QuickCam is a line of

webcam A webcam is a video camera which is designed to record or stream to a computer or computer network. They are primarily used in Videotelephony, video telephony, live streaming and social media, and Closed-circuit television, security. Webcams can b ...

video camera products originally produced by

Connectix Connectix Corporation was a software and hardware company that released innovative products that were either made obsolete as Apple Computer incorporated the ideas into system software, or were sold to other companies once they became popular. It ...

in 1994 and acquired by Logitech in 1998. Although its picture quality would today be considered primitive, it was the first widespread used webcam-like device.

History

The original QuickCam was developed by

in 1994 for US-wide commercial sale and was the first widely marketed webcam-like device, although its original advertising did not use the term "webcam" or refer to the

World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW or simply the Web) is an information system that enables Content (media), content sharing over the Internet through user-friendly ways meant to appeal to users beyond Information technology, IT specialists and hobbyis ...

, then in its infancy.

Video conferencing Videotelephony (also known as videoconferencing or video calling) is the use of audio signal, audio and video for simultaneous two-way communication. Today, videotelephony is widespread. There are many terms to refer to videotelephony. ''Vide ...

via computers already existed at the time, and client-server based video conferencing software such as

CU-SeeMe CU-SeeMe is an Internet videoconferencing client. CU-SeeMe can make point to point video calls without a server or make multi-point calls through server software first called a "reflector" and later called a "conference server" or Multipoint Co ...

was gaining popularity. Eventually, it evolved from an RS-422 connector to a parallel connector then eventually to a USB connection. The initial model was available only for the

Apple Macintosh Mac is a brand of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 1984. The name is short for Macintosh (its official name until 1999), a reference to the McIntosh (apple), McIntosh apple. The current product lineup inclu ...

, connecting to it via the serial port. It produced 16

shades of gray Variations of gray or grey include achromatic grayscale shades, which lie exactly between white and black, and nearby colors with low colorfulness. A selection of a number of these various colors is shown below. Chart of computer web color ...

at a resolution of 320×240

pixel In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a Raster graphics, raster image, or the smallest addressable element in a dot matrix display device. In most digital display devices, p ...

s, and could record video at about 15 frames per second; it cost $100. The software that originally shipped with the camera included ''QuickMovie'' for recording motion pictures and ''QuickPICT'' for capturing still images. The QuickCam product line was acquired by Logitech in August 1998. The company has gradually decreased support for the Macintosh platform, with only one model as of 2010 officially supporting Mac or including Mac drivers. This could largely be the result of Apple building webcams into their laptop and desktop computers, negating the need for external third party devices . Many recent models implement the USB video device class standard and work under Mac OS without additional drivers. In October 2010, QuickCam was elected to

Time Magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps as ''TIME'') is an American news magazine based in New York City. It was published weekly for nearly a century. Starting in March 2020, it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York Cit ...

's Top 100 Gadgets of all Time.

Cameras

This list is non-exhaustive.

References

External links

Logitech's home page

Macam project at SourceForge.net

Steves Ant Farm Cam home page

Logitech product numbers and driver support
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quickcam Webcams Teleconferencing Videotelephony Products introduced in 1994 Logitech products

History

Cameras

See also

References

External links