Need advice on webcams

[GeneticFreak]

So, me and my girlfriend decides to try and make some extra money........






Now that I've got your attention, I need a webcam for office conferences. But I have a small budget. I browsed thru sites and i got confused over resolutions, interlaced resolution, FPS, etc.

I saw something cheap that says "640x480, 30 FPS" and theres somethign else twice priced as that that says "1024x768 interlaced (2x 640x480), 40 FPS". Now I dont truly understand what these means, and will that cheap one do the job for me? What else should I consider. Note that I'll be only using this so boss can see me and I can see boss. But I dont want anything too embarrasing (like chances that boss would say: "omfg i can hardly see you what crap cam do you have") like that.

So, in short, please help :)

[hyrulian]

You don't need to go too high-res on a webcam; 640x480 is just fine. You'll find that when you do webcam communication over the internet (as opposed to just taking pictures and recording video), you'll probably use a picture size no larger than 320x240 anyway, because bigger than that will probably be too slow for real-time.

[MrSmiles]

and i hope you understand FPS, Frames Per Second

but 30 should be plenty

[GeneticFreak]

yeah i do know what FPS means, what i wanted to ask was if 30 is not embarrasing :)

Thanks for the inputs, so i guess the ultra-high-megapixel-that-blows-a-hole-in-my-wallet isnt worth it. Gonna buy the el cheapo one tomorrow.

[Enfyrneaux]

For reference, NTSC television runs at 29.97 FPS and many films run at 23.976 FPS, if I recall properly.

In practice, you will find that your framerate will be much slower due to bandwidth/latency, possibly even below 10 FPS.

[Jackal]

Just get a cam corder/handy cam.

[GeneticFreak]

bought the el-cheapo one

Logitech QuickCam Messenger (http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/details/GB/EN,CRID=2204,CONTENTID=10860)

works fine :)

[MrSmiles]

good