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| KritterUSB (Cameras) |
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Hardware Reviews January 2001 • Vol.9 Issue 1 Page(s) 46 in print issue |
KritterUSB (Cameras) | ||
 The KritterUSB from iREZ is aptly named. With thin spidery legs and a round body, the camera indeed appears to be a small critter crawling across a monitor top. In actuality, the camera's unique design makes it a good choice for users who need a Web cam that performs equally well on a PC or notebook computer. From the outset, the KritterUSB's appearance grabs your attention. Our review model was flavored with a transparent tangerine color, but models are also available in blueberry, ice, and black. Although the colors are attractive, the camera soon began to frustrate us, primarily because of its extremely lightweight and wobbly support legs. The legs don't provide a solid base, and the 34-inch cord the camera uses to connect with a PC is far too short. Even the slightest bump to our monitor caused the camera to shift completely away from the frame of focus, leaving us constantly readjusting the camera. One positive aspect of the camera is that you can fold the legs upward when you're not using it to cover the camera's 4mm f2.0 lens for protection or privacy. iREZ also offers the camera with an optional stand for PCs that appears to make it more stable. If you have an iMac, you might want to check out the iMac Wand attachment, which will make the camera a little more stable when you place it on top of your iMac. Overall, we think the camera's legs are most adept at attaching themselves to a notebook, which gives it a secure, solid base. To test the camera, we had to depart from using our usual testing machine and connect the camera and install its software to a custom-built PC, which had a 450MHz Pentium III processor, 128MB of RAM, and Windows 98 SE. Each time we attempted to operate the KritterUSB on our usual test machine, the system froze and we were forced to reboot. We had no such problems when we connected the camera to the custom-built machine, which led us to believe the problem may have been a USB conflict. We viewed the video the camera produced on a 17-inch IBM monitor. If you can get the camera to sit still, you should like the results it produces. The video we viewed was clear, sharp, and had good colors. At the default settings, the camera's image quality was a bit dark, but we were able to easily adjust the settings manually through the included software. The camera is capable of taking video at 640 x 480 pixels, but it grabs a smoother frame rate of 30fps (frames per second) at 320 x 240 pixels. (A frame rate of 30fps is typically needed to achieve smooth video quality.) At $129.95, the camera isn't cheap. It doesn't include a microphone, but it does ship with iREZ Reel-Eyes LE for iMac users and VIDCAP32 and AMCAP for PC users. Combined, the software allows users to capture and edit video, send video e-mail and postcards, videoconference, take still images, and use the camera for surveillance purposes. by Blaine Flamig
$129 iREZ (480) 922-0044 http://www.irez.com
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