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Hello all, first post! Question about cams...

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sugartitschanel

I haven't posted recently, hopefully will be back soon!
Inactive Cam Model
Aug 1, 2014
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streamate.com
Hi everyone! I just found this forum about a week ago, and I already feel like I have learned SO much! All of you models and members seem so sweet and helpful! I am super excited to be apart of such a great online community :-D
(I just went through all of the steps to get verified model status, yay!)

I know you have all answered this many times, but looking through all the posts on here I've seen many different answers now and I'm not sure what to do… I'm about to purchase a good, high quality (HD) webcam from Amazon (where i usually buy everything online) and I'm just wondering which will be the best for streaming in HD on Streammate? I have a MacBook Air, so will any Lodgitech cam work fine with this laptop or.. ? I'm not the best with technology lol.. Still haven't figured out how to work the HD encoder on Streammate, but I'll figure that out another day. I want to get a good webcam first :mrgreen:

I was thinking about the "Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920, 1080p Widescreen" but I've seen people post about a lodgitech 1000 or the 720… I'm so confused about the difference of them all, so thats why I'm asking you guys :thumbleft:
 
From the posts I've read from highly successful models on SM, a desktop is far better than a laptop. I think the wifi is not as fast or something? Someone more tech savvy than me can probably elaborate on that. But I do know other models who use a laptop and say it's fine. :dontknow:
As for the webcam, I know I had major problems using Logitech on a Mac on MFC. I think there's a program to get around that, though.
Sorry my answers are so vague and not very helpful. :oops:

Look up the YouTube video on the Encoder. It was the only way I could set mine up, I had to physically watch step by step.
 
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Streamate recommends the Logitech c920 so that's what I'd go with! For me, a laptop was terrible on streamate; the only way it works for me is on a desktop with the Internet hard-wired. It varies from model to model but since your placement (and money) are affected by your connection, I'd definitely aim to be hardwired and on a strong computer.
 
I'm aware this is the 'Ask-a-Model!' section, but I hope no-one minds me chipping in here :oops:

So, I'm definitely not a model or even female to begin with, but I'd like to think I'm a bit 'tech-savvy' as Megan called it :). I guess in this case, there's a difference between cam (or picture) quality and stream quality. It's mostly all somehow connected, but getting a good cam does not necessarily mean you'll get a good quality stream. The quality of your stream is dependent on quite a few things, some of which are: internet connection (most importantly upload speed/bandwidth), type of connection (hard wired or wi-fi) and circumstances (interference, distance to router, etc), capture hardware (camcorder/webcam) and pc hardware.

If, for example, you buy the best HD cam out there, but have a 'shitty' upload speed available, you will never be able to stream in full HD quality, at least not without massive stuttering, since your pc will not be able to flawlessly 'transfer' the good quality over to the server(s). In regards to the difference between a desktop and a laptop - a decent laptop will get you a long way, you don't really need a high end one. Granted, I'm not sure what exactly becomes available to a model as far as software goes, for when you're streaming, but most laptops nowadays should be able to handle multiple processes at the same time without hiccups. Also, a laptop doesn't necessarily mean having a bad internet connection. You can for example use an ethernet cable for your connection and hardwire your internet, making it as steady as using a desktop (also depending on the hardware of course, but solely regarding the internet connection stability). What -can- make a difference, when using wi-fi, is any kind of interference or perhaps incorrect settings. Default settings for your wireless router might not be the optimal ones. One quick fix is usually changing the wi-fi channel, since most wireless machines tend to use the same few channels, they get 'clogged' and start to interfere with each other. If you're living in a crowded area with many wireless routers around, chances are some of them are interfering with your wi-fi at home, weakening your signal. Then there's the difference between wireless routers themselves; some are stable, some aren't. You may need to reset type A, but may never have to reset type B, and so on and so forth.

Basically, I could go on and on about what determines your stream quality, but there's so many variables... One doesn't exclude the other, nor does having one immediately result in the other. If anyone needs some specific answers, just let me know and I'll try to help, but I don't want to bother everyone with tons of information right off the bat :)

In regards to the specific camera; I have no experience with webcams, but the 1080p and 720p refers to the resolution. 1080p stands for 1920x1080 and the 720 refers to 1280x720, the latter obviously having a lower resolution, resulting in a somewhat 'worse' image quality. That's the most basic difference. Then there's always different experiences for different people; some find it the best camera ever, others have issues with for example the quality settings. From what I could find with a quick search, the C920 looks like the best Logitech has to offer?

