Mac Buyer's Guide: Netcam Review

Manufacturer: iRez (KritterUSB) and Kensington (VideoCAM Mac VGA)
System Requirements: KritterUSB: Any Power Mac with USB, processor speed of 233 MHz or higher, Mac OS 8.6 or higher, 32 MB of RAM minimum, QuickTime 3.0 or higher. VideoCAM Mac VGA: Mac OS 8.5.1 with USB 1.2 (Mac OS 8.6 recommended), Apple® iMac™ or G3, 32MB RAM, 64MB recommended, Available USB Port, 50MB hard disk space (20MB required for VideoCAMworks™), Video Card and Monitor capable of displaying 16bit (Thousands) color at SVGA (800x600) resolution, CD-ROM Drive, 28.8 kbps modem (56.6 Kbps recommended for video calling), Microphone, Internet Connection (for video calling and email features), Email program that supports file attachments.
Retail Price: $79.95 for VideoCAM Mac VGA, $129.95 for KritterUSB
Availability: Out Now

One of the most popular peripherals in the history of the Macintosh was the Connectix QuickCam. So what if it offered terrible image quality and no color whatsoever... it looked cool and allowed people to take pictures and record itty-bitty movies. Recently, several peripheral makers have taken the magic of the QuickCam and combined it with USB technology to create cameras that offer support for full color photos and even decent-sized movies. iRez's KritterUSB and Kensington's VideoCAM Mac VGA are two of these cameras. Which one is the better buy? Just ask the Mac Buyer's Guide!

DESIGN
Recently, mostly thanks to Apple, the demand for good-looking computers and peripherals has risen greatly. Unfortunately, Kensington seems to have ignored this trend with its VideoCAM Mac VGA camera. The Mac VGA sports a beige and opaque purple case that mimics the shape of a standard point and-shoot camera. This design not only looks mediocre, but it provides for very little desktop stability. The KritterUSB, on the only hand, sports an innovative translucent blue design which can best be described as a cross between an eyeball and a three-legged spider.  The Mac VGA does, however, have two design advantages over the Kritter: a longer USB cable and an on camera picture button. The KritterUSB includes a rather short USB cable and only takes pictures via its software.
WINNER: KritterUSB

PICTURE AND MOVIE QUALITY
Both the Mac VGA and the KritterUSB are capable of capturing still photos and movies. That is about all the two cameras have in common in the picture and movie quality category. The KritterUSB can capture extremely high quality still photos up to 640x480 resolutions. The Mac VGA can barely manage decent quality photos at 320x240 resolutions. The KritterUSB is able to capture 320x240 movies at around 20 frames per second. The Mac VGA can barely manage five frames per second at any resolution. It's pretty easy to tell who wins this category!
WINNER: KritterUSB

BUNDLED SOFTWARE
This is where the KritterUSB falls on its behind. Its sole bundled application (other than freeware and shareware), Reel-Eyes, contains a truckload of features, but they are implemented terribly. Menu items are listed in abbreviations and computer lingo, stability is shaky at best, and the user interface in general is extremely cryptic. Luckily, basic video and photo capture is easy enough to master. The Mac VGA's bundled software is most of what the KritterUSB's is not. The included capture application, VideoCAMworks, offers a non-standard, but innovative interface and captures movies and photos into standard QuickTime, PICT and JPEG formats. While it does not offer the same range of features as Reel-Eyes, most users will appreciate its simplified interface. In addition to VideoCAMworks, Kensington also bundles CU-SeeMe with the Mac VGA. CU-SeeMe is an extremely popular Internet video conferencing application. Unfortunately, neither camera included video editing software.
WINNER: Mac VGA

CONCLUSION
Although in the "included software" category Kensington's VideoCAM Mac VGA drastically beat out the KritterUSB, the Mac VGA offers such terrible image quality that I cannot recommend buying it even though it costs over $50 less than the KritterUSB. The KritterUSB has its faults too... But luckily, these faults are in software and can be corrected by iRez in the future (are you listening iRez?). Therefore, if you can endure nonintuitive software and want a USB video camera buy the KritterUSB. Otherwise, wait until a USB camera is released that offers image quality equal to the Kritter's and bundled software equal to the Mac VGA's.

NOTE: Kensington also offers the VideoCAM SuperVGA USB video camera which promises improved image quality but costs $129.

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August 21, 2008