging from 160 x 120 to 1.3 megapixels, which is standard for this class of WebCam. You can capture still images at any of those resolutions up to 1.3 megapixels, and the Creative Live Cam Voice can take 5-megapixel still photos, but they're interpolated. The WebCam Center software was a bit frustrating, and we were occasionally greeted with a "Failed to capture image" error message.

The camera's built-in microphone is one of its most valuable assets. In our tests, the mic picked up a normal-level conversation from about 20 feet away. At closer range sound quality was average using normal mode, but with the Live Audio option selected, sound is and clearer with less background noise. The Directional Live Audio option was the most impressive, recording only sounds coming from directly in front of the microphone. We tested this by speaking loudly to the front and then loudly to the side of the microphone--from the side, no sound was audible.

Creative offers an industry-standard one-year warranty on the Live Cam Voice. Creative's support Web site includes knowledge-base articles, drivers, and software updates, as well as discussion forums and an e-mail form for tech support. A tech-support help line is also available Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. CT.

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User reviews

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Average user rating: 1.0 stars out of 14 reviews

Showing opinion 1 to 10 out of 14

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1 stars

Absoutely Terrible

by trinighul on August 29, 2006

Pros: Nothing AT ALL!

Cons: Everything about it!

Summary: I had the cheapest Creative webcam, and I upgraded thinking this would be better...NOT! the picture is TERRIBLE all the fancy features is not worth it IF YOU DO ...

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Summary: I had the cheapest Creative webcam, and I upgraded thinking this would be better...NOT! the picture is TERRIBLE all the fancy features is not worth it IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A DECENT PICTURE! STAY CLEAR OF THIS ON FOLKS! Creative should be ashamed for putting out such an inferior product. I have other creative products that I luv and would give a 10 to...but this one sucks...WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY!!!

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6 out of 8 users found this user opinion helpful.
2 stars

What's with the fish eye view??

by emersk on July 21, 2006

Pros: Sounded good

Cons: False advertising. Why not mention the fish eye view?

Summary: I should have read and believed the user comments before ordering this. User comments on this site saved me a lot of hassle steering me away from buying a Casio ...

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Summary: I should have read and believed the user comments before ordering this. User comments on this site saved me a lot of hassle steering me away from buying a Casio s850 point and shoot camera recently because they flagged the massive drop in video quality from it's excellent predecessor, the Casio s750. Likewise in this case I could have avoided a fish eye web cam. I was amazed that no one is commenting on the frog's perspective this web-cam supplies in reviews or on Creative's forum

Otherwise the unit seems well built with a lot of good features. The face tracking makes use of the high resolution when streaming.

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2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
4 stars

Fish Eye Images and audio thats nothing special

by heydrew on June 14, 2006

Pros: Clip stable on variety of surfaces

Cons: IMages are fish eye distorted and audio sounds bad in "adaptive" mode

Summary: Overall I was pretty dissapointed with this camera. The great audio is the main selling point and the camera does come with 3 audio modes -- normal and 2 that ...

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Summary: Overall I was pretty dissapointed with this camera. The great audio is the main selling point and the camera does come with 3 audio modes -- normal and 2 that reduce background noise. But using anything other then "normal" mode makes the audio distorted -- a tradeoff I dont think is worth it. Also, the lens creates images that are "fish eye" distorted and overall, the video was washed out. I ended up returning the unit and bought the Logitech Fusion instead and I'm much happier with the overall quality.

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2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
1 stars

The worst piece of P.C. equipment I have wasted money on in 30 years computing.

by Fup Duck on September 15, 2007

Pros: It looks good, but beyond that.........

Cons: Has not worked properly from day one

Summary: I bought creative plug n' pray live cam voice to replace a much older budget webcam, I can get average video on it but when I turn on the audio ...

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Summary: I bought creative plug n' pray live cam voice to replace a much older budget webcam, I can get average video on it but when I turn on the audio I either get very loud feedback or the program crashes, trie Creative "support" on their website- useless.
If you are seriously considering buying this cam please go to Creative's website, go to the help forums & read the 100's of pleas for help from others who have bought this cam.
The last Creative product I will ever buy.

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1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
8 stars

A good product for the door crasher price

by Leslie Satenstein on September 2, 2007

Pros: Sound and connectivity were great.

Cons: It is too light weight, and the slightest tug on wire causes it to fall.

Summary: The Staples door crasher price was $30.00. A good to excellent value.

The default "video output" was not linear as the software setup defaulted to using "Wide Angle". In

...

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Summary: The Staples door crasher price was $30.00. A good to excellent value.

The default "video output" was not linear as the software setup defaulted to using "Wide Angle". In this mode, vertical and horizontal edges in the background were captured curved, instead of being shown straight.

There is a feature called "face follow" that defaulted to on, but did not appear to work correctly. By turning it off, on the same menu was a zoom option. Using the zoom option, I was able to set the capture window to be focused closer, eliminating the background. If I returned to the face follow option, after having set zoom up, it reverted to its original mode of trying to zoom in or out to follow my face. Since my face was fixed before the monitor, the software starte d a bouncing mode.

I gave up on that automatic face follow option for now and settled on the static zoom mode. With this mode I am a happy camper.
My rating of 8 is due to my being able to purchase the device at $30.00. Otherwise I would rate it at between 7 and 6.

