webcam and video chat

[Inevitability]

greetings,

ok, lots question here...

i'm looking for a webcam that does more than the usual 640x480.
I see the logitech C300 does 1280x1024 video capture... does this mean it only records at this res or that it will do video chat at this res?
And how's the quality of the video and sound?

I see there's a logitech C310... any idea how this compares to the C300?

Also, what sort of bandwidth will i be using up with these cameras (if i wanted to do high res video chat)?

And what;s the best app to do high res vide chat?
Skype? Google Talk? the logitech app that comes with the webcam? anything else

 

[Drunkard #1]

I bought the Microsoft lifecam cinema that does 720/30p. I've used it over Skype, but I don't know if it auto adjusted to HD. I do get a nice big picture though, and the mic works well.

A few problems:

It's a very wide lens, so you get a lot of background and a not very big person, even at less than 1 metre.

It says 30 fps, but I have my doubts.

Skype routes over the best link between two points, so my "home network" allows it to use whatever bandwidth it needs - it uses 2.5 Mbps. I've got a 7 Mbps ADSL line, and the uplink is about 400 kbps, so it's grossly inadaquite for HD. If either party has a 384 kbps line, just turn off video.

The supplied software doesn't work with XP x64, so I had to use Yawcam, which was a better piece of software anyway.

You don't look at the camera, you look at the screen, so both parties are always looking at each others bald spots.

Autofocus and auto exposure isn't great.


I'm looking at setting up a system on my HTPC for my lounge, but I want something with a much longer lens and manual focus. The extra distance will improve the bald spot problem. Even then, I'll only get reasonable quality with local parties (or maybe WUG?).

TL,DR version - Cisco Telepresence it ain't.