This is an awesome camera. The only thing that would make it better would be if it swiveled. Its on the top of a TV that is mounted on the wall so the view is a bit awkward, looking down to the floor. I think the ultimate Skype TV camera would have a swivel of some kind and a remote so we can pan back and forth across the whole room. Anyways, this one is the best you can buy today and we are very happy with the purchase.
This small cam/mic is about 6 inches long and 3/4 inch wide. The mounting instructions are pretty much incomprehensible. Once I ignored the helpful little pictures, I was able to get it stuck to the top of my TV. A product at this price point might be expected to have a better mounting system, e.g. a matching peg system that better mates the webcam to the TV. Once you have it stuck to the TV, plug it into the USB port on the TV and you're good to go. Just fire up the Skype app, found under "Internet Video" on your Sony TV remote. You will not be able to text message nor will you be able to send files using the internal TV app, but you may not need to do either. In a typical family room/entertainment room setup, you won't.
If you are using the TV as a computer monitor, as I am, you can plug the Sony webcam into a USB slot on your computer and use the regular Skype app in Windows or iOS (where you are able to select the microphone array under Tools/Options/Audio Settings).
This is a good product for its intended use, and I see that it is approaching a reasonable price after a number of price reductions. If you are looking to maintain the look and feel of your TV, it does the trick. Picture quality and the microphone array are very good, although I would wish for a less wide-angle view. It's great to have Skype video on the "big screen."
I sit about 4 feet from the screen and I find myself to appear on the smallish side due to the wide angle lens. If you were 15 feet away, I fear you might be a mere speck, but that is not my setup and you should look to other reviews on this point. It would do a good job of getting the whole family into the picture, and I guess that is the trade-off.
I use my Sony 32" Bravia Internet TV as a computer monitor, and I use this Sony webcam as a computer webcam (i.e. plugged into the computer's USB port, not the port on the TV). That is pretty much plug and play as well you just have to go into Tools/Options/Audio in Skype to set the microphone to the microphone array in the Webcam if you wish to use that (mic quality is excellent).
If you decide, as I did, that you don't need to actually plug the webcam into your TV, your choices widen considerably and the price point falls. Here is a 4 1/2 star Logitech 720p webcam sold on Amazon that sells for $40 and uses Zeiss glass. It appears that product would be easy to mount with Velcro to the back of your TV/monitor, but it must be plugged into a computer, NOT the back of a Sony Internet TV:
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Summary: This is a snazzy webcam with a crisp picture and a great mic (a 4-mic array) that you can plug into certain Sony internet TV's. It's a bit pricey and the wide angle view may not be ideal for all settings. You can also plug it into your computer and use it like any other webcam, in which case there are other, less expensive choices. It's your only choice if you want to run Skype video on your Sony Internet TV using the built in USB connector and Skype application. That built-in Skype app is easy to use. You may find the process of attaching it to the top (or bottom) of your TV to be annoying, as the visual instructions are unclear.
Buy Sony CMU-BR100 Camera and Microphone for Skype Now
This is what you'd expect. It's a webcam. It works fine with my Bravia TV. The downside is that with Skype the image quality isnt super great in general. This uses a wide fov camera to capture the room since it doesnt know where your face is. So unlike with a laptop webcam where your face is really big fillign up the screen with this you appear really small in it. Could be good if a crowd wants to skype, but not so good if it's a single person to a single person. It is fun to be able to see the other person on the big TV though. What it really needs is some kind of zoom/tracking option but that would be more expensive...Read Best Reviews of Sony CMU-BR100 Camera and Microphone for Skype Here
The camera itself may be high definition, but...All Bravia TVs are limited to 640x480 resolution (), which is standard definition. Confirmed with Sony support staff.
Furthermore, even though Skype debug consoles indeed show 640x480, the picture quality on the other side will be of 320x240 quality. Terribly upscaled.
Checked with ideal network conditions (same room), and confirmed through Skype own debug consoles.
Actually if you go into "see myself" function on the TV, the picture will be suspiciously small... Measured heigh shows a little bit less than 1/4 of the screen height, 320x240, indeed!!!
To sum up, the cam itself may be high definition, but what your Skype counterparts will see will be of very low quality. Regardless of network and TV model year (my is 2011).
Beware.
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At first I was quite annoyed at Sony for restricting the type of cam you could plug in using propriety firmware to prevent third party products but the quality of this cam and its sound system combined with the quality of Sony's TV made up for the, seemingly, inflated price tag. We have had wonderful hours of quality reception from all over the world and a noticeable difference from other cams used through the computer, the quality would, I think, match that of any top-line computer cam available and surpassed that of the Logitech cam I previously used on my Mac through the same TV, which is a Bravia LED, another superior product.Save 34% Off
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