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1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
2 stars

A very bad webcam

by s0m0s on June 6, 2007

Pros: It has good audio capabilities

Cons: Driver hangs frecuently, It has not WIA drivers. Images are way too saturated and with poor definition

Summary: In my opinion, its incredible how an expensive camera like this one is so terrible. Drivers hangs so frequently that you need to have the USB plug in hand to ...

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Summary: In my opinion, its incredible how an expensive camera like this one is so terrible. Drivers hangs so frequently that you need to have the USB plug in hand to connect/disconnect it continuosly. The resolution of the cam is somewhat good but colors are horrible, saturated and too white.

It lacks WIA support and applications are slow and buggy.

Now I know why Creative puts this WebCam inside a Blister that needs to be broken to be opened. If they didn't that everyone would return to the shop the product (as I tryed).

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1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
1 stars

avoid this at all cost.

by Robo9000 on December 22, 2006

Pros: Looked conviencing

Cons: everything.

Summary: I cant believe it, i was all happy to buy a new webcam and i went to best buy thinking I'll get a great choice there... And this is ...

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Summary: I cant believe it, i was all happy to buy a new webcam and i went to best buy thinking I'll get a great choice there... And this is the highest price on the selection of webcams which i bought it for 129$ thinking im going to get the best webcam and then i come home to see that THE IMAGE QUALITY IS DISSAPOINTING!! they say that u can take 5! megapixel shots? well i tried it and i say thats the biggest lie they ever EVER mentioned!! I have a 3.2 megapixel camera at my house that takes 50times better shots then this Piece of c*** does. i am returning this product and getting my money back, what a waste of time on this. And what makes me even angrier is that these little devices dont even cost that much to make them, the company just tries to cash in the more they can, the better to them. That makes me sick.

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1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
1 stars

Worst Camera on the market

by katt5516 on December 4, 2006

Pros: I can't think of one

Cons: EVERYTHING is wrong with this product

Summary: Dell sold me this camera saying that this was the "best" one on the market right now...clearly not the case. The picture quality of this camera is similar to ...

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Summary: Dell sold me this camera saying that this was the "best" one on the market right now...clearly not the case. The picture quality of this camera is similar to opening your eyes underwater without a mask on. The microphone only works SOME of the time, and the background noise is very offensive. I have since bought a Microsoft camera at half the price and double the quality.

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1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
1 stars

Great picture, System-crashing bugs

by maahonen on December 2, 2006

Pros: Image quality, wide screen aspect, color

Cons: It gives XP and Win2K computers a blue screen

Summary: I've used this at work and home for skype calls. It has also been used for usability analysis work -- and in the process, was installed on a few ...

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Summary: I've used this at work and home for skype calls. It has also been used for usability analysis work -- and in the process, was installed on a few different types of PCs. The one thing this camera does quite consistently is crash the PC it's running on.

So, 9 points for image quality and color. -9 points for system-crashing quality of the device drivers. I'd give a 0 but can't.

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1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
3 stars

Not worth the price

by Esperulo on July 16, 2006

Pros: Looks good, and solid build

Cons: The most irritating software ever

Summary: I too have sent my Creative Live Cam Voice back. For 72GBP (and recommended by Skype)I thought I was buying the best possible, but the much vaunted features of ...

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Summary: I too have sent my Creative Live Cam Voice back. For 72GBP (and recommended by Skype)I thought I was buying the best possible, but the much vaunted features of this new device were erratic or performed poorly. The automatic zooming had a mind of its own and zoomed in and out without anyone moving a muscle. Once locked on to one person's face it couldn't find another right in front of the camera.
The advanced sound settings seemed to ADD echo and distortion to our Skype conversations; only the Normal setting gave clear speech.
And worst was the crazy division of the software controls into numerous separate components, some with just 3 radio buttons on! Finding simple controls often meant going down 3 or 4 levels of the Start Menu. I couldn't live with that.

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1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

Showing opinion 1 to 10 out of 14

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Specifications

Manufacturer: Creative Labs Inc.
Part number: VF0170

General
Device Type Web camera
Digital Zoom 4 x
Gross sensor resolution 1,300,000 pixels
Software Included Creative Photo Manager, Creative Photo Calendar, SightSpeed, Creative Advanced Video FX, Creative WebCam Center, Yahoo! Messenger, Muvee autoProducer, Orb with OrbSecure
Camera
Type Color - Fixed
Video Capture 1280 x 960, 640 x 480
Still Image BMP - 640 x 480, JPEG - 1280 x 960
Audio Support Yes : Built-in microphone
Lens Aperture F/2.0
Video input features Auto exposure control, White balance, Color control, Auto white balance, Manual exposure
Lens Construction
Lens Iris F/2.0
Focus Adjustment Automatic
Min Focus Range 5.9 in
Interfaces
Computer Interface Hi-Speed USB
Expansion / Connectivity
Interfaces 1 x Hi-Speed USB - 4 pin USB Type A
Compatible Slots None
Cables included 1 x USB cable
Miscellaneous
Included Accessories Headset
Cables Included 1 x USB cable
Video
Digital video input format AVI

Power
Power Device None
Battery None
Software / System Requirements
Min Operating system Microsoft Windows 2000 / XP
Min Processor Type 850 MHz

Creative Live Cam Voice

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Specifications

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