The media could not be loaded.
Sometimes there's a bit of technology that sounds like an exciting new thing. Features that you really want and would be useful. But in some cases, this new technology falls so hard and flat on its face that it really should have been cooked a lot longer before being released and is an absolute insult to buyers who were trusting enough to get it. Read on for all the gory details...
===================
The Praise (Good Things)
===================
+ Comes with free software when you register it
+ Depth based "augmented reality" (Really an attempt at a green screen system)
+ Full HD (1080p) at 30 FPS, HD (720p) at 60 FPS
+ Integration with Windows Hello for secure face recognition
+ Decent sound pick up and audio handling
+ 3D scanning
==================
The Raze (Bad Things)
==================
- Video quality is very sub-par
- Third party software for green-screen is subscription based, counterintuitive, and buggy
- Green screen implementation is abysmal
- Depth sensing capability falls off at less than half advertised distance
- Very finicky about USB ports
- No accurate operation in other included software
- Customer Support from Creative is badly designed and handled
- Screen-top mounting capability is impacted by thick USB 3.0 cable and unsuitable hardware design
- Use in Windows Hello face recognition is extremely shaky
- "Driver" software is not an actual driver - Default windows drivers are used
- No control software for anything but the audio (Microphone)
- No software included for 3D scanning
- Software glitches
======================
The Haze (Things to Consider)
======================
* USB 3.0, therefore maximum cable length is one meter
* May be useful for folks wanting to develop for an F200 Intel Realsense system
The Details...
============
The camera has some awesome ideas and features that are described. In my case, I wanted to use the depth-based green-screen capability for video purposes, which would save me the complication and cost of setting up a green screen physically. All the other features would just be bonuses and fun. Unfortunately, this is pretty much Just Hardware without any quality software support and the hardware itself is not that great either, so it makes a lot of promises and lives up to none of them.
Out of the box! Really, get... out...
--------------------------------------------------
Two stickers to allow it to slide out of the sleeve, but then the sleeve also has a zip strip on it to open up the sleeve. But why? Unstick the stickers and the inner box slides out. Pull the zip strip and the stickers still prevent it from opening. Turns out they decided to put the basic setup directions on the inside of the outer sleeve of the packaging, requiring you to break the packaging to get to them and then keep the cardboard instructions otherwise.
Get the inner box open and there is a lovely form-fitted section inside that has fingertip cutouts to pull the camera out. Except it doesn't come out. Finally after breaking out the form-fit portion inside, it's discovered to be hollow and the back section of the camera is hooked into the form-fitted portion in such a way as to prevent it from coming out. Wiring is also in a separate section behind the formed plastic. Since the plastic was attached in, this was... bad.
Just put it right here
-----------------------------
The camera itself has a very narrow "foot" at the bottom edge of the main camera unit to rest it flat on the top of a monitor with the back flap to snug tight against the monitor and hold it steady. Alternately, the back flap has a standard camera mount for a quarter inch bolt and can be mounted on a tripod. However the flap itself contains electronics, so the included thick USB 3.0 cable plugs into it. Combine a single-hinge backplate with the cable plugged in and the small width of the foot and the thing solidly refuses to stay stable or horizontal on the top of a monitor.
Also keep in mind that this is USB 3, so the cable is one meter long. About 39 inches, less when you account for the connectors being at right angles. So you need to have a free USB 3.0 port within this range of mounting location. This is shorter than a lot of people realize. If your computer is under the desk, chances are high the cable won't reach. Laptops will have a much better success with this distance.
Drivers? You don't need no steenking drivers!
----------------------------------------------------------------
My go to web camera has a nice set of drivers. They allow me to adjust the focus and all kinds of nifty things. This? No drivers. Just an audio utility for the microphone. All the video controls are handled by Windows natively, and any software that wants to make use of the extended features of the camera must separately install the SDK runtime for it. Sooooo... yeah. Pretty shoddy controls for this. Focus? What focus? You don't need focus either.
Free software! Yay!
----------------------------
For each thing they say it can do, I'd like to be able to do that out of the box or at least have the description plainly tell me that extra software is required. If you are getting this camera because you have software already that says to get it, you might get lucky. Otherwise, cross your fingers. It has no software or pointers included for several features it advertises.
When registered, it will currently provide you with licenses for:
LaserLife
Nevermind
Magix Fastcut
Magix Youcast
ooVoo
CatchEye
The first two are games on Steam that they will give you a Steam code for. I did not see a single positive review on Steam for the games being used with this type of camera as the controller, and the second one doesn't even make use of the Realsense technology.
The last pair are free anyway and work better with a high quality normal camera.
The second group of two are a video editor and the special caster program that does things like the depth-based green screen. Jackpot! That's my goal!
Turns out that Youcaster is subscription software, which means that you get "Some time for free" with the purchase and then pay for it regularly afterward. Fine, it's not too expensive by comparison. As long as it does a good job on the feature I need so I can get some nice, high quality video with a high-quality depth-based virtual green screen. That's what I expect for a $200 camera.
Wait... where is the cool 3D scanning? Where is the voice control?
Not included. No sign of it anywhere on an internet search except on Creative's own advertisement page.
Dreams shattered
--------------------------
A picture is worth a thousand words. The attached video shows off the situation well.
Grainy, noise-filled RGB video.
Some kind of creepy blob-based "virtual green screen".
And note that the software even decided to do some REALLY odd stuff with the end result, as you can see in the video.
As a visible-light video camera, this is completely and utterly useless for anything that requires a semblance of quality. I've gotten better results from the camera on a $50 tablet. For the "Augmented reality", it's a bad joke.
And testing under studio lights (ow my eyes) ended up with just as grainy and noisy video and a complete failure of the depth sensing system.
Help? Please?
---------------------
Right! Maybe it's defective, or the firmware is wonky, or... or... or... Hey, Creative! Help?
Fill out the form that only has options for how audio is connected and be told to wait for 2-3 days for a response.
But sadly, no. Even with a second camera ordered just to see, no luck. Multiple computers, trying stock firmware instead of upgrading it, everything... no luck.
In the end...
==========
I'd consider this as a silly toy to be installed in a cheap fun house if it cost $30. As usable for anything respectable? Pure non-starter. The games don't work with it. Support is nigh onto non-existent and isn't even set up to deal with the camera they sell.
If this camera will do something useful for you and the situation is worth the cost, wonderful. From my point of view, the camera will be returned in short order. I'm still waiting to hear from the wonderful folks at support to see if they have any solutions. Still waiting being the operative term. I'll update this review if anything of interest comes up.
Questions? Comments? Let me know! I'm always happy to answer them when I know them and find out new things
