Creative's Directional Audio Webcam

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Now I saw a sneaky little demo of this under NDA whilst battling the French in Paris at the Skype/Pixmania gig back in March and I have to admit I was mighty impressed. So now it is official let’s bring you all up to date.

Creative’s Live! Cam Voice may well be one of the most innovative additions to the webcam sector I have seen since MSI let you be just like Paris Hilton. It employs a breakthrough technology called Direction Live! Audio Technology which uses a pair of dual adaptive array microphones to lock onto a user’s voice and eliminate all background noise. This enables a person to speak naturally while having a video conversation even in busy public places.

So given this News Ed has actually had a hands on with this device rather than being forced to hack and slash his way through the laborious marketing spiel how does it work? I have to say bloody brilliantly. The key is to place yourself between the two mics situated at the left and right sides of the little rugby ball shaped cam. I did this, recorded a video inside a room of over 500 people and I couldn’t even hear the dulcet tones of the scrawny waitress who kept offering me lukewarm cups of vile tea during the playback. It was, quite frankly, astounding.

The Live! Cam Voice is far from a one trick pony too as it also incorporates a wide angle lens and is capable of taking true 1.3 megapixel stills as well as an enhanced mode which can reach a massive five megapixels – a world first. In addition, a low light sensor automatically boosts video images in darkened rooms (gosh, why ever would you be using a webcam in a darken room?!) and it can even be accessed remotely from any Internet enabled device.

A highly reasonable $99.99 RRP has been announced and the Live! Cam Voice will hit shops before the end of the month. In all, apart from a disconcerting similarity to Stewie Griffin from Family Guy, I can’t see many flies on this thing.

Now! If! Creative! Would! Just! Lose! All! The! Unnecessary! Exclamation! Marks! Who! Does! It! Think! It! Is?! Yahoo!

Link:
Creative UK

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