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  1. Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Posts
    171
    #1
    Please advise how to make an ordinary videocam into a webcam. The ready to use webcam in the market has low resolution while videocam better lenses and video quality. is it possible at low cost? Thankns

  2. Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Posts
    340
    #2
    kung may video-in yung video card/graphics card mo, no problem yan.

  3. Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Posts
    8,837
    #3
    most videocams today have an Ilink or firewire port. puwede din yun

  4. Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Posts
    154
    #4
    If you have a firewire port on your computer and your camcorder is digital (if it's not digital, it won't have a firewire connection), then most of the time you can just hook up the camera to your computer. Problem is that most cameras will shut off if you don't use it for a while, so you'll have to tweak the settings to fix that.

    A lot of TV-in cards will also let you use a video input as a webcam, but this depends on the card. Same caveats as above, and keep in mind that a TV in card is going to cost much more than a decent webcam.

  5. Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Posts
    12,347
    #5
    From my own experience....

    First thing is to make sure your camcorder (I take it that is what you meant by videocam) has a battery saver that can be disabled. I have a JVC MiniDV camcorder that automatically turns off after a certain time if it's not recording and there's no way to disable it. That limited its use as a webcam.

    as for input to the pc......

    You can try a tv tuner card and use the S-video In or Composite In. But, that involves a lot of settings in the software.

    If your video card has Video In/Video Out (ViVo). Every video card I've bought over the last several years are from ASUS because of their ViVo features. It's what I currently use to capture/record from my DirectTV box.

    You can also try a dedicated capture device from say, Pinnacle. It'll take any input: composite, usb, firewire, S-video.

    Personally, what I'd prefer is to just get a high-res webcam like the Logitech Quickcam Ultravision (640x480 res, true 1.3mp capability).
    Last edited by Jun aka Pekto; May 27th, 2007 at 09:29 AM.

How to make the ordinary videocam into webcam