Bought a Webcam
Bought a webcam from eBay for $23 — yes one of those $0.01 win + $22.99 posted from China. Very average cam at this price point — 350k pixel CCD that does 640×480 at 15fps or 320×240 at 30fps. Powered by USB with a built in mic, it also sports 6 LED that emits weak blue’ish light when its top senser detects darkness.
It installs as “Vimicro USB PC Camera” (which I guess is the processor inside). Quality is pretty lousy. Serious lag, and image is noisy at low light. I guess that’s what I should expect at that price point anyway.
I am going to use it to use the Skype video to talk to Vivian and Anna when they are away in Hong Kong for 3 weeks over Chinese New Year, as well as talking to my parents in Taiwan.
By the way, Skype 2.0 final was also released today. It is still the same VoIP over its P2P network, but this time it adds video phone support, so that you are not only going to get free phone calls, you are also able to see the person you are talking to. I guess video phone has already been popularised by other IM networks like MSN, but Skype has its “firewall penetration” advantage — I can even use it at work with nothing but port 80/443 through ISA.
My Skype ID is on my contact page. Don’t expect me to have video up all the time though :)
What other use is a cheap webcam?
UPDATE: Due to popular demand, the driver for my webcam is here: vimicro-pc-camera-301x.zip (ZIP, 1,912kb)
Comments
What kind of driver is it? Can you point to me the eBay item? They usually use the same VIA chip. Maybe a few reboots is required?
Hello..
I got the same cam. but i lost the driver. can you please send me the driver for that. Thanking you in advance for that.
Bye
hello!i have a web cam as that you have!his drive is the vimicro usb pc camera 301x!it is a very good webcam!!i’d like to buy another webcam with the same drive!can you indicate to me a link where i can buy it?thank you.
Yes it is a Vimicro 301x cam. Got it from eBay Australia from someone selling from Hong Kong. They are pretty much *everywhere* and shouldn’t be too hard to spot one.
Hello,
I’m sure youre tired of comments about your webcam. Well I recently bought three of them, and you guessed it, they wont install. Do you have any resources for drivers? Thanks.
KElly
Sorry for those who have requested the drivers!
I will post a link when I can actually find my original CD (it came with a 8cm mini CD which I have no idea where I misplaced).
However, searching for “vimicro pc camera driver” on search engines should also give you some links.
Hi all,
For those who requested driver for Vimicro 301x, here’s an zipped version that came with my cam:
vimicro-pc-camera-301x.zip (ZIP, 1,912kb)
I was wondering if anyone was having issues with the MIC is there anyway to work on it..fix it or something
scotty, i downloaded the site that you posted vimicro-pc-camera-301x.zip, but it needs to unzipped the file, when i`m actually extracting the file, it says it`s corrupted, should i download a file to unzip that? guys, hope you could help me out, thanks in advance
I also just got this cam.
My audio works fine but the cam doesnt(inserts confused look)
Any sugestions?
Thanks
Bought some of these too from this store on eBay UK
Had no probs getting one working so far…
… but does anyone know how to turn the lights off?
cheers
@Angel sorry no idea. Reinstall the driver? Try to plug into a different USB port?
@hUJe John: No idea either. I know the light is a bit annoying. I initially bought it for this “feature”, but the light is so dim that it is completely useless. Masking tape over the lights?
Re: lights
My missus has come up with an excellent workaround to make the lights go off… she just lifted the camera off the top of the screen and plonked it down in front so the screen lights up the sensor on the top and – hey presto! – the lights go off.
Guys
was finally able to find the driver for my lil cam (actually is a red QQ VC7U). uses the same vimicro driver. however, on 1 comp, it works well as a web cam, but on the other comp, it works only as a cam to take pix. wont work as a web cam.
any ideas? maybe regedit issues?
Hi all
I have one of these little cameras, the same camera seems to be available with many different brand names. I have found the picture improves if I bounce light from a desk lamp off the wall behind my monitor onto my face & i don’t end up with black circles under the eyes looking like an internet deviot.
I have seen new models out that come with motion sensing software included, that would be handy to have, anyone got a copy? I have my driver disk if anyone out there still needs it…gm
Hi all,
Bought this same webcam as everyone. Is it possible to email the driver disk for windows XP professional X64 edition? I cannot seem to install it with the usual setup files. Email me at demonicangels@gmail.com
Totally agree that the image is laggy.
Thanks all.
PhilTry turning the lens like a proper camera, seems to make a bit of difference on mine – tho of course the Vimicro bit is the chip inside so the box & lens could be completely different… you might even be able to push & pull it to move the lens
hi scotty
i also bought the same cam that u have my problem is the driver disc was accidntally croken. i downloaded the file you posted last feb 6.. but still my cam dosnt work… i think the file u posted is the software one… is it possible if u could share the driver installer??? thanks in advance
i forgot the cam that i have doesnt have any built in mic… i dont know the version or the model of this cam… but i just look like ur cam….
Just a brief note about the LED:s. They are dim/weak because they are INFRA-RED…and obviesly rather low quality, because good IR-LED:s sends almost no visible light at all!
I too am looking for x64 drivers for this webcam. Anyone had any luck? Pretty sure there aren’t any official ones, but maybe someone can hack about or find a workaround?
pls help me out i already check and downloaded as many driver as i could but still my cam doesnt work. its just look like ur cam but it doesnt have built in mic. it also have 6 lights and at the clip V-cam is written… could somebody help me out>??? thanks in advance
I brought a web cam that is trying to install the vimicro drivers and when i go to install it.. It says that it can’t install due to Windows logo testing.. I have the choice to continue anyway or finish.. Either way it wont’ install properly.. If i try to plug the cam in and it goes to look for the drivers need it said none can be found.. I have tried to install it with the cd giving to me with the web cam and drivers i have downloaded off the net.. Can anyone help me out here and tell me how i get past this windows logo testing parts..
Cheers
Charlie
I have the very same cam, it works perfect inside but actually I would love to use it to watch the beach front, but it seems there is too much light since I got only a white screen when I turn it to the window… I tried to reduce the contrast and birghtness, but this ghqnge nothing… do you have an idea on how I could it make works for outside shots?
thank you in advance
Steffy
Hi all,
It seems this page has been quite popular on Google when search terms like webcam and vimicro are used, and it has turned into something like a support forum.
Sorry but I don’t work for the webcam company, and I have no idea how to fix all your issues (sorry!). Nor do I have any idea where to point you guys to, as my cam “just works”. I might do a bit more research if it doesn’t, but since it works and I am lazy, so…
Hence I have to close comments on this post. No more support request, thanks.
Playground is the personal weblog of Scott Yang, a Chinese-Australian Christian who works as a software developer in Sydney Australia.
Hi Scott, I hope you don’t mind me contacting you – I came across your site when I was looking for support on the “£1″ post from Hong Kong webcams from eBay. I’ve just purchased one to get me going and I’m having a nightmare trying to install the software – the drivers start but they stay at 0% and never move, even after several hours!!
Did you encounter any problems like this when you were installing?! I’m running Win XP Pro.
Thanks for your help,
Tony