New webcam works great with Zoom

I posted yesterday about a new Zoom SFS:

https://bkhome.org/news/202209/zoom-sfs-created-using-deb2sfs.html

There was feedback on the forum that it doesn't work:

http://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?t=6811

So, I wrote the latest EasyOS image file to a USB-stick, booted it and downloaded and installed the Zoom SFS. It works great!

One thing that I did not have is a webcam. I had previously used one of my phones as a webcam -- yes, that works nicely. Today, bought a very cheap webcam from Kmart:

https://www.kmart.com.au/product/web-camera-2k-with-ring-light-43157174/

Listed online for AU$45, but was marked at AU$35 in the store, so they sold it to me at the lower price. That is the situation everywhere, prices going up. I didn't expect much at that price, but was pleasantly surprised. The specs state 2560x1440p, but that is interpolated. 2MP camera and 30fps, they claim.

Zoom recognized the webcam as soon as I plugged it in, and automatically configured for the microphone and video on the webcam. I opened a new meeting, with just me, and recorded it:

The video looks OK, FPS was perhaps a bit less than 30, but not sure. What really surprised me is how good the audio is -- loud, with no sign of background hum.

The webcam is quite satisfactory for vlogging and online meetings, though the wide-angle does mean there is a lot more in the frame than required.

EDIT 2022-09-16:
Thanks to feedback from TerryH and Maybe on the forum, fixed a problem with the Zoom SFS:

https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?t=6811

That's great, have uploaded the fixed SFS, now named 'zoom_5.11.10-1_amd64.sfs' -- the "-1" means "revision 1".

I mentioned above that I was surprised about the quality of the audio. The reason for the surprise is that I have read so many reviews of these cheap webcams complaining about background noise and/or low volume.

Another complaint in reviews of other cheap webcams is poor low-light video performance, slow (or none) autofocus, actual resolution and FPS lower than claimed. I found video to be very good; reasonable low-light, good colour, ok autofocus. The above photo is 640x360; however, in Zoom there is a "HD" checkbox in the video Setting, which gave 1280x720. Both were 25 FPS. It is normal for these products from China to over-state their capabilities, but even so, this one is very good for the price.     

Tags: easy