Milpitas, Calif. — Creative Labs introduced two new Web-cameras today offering USB 2.0 high speed and a wide-angle lens for desktop and notebook computers.
The WebCam Live! Ultra and Ultra Notebook will both retail for a suggested $99 and offer 76-degree field of view thanks to the new wide-angle lens, Creative said. The VGA cameras offer 30 frames per second video.
The CCD-based Web-cams will also feature a focus ring and work with instant messaging programs from Yahoo!, AOL, MSN and Windows Messanger. They feature a dedicated microphone or headset and use Creative’s multi-person “smart face tracking” software for following motion during a video instant message.
The cameras will ship with Creative’s WebCam Center software for remote video monitoring, motion detection and time-lapse video capture. Users can also snap still images using the supplied software when the cameras are connected to the PC. The images can be interpolated to 1.3-megapixels and the camera offers a 4x digital zoom in still mode.
The desktop Web-cam hips this month. The notebook version, which offers a “PowerGrip” attachment for attaching the camera to a notebook screen, will ship next month.