I bought the Logitech Pro 9000 webcam because many reviews say it’s one of the best. My objective was to be able to do short video demos to post to the WXPnews and VistaNews sites. The webcam is attractive and fits nicely on my big monitor, as shown in the photo below. 

I first installed the software on the disc that came with the camera. It appeared to install properly and I was able to open the program. There I was, on camera!  And a very nice, sharp picture it was, too. I was instantly pleased. I clicked to take a photo. Very nice.

Then I made the big mistake. I clicked Record Video. And got the wait cursor. Which did not go away. I had to use Task Manager to shut down the program. Then when I tried to open the program again, no deal. Nothing happens. Click the desktop icon, click the program link in the Start menu, click the program file in Explorer, doesn’t matter. Doesn’t work.

Okay, so I thought maybe it’s just the capture software that’s messed up. Maybe the camera will work in other applications. So I tried to make a video call in Windows Messenger. It displayed my picture, although the quality wasn’t nearly as good as it had been in the Logitech program. But the call wouldn’t go through (and it was to my husband, who was sitting in the next room, trying to answer it). And once again it was “stuck.”  I had to close Messenger, and then guess what – Messenger wouldn’t open again, either. Argh.

Okay, maybe it’s a Windows 7 thing. A reboot revived Messenger, but didn’t fix the Logitech software; it still wouldn’t open. I did some web se arches and found a forum post saying the camera could be made to work in Windows 7 by downloading the latest software from the Logitech site and installing it in Vista SP2 compatibility mode. So I did all that. I had high hopes – but alas, the same thing happened. I could take still photos but as soon as I tried to record, it killed the program dead. Program wouldn’t open again, but the process itself wouldn’t die; I couldn’t end it in Task Manager.

It’s such a darn shame, because I really loved the picture quality during the short time that the camera worked. I guess I’ll be giving it to Tom, who’s still running XP, to see if it will work with his system. And I’ll be looking for a webcam really is compatible with Windows 7.

 
deb@shinder.net    www.debshinder.com