Video Conferencing - Video Cam or Web Cam?

So you’ve discovered how useful and practical video conferencing is and are thinking about investing in a new camera or upgrading your old one.

Here are some things to consider to ensure that you get the most out of your video conferencing experience.

Video Conferencing with Webcams

The main thing going for webcams as a video conferencing tool is their price: they’re dirt cheap. They cost anywhere from less than $20 to as much as $150.

The difference between video conferencing with a starter webcam and a high-end one lies in image quality.

The quality of the image you put out during video conferencing will depend on the webcam’s resolution. It should be, at least, 640 x 480 pixels if you don’t want to appear too grainy to whomever you are video conferencing with.

For video conferencing, your webcam should also have a good fps (frames per second) capacity, ideally 30 fps.

Another consideration for video conferencing is the type of image sensor the webcam carries. There are two main types of image sensors: CMOS (pronounced “see-moss,” Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) and CCD (Charged Coupled Device, converting light into electrical current it is the same technology used in reading bar codes). Choose CCD over CMOS.

A final consideration for your video conferencing webcam is how to plug it into your computer. Webcams need to plug into USB ports and most new computers have them, but older ones may not.

USB (Universal Serial Bus) ports provide a fast plug-and-play connection between your computer and newer versions of tools such as mice, scanners, and printers. USB ports can be purchased separately and installed into a computer.