- 7.7Very good
Pros
Download the latest drivers for your Polycom ViaVideo to keep your Computer up-to-date. I can't find driver for it anywhere. ViaVideo webcam. The download for the via video 2 is below.
- ✓High-quality camera with built-in microphone and CPU
- ✓software can cope with NAT routers.
Cons
- ✕No support for third-party software or dial-up users.
At a whopping £399 (ex. VAT), you'd expect Polyspan's ViaVideo conferencing camera to be rather special. It certainly looks superior -- if you can remember the phaser featured in the original version of Star Trek, you have a pretty good picture of the camera unclipped from its tilting base.
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On top, there's a decent-quality microphone under a couple of sculpted holes. Alternatively, a headset mic can be plugged into a 3.5mm jack on the back of the camera. The same socket can also be set to output audio, either to your sound card's line-in socket using the supplied cable, or directly to a set of headphones (not supplied). The USB and power sockets also live at the rear. Power comes from a 12-volt supply roughly two-thirds the size of the camera.
At the front, just above the lens, is a focus wheel. To the right of the lens the three-way switch acts as combined lens shield and on, off or audio-only switch. A relatively large, high-quality lens provides a good balance between providing a wide field of view without facial close-ups bulging unflatteringly.
Cool looks and a combined microphone aside, it's the built-in processor that separates the ViaVideo from other USB cameras. This takes care of the H.323 audio and video compression, which means there's less for the PC to do. And because it also handles white balance, contrast and brightness, there's no fiddling around before you're up and running. On the audio side, the camera efficiently takes care of noise suppression and echo cancellation.
Polycom Via Video Driver
This is usually transparent to the user, except when camera starts up. First the software uploads a program to the camera (which takes a few seconds), and in less than perfect lighting the first 10 or so seconds of images are sometimes a mess of artefacts while the camera's CPU expends all its power getting to grips with the departure from its natural environment -- a strip-lit office.
In some conditions, such as a mix of incandescent and daylight, skin tones look rather unhealthy. Darker environments, like many homes, can leave pictures on the gloomy side. Aside from a low-light mode that helps a little, there are no other manual controls.