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01 Nov 2007
VoIP provider Skype and peripherals giant Logitech have joined forces in a bid to offer a higher standard of video calls over the internet.
The High Quality Video (HQV) collaboration will provide Skype users with VGA resolution at 30fps when using a certified Logitech webcam attached to a dual-core PC and connected to a broadband connection of 384Kbps or higher.
"This is a major leap in the clarity and smoothness of free video calls over the internet," said Gareth O'Loughlin, general manager for mobile and hardware devices at Skype.
"HQV is a tremendous opportunity to take the Skype experience to a whole new level. One in four Skype calls already involve video. In the past, only big businesses could afford this kind of quality. It's now time to take it to everyone else."
Skype's software and Logitech's webcams have been optimised to work together with a fully redesigned set of drivers in the QuickCam software which are also tuned to recognise callers who have the new Skype software.
"HQV takes all the promises of video calling and dramatically enhances the quality of the experience," said Gina Clark, general manager and vice president of Logitech's Internet Communications business unit.
"Once people start enjoying HQV at VGA resolution and 30fps it will quickly become an indispensable way to stay connected."
Skype 3.6 for Windows and QuickCam 11.5 are expected to be available for download in November.
All Logitech HQV certified webcams are available worldwide now. The QuickCam Pro 9000 and QuickCam Pro for Notebooks are both £69.99, and the QuickCam Sphere (AF) is £89.99.
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Why the unnecessary restrictions?
In the Skype 3.6 beta releases, it was possible to manually activate the higher resolution video with cameras other than the three Logitech cameras mentioned in this article. It was proven in the Skype User Forums that a variety of other webcams were capable of 640x480 resolution video, both from Logitech and from other manufacturers. With the 3.6 production release, this manual activation capability has been removed, so only users with one of the three specific Logitech cameras will be able to benefit from higher resolution video. It is surprising that Skype has decided to relegate the majority of their existing users who own webcams to "second class status", apparently only because of a marketing agreement with Logitech. If the Skype/Logitech "High Quality Video" is truly superior, as they say, then why not let it stand on its own merits, and allow users with other webcams to benefit from the improved resolution? One would think that this would encourage more webcam owners to start using Skype for video calls, and probably encourage more users to buy the "better" Logitech cameras, when they see how good High Quality Video can be.
Posted by: J.A. Watson 16 Nov 2007