this post was submitted on 18 Jan 2025
105 points (100.0% liked)

Hardware

2295 readers
117 users here now

All things related to technology hardware, with a focus on computing hardware.

Rules (Click to Expand):

  1. Follow the Lemmy.world Rules - https://mastodon.world/about

  2. Be kind. No bullying, harassment, racism, sexism etc. against other users.

  3. No Spam, illegal content, or NSFW content.

  4. Please stay on topic, adjacent topics (e.g. software) are fine if they are strongly relevant to technology hardware. Another example would be business news for hardware-focused companies.

  5. Please try and post original sources when possible (as opposed to summaries).

  6. If posting an archived version of the article, please include a URL link to the original article in the body of the post.

Some other hardware communities across Lemmy:

Icon by "icon lauk" under CC BY 3.0

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
[email protected]
[email protected]
105
Camera owner asks Canon, skies: Why is it $5/month for webcam software? (arstechnica.com)
submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
21 comments fedilink hide all child comments
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 30 points 4 months ago (5 children)

I don't understand why anyone needs a software to achieve this in the first place? I've hooked the camera's HDMI out to some cheap random USB-C HDMI capture card, and use OBS to record the stream. Easy, uncompressed, no restrictions to whichever settings their software lets you access.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago

You're kinda explaining Canon's logic here though - they want you to pay for "convenience".

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago

So the $5 is the idiot tax then - for people that can't figure it out themselves. Scummy as fuck when they could just out a youtube tutorial instead.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Can you use that in videocalling apps?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I guess it depends on the app, but I just checked and both Skype and Teams show me the capture card as input source, and the preview picture looks fine. So I'm pretty sure it works in an actual call, though I haven't tried it yet.

Both apps heavily compress the video signal though, even if you set the quality to 1080p, so I doubt it makes a huge difference compared to a regular webcam.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The advantage of a camera is the lens, not the resolution

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

For a video call, I'm not sure that really matters a whole lot, but I guess that depends on the use case.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

It's easier to market based on hard numbers like resolution, so people are used to big res number = more better, but if that high res sensor is capturing a crap image, you're going to get a crap image. Garbage in, garbage out.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

There is a vitrual cam for OBS that spoofs the OBS output to a webcam you can use in zoom/teams/etc

I used a lot during covid.

https://obsproject.com/forum/resources/obs-virtualcam.949/

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

a software

That word doesn't work like that.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

It's essentially the same thing, but instead of paying for software, you're using more complicated free software, and paying for the hardware.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The hardware cost me less than 5 bucks.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

That's gotta be pretty jank. If I'm trying to connect a pro-sumer camera like in the article, I'd want the connection to be quality. Pro-sumer capture cards start at around $300.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

I have a high end Canon myself, and the card does an excellent job. I bought it while living in China though, tech there costs a fraction of what you pay in the US.