Whats the best "WebCam"?

[Prince of Persia]

I'm going off to college and some of my friends and I want to get a webcam sort of thing so we can easily communicate through the net with a visual display to look at.

What would you guys/gals recommend, because its not going to be used as a webcam but more of a means of communication between us. We'll all be on University connections so I'm assuming a cam with high quality video will still run smooth across the net.

Any suggestions guys. Try and keep it in the 50-100 limit, but if you know of any exceptionally good ones please suggest them.

 

[Prince of Persia]

Anyone? Usually someone responds in like 10 mins.

 

[NelsonMuntz]

Intel and Logitech have the smoothest picture in my experience. There are several of those available at different prices in your range. The cheapest Intel is usually around $50 but I think it has a $10 rebate right now and you can sometimes find even more on the rebate.

 

[J3S73R]

There is a $99.00 Intel Pro Camera that currently has a $30.00 Rebate.

I have this camera... as long as you dont use the Intel camera stuff... it had really good quality... but... it is probably cause i didnt sift out all the options before i said screw there software and got some better stuff.

 

[crazyjoekuta]

yea there are usually hot deals on webcams, look around

 

[TunaBoo]

Do NOT get the $30 with $30 rebate IBM PC cam. It makes you look green half the time and gets like 2 fps at max resolution (400 by 312 or something).

If they make a firewire cam get that, USB cams tend to be sucky (especially for over a broadband connection much higher than USB). At least the cheap crappy ones I have used, I am sure high qual USB cams do exist tho.

 

[Dunbar]

The best is an old camcorder, I saw how to do this on The Screen Savers a while ago. The quality is leaps and bounds better than web cams.