Creative has quite a range of Web-cams and this latest model, the Live! Cam Optia, has a little trick up its sleeve that should make even the most Web-cam-o-phobic of us give it a second glance. It is a Plug-n-Play Web-cam, the first from Creative.
This means there is no need to use a CD to install the camera. You just drop the 'other end' of the USB cable that is hardwired into the camera into any available slot on a PC running Windows XP with Service Pack 2 and you are good to go.
It certainly works, but if you want to use the whole slew of extras that Creative provides, then you will need to use the installation CD. This adds features like the ability to remotely monitor the camera, use it as a motion detector, capture stills and video, do time-lapse video and manage photos. And you get one overarching control center for this little lot as well as for tweaking the camera's settings and cutting straight into video calling.
The camera itself is a bit chunky, though if you like cool stuff then you'll probably find the clear plastic and white design - with a section that glows blue when you are doing video capture - appealing.
The glass lens gives clear, sharp images and it is well recessed so it should be pretty difficult to scratch. The lens section tilts through 270 vertical degrees so you can show video callers yourself or what you are looking at, and it also has 15 degrees of horizontal tilt which we found helped a bit when finding a good home for it on a cluttered desk.
The alternative to standing the camera on a desk is to use its spring-loaded clip mechanism to mount it on a monitor. This wasn't as successful as we'd have liked: the camera never felt particularly solid when sitting on top of any of the LCDs we tried it with.
We aren't keen on the hardwired nature of the USB cable, either. Like any device with hardwired cables or plugs, you are at the mercy of the cable itself and if that dies before the device it is attached to, you are in trouble for all the wrong reasons.
When you need to carry the camera you can do so in the drawstring bag that comes with it, which is large enough to accommodate both the camera itself and the hands-free stereo headset that Creative bundles, so that you can have video calls with voice without blaring the recipient's words out through your computer's speaker.
