Sony DV and Webcam DV Revisted

I recently shared how I had experimented with a program called WebcamDV. It let’s you use your high quality DV camcorder as a webcam in pretty much any application that supports it; everything from ConquerCam to MSN Messenger.

Using my inexpensive Logitech QuickCam Pro, the image is OK:

Webcam images using a Logitech QuickCam Pro

But with WebcamDV and my Sony DV camcorder, the image quality is much more clear and the colors more true, even though the room isn’t well lit. On the downside, it seems to squish the image vertically:

Webcam image using WebcamDV and my Sony DV camcorder look better

Unfortunately, I noticed that when I’m running WebcamDV, my CPU utilization goes pretty much to 100%, slowing my system down to the point where it’s really noticeable in other applications.

My CPU utilization spikes WAY up while using WebcamDV

This might be better if I had a faster CPU. Sparky current is running an aging 400 MHz Pentium II. When Sparky get’s upgraded (replaced?) later this month, I’m going for a 3.0 GHz P4, so I’ll give WebcamDV another try then. For now, it was a fun experiment, but not practical for day-to-day use.

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