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| Product: Pyro 1394 Webcam |
Company: ADS Technologies |
| Web: www.adstech.com |
Phone: 562-926-1928 |
| Platform: Mac and PC w/Firewire (1394) |
SRP: US$170
Street Price: $110 |
Cred Rating: | Special Award:
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When I saw the ads and pre-release hype for ADS Technologies' Pyro 1394 Webcam, I was psyched. Since discovering that I'm trapped in a digital backwater (see my whining piece on the subject), I've been desperate for something, ANYTHING that can improve my ability to teleconference. I recently got a job with TechTV, providing a monthly teaser on each of my upcoming Jargon Watch columns in Wired. The shows usually air the day before the issue hits the stands and I reveal three terms from the column. It was knowing that I had this monthly TV appearance (via webcam) that prompted me to attempt to upgrade to a high-speed connection (only to discover that one wasn't available to me). So, when I saw the Pyro cam, which uses a non-compressed signal fed through a 1394 (a.k.a. FireWire) port, I thought this might help at least a little. I figured it wouldn't hurt to at least start with a clear, hi-res picture on my end before squeezing it through a 56.6 connection.
Maximum PC gave the ADS Technologies Pyro 1394 Webcam a "Kick Ass" rating. I don't know if they were evaluating the same camera as we were, or if it was just that they tested it on the platform for which it was *really* designed: the PC. We don't have a 1394 card on any of our PCs, so we had to hook the Pyro to our iMac's FireWire port. The first thing I noticed was that the list of included software was much shorter for Mac than PC. The next thing I noticed was that the camera itself was HUGE. It's about the size of one of those mini-footballs given away as swag or a big chocolate Easter egg. The Sony CCD camera itself is quite small, the giant clear-plastic egg is simply a design element (if you could call it that).
Installation was a breeze, but it was when we launched the included cam software that things went south. At least on my iMac, the image quality blew big ones. I played with it for awhile, tried to troubleshoot any problems, tried using it with other cam programs, but the video remained much worse than my 3Com HomeConnect USB camera that TechTV gave me. I went to ADS's tech support area online, but found nothing to help me. I could have called them, but after hours of futzing with the software and staring at this bloated, goofy-looking camera, I yanked the hardware and software and reinstalled the 3Com.
My webcam life remains in low-res. I have to listen to the peeps at TechTV and friends who see my segments make fun of my heavily-pixilated visage. And that's when I come through at all. Several times, my cam signal has crashed in the middle of the show, so viewers get to see me in some extremely unflattering pose mid-sentence. Luckily, we don't use the audio signal from the computer, that comes via a telephone, so I can keep yammering away while my low-res frozen image is there for all to snicker over. The cobbler with the holy shoes and all that...
- Gareth Branwyn [7/23/01]
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