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Why Your Webcam Still SUCKS!

Name: Why Your Webcam Still SUCKS!
Description: A short Techquickie explainer on why laptop webcams are much worse than phone cameras. It covers sensor size, image processing, and the interface differences between laptops and phones, with input from a Logitech engineer.

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1 HN user recommended this explainer1 month2020 score 1

Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

HN commenters link it when webcam quality comes up, as a quick rundown of why laptop webcams lag behind phones.

A short Techquickie explainer on why laptop webcams are much worse than phone cameras. It covers sensor size, image processing, and the interface differences between laptops and phones, with input from a Logitech engineer.

“Here's a good video that gives a run down” (HN, 2020)

1 recommendations · 2 citations · Explainers · partly dated

Consumer devices & gadgets Hardware (other) Explainers Hardware & Electronics

3 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@spuz Apr 2020 Recommends

on HN thread Tell HN: Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and now web cams

It's because the standard webcam interface is based on a slow USB 2 interface which can only support enough bandwidth for 720p video. To upgrade your webcam, laptop manufacturers would need to make significant changes to both the interface and the operating system. Add that onto the lack of economic incentive, it's just not worth the cost. Here's a good video that gives a run down: [this video]

Gives a rundown of why laptop webcams lag behind.

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Citations, criticism and jokes

@dijit Mar 2020 Cites it

on HN thread New iPad Pro with LiDAR Scanner and trackpad support

This might shed some light as to why: [this video] tl;dr: phone webcams have DMA, laptop webcams are using USB.

Explains why laptop webcams are poor: phones use DMA, laptops use USB.

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@Foivos Jun 2020 Cites it

on HN thread Seven years later, I bought a new MacBook. For the first time, I don't love it

A lot of it has to do with how laptop web cams work in general and it is not only Apple's problem [1]. A way to improve this situation a bit would be to be able to use the camera of an iPhone as a web cam, either over USB or wifi. You still have the compression and USB transfer, but at least you use the better optics of the phone. There are third party tools, such as EpocCam, that can do it, but require the installation of drivers. This should be a first party solution, in the same fashion as the "take photo" option from the right click menu on Mac OS, which uses an iPhone to take a photo and paste it directly on the open application of the computer. [1] [this video]

Cited as background on laptop webcam limitations generally.

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