I'm no fan of Mac, so I'm not sure about any of the hardware specifications, but if you have no issues with doing daily stuff (browsing the internet, listening to music, watching movies), I'm pretty sure you'll have no issues with the webcam. If you can watch HD movies without any stuttering or problems on your laptop, which is pretty resource consuming, you should be able to stream as well.

Either way, I'll stop typing now :lol: . Hope I haven't made things more complex! Let me know if something's unclear and if there's anything a bit more specific I can help with, just let me know! :)
:twocents-02cents:
 
Thank you all for the help, I think I will go with the Logitech c920 :mrgreen:
& I do have a laptop, but so far streaming in HD with the built in camera seems to work fine, since I have the best internet I can possibly have. :) But I really do want to invest in a desktop at some point, I think that would help with the camming situation a lot!
 
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sugartitschanel said:
Thank you all for the help, I think I will go with the Logitech c920 :mrgreen:
& I do have a laptop, but so far streaming in HD with the built in camera seems to work fine, since I have the best internet I can possibly have. :) But I really do want to invest in a desktop at some point, I think that would help with the camming situation a lot!

Note that the c920 does not have any official Mac drivers. It can be made to work, but it's a pain.

The c930, on the other hand, does have Mac drivers, so it might make life easier.
 
Always_Tim said:
Note that the c920 does not have any official Mac drivers. It can be made to work, but it's a pain.

The c930, on the other hand, does have Mac drivers, so it might make life easier.

Do you mean configuration software instead of drivers? I have a C920 and it works fine on OS X 10.9.4 without any setup, but there's no official app to tweak its settings. From a quick search there's an app on the Apple store that in theory lets you do that though, but I'm too cheap to buy it to test (it costs 8USD).
 
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I have a c930 webcam and a desktop computer that I bought this past spring when my previous laptop died. I love my cam, but wish I had a laptop again often because desktops provide little flexibility in camming. Sometimes I just want to cam in another room, do a shower, etc, ya know? So I kind of regret that. I plan to buy a high end laptop within the next month or so... And use it for when I start camming on MFC again. I'll stay on the desktop for private based sites for the internet and CPU speed.
 
If you use the Logitech C920 with a Mac, I would advise visiting the App Store and purchasing an app that allows you to make settings changes to the Logitech camera. This way you can adjust colour balance etc and, perhaps more importantly, turn off the autofocus feature. Here is a video with some useful links:

http://youtu.be/6W1ct0yOpwU
 
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Always_Tim said:
sugartitschanel said:
Thank you all for the help, I think I will go with the Logitech c920 :mrgreen:
& I do have a laptop, but so far streaming in HD with the built in camera seems to work fine, since I have the best internet I can possibly have. :) But I really do want to invest in a desktop at some point, I think that would help with the camming situation a lot!

Note that the c920 does not have any official Mac drivers. It can be made to work, but it's a pain.

The c930, on the other hand, does have Mac drivers, so it might make life easier.

I actually was going to ask about this, I've been using the c920 and although there is software to download to somewhat edit the feed, there is no software to edit the audio from the c920 on mac. totally useless. I was thinking about getting the c930, so I guess I will then. thanks!



weirdbr said:
Always_Tim said:
Note that the c920 does not have any official Mac drivers. It can be made to work, but it's a pain.

The c930, on the other hand, does have Mac drivers, so it might make life easier.

Do you mean configuration software instead of drivers? I have a C920 and it works fine on OS X 10.9.4 without any setup, but there's no official app to tweak its settings. From a quick search there's an app on the Apple store that in theory lets you do that though, but I'm too cheap to buy it to test (it costs 8USD).

save your money, it doesn't work. it lets you 'zoom' but that's about it.
if you want to edit your feed you're better off getting iglasses or camtwist and take the lack of audio adjustments as a loss.
 
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Fay_Galore said:
Can I just add, having a desktop is not necessarily better then having a laptop! It's all about the specs, and you can hardwire a laptop just as easily with ethernet.

Indeed ; I only have two issues with macs - first when using the built-in camera+microphone, the fan noise can interfere with things, but with an external camera it is no problem. And with the new macbook pro retina, the thunderbold ethernet adapter (required for macbook Air also) sometimes disconnects too easily.. It would be nice if it required pushing a button/latch to disconnect it instead of just being able to pull it out.
 
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