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(Last edited Jan 30, 2008)

Palm Discovery would like to extend a BIG THANKS to Thomas of USB Fever for providing the product for this review.

Here’s an interesting idea for a webcam: no drivers! That’s the case with USB Fever’s USB Driverless WebCam. For those who are familiar with installing drivers for their accessories, here’s one that doesn’t come with drivers (thus no CD) and doesn’t need one.

BUT, before you jump for joy and rush to purchase this driverless webcam, this webcam will not require drivers if you are installing it on Windows XP ONLY. That means, if you try to install it on a computer running Windows 2000, Me, or 98, you will be prompted with the usual hardware detection pop up window, asking you for the drivers.

For those who want to skip over all the detailed review and just want a summary, you can jump to the review summary

As many of you may know, I am still using an old Dell Inspiron 8100 laptop running Windows 2000. And unfortunately, you may not likely be able to find any driver that will work. I have wasted a lot of time searching the internet for drivers (and yes, I looked for drivers for the DEF-299 camera), using driverguide’s driverscan for more device info and doing more searches and installing anything that may seem like it will work only to find that it didn’t. And that’s very unfortunate considering that it seems like a pretty decent webcam with manually adjustable set of LED lights and base. Again, it will work perfectly fine for those using Windows XP. On other Windows operating system, you may likely encounter problems finding suitable drivers.

However, the company has indicated that their website contains drivers that will work on the webcam. As well, the package now comes with a driver CD. They say that the drivers for 211 and 301 will work. Unfortunately, I have tried both and still wasn’t able to get them to work. You can access them via the Chinese portion of their website.

This link will take you to the downloads page.

Here’s the link to the 211 driver

Here’s the link to the 301 driver

(EDITED Jan 30, 2008). It seems that from time to time, the Colorvis website may be offline and give you a 404 error. It is now back online and I have downloaded the driver files and have uploaded to my website in case you encounter problems accessing them from the Colorvis website. Again, if requested by Colorvis, I will remove the direct links on my website.

Direct link to the Colorvis drivers on my site:

Direct link to the 211 driver

Direct link to the 301 driver

(both are the same files obtained from Colorvis)

Here’s a zip file to the 301 driver that I’ve compressed from the mini CD containing the driver I received from USB Fever:

ZC030X_Vista.zip

You will obviously need the necessary software like WinZip or Winrar to decompress the files.

As I’ve mentioned, neither of these nor any drivers even from the supplied CD nor any others I’ve found via driverguide or anywhere else worked for me in Windows 2000. Maybe it’s due to my own personal problems or lack of technical know how or other reasons, but I wasn’t able to use this driverless webcam on my Windows 2000 laptop. Again, this is my own personal experience and may not apply to you. So, do try these drivers and see if they work. If you’re able to get it to work on your Windows 2000 computer, please let me know by leaving a comment or contacting me. Thanks!

Click on the thumbnail images for a bigger picture

Product Video

Video at YouTube

Video at YouTube

Since part 2 was meant to show the visual webcam rather than focus on the menu options, I decided to make a presentation that goes over the menu options in the AmCap software.

Check out the video at BlipTV

More details (taken from USB Fever’s website:

Features:

- Driverless is just for XP, if you use Windows 2000 or Vista, you still need to install driver

Here are my observations: This seems like a pretty decent webcam. I really like how you can be able to adjust brightness level of the set of 6 LED lights to allow you to operate it in darker environments. But, the LED lights can be quite bright so you may not necessarily want it at its full brightness level if you are using it for webcam chatting.

The resolution is on par with many other webcams available (640×480) so don’t expect it to give you perfectly high resolution videos. It’s quite unfortunate that Logitech has pretty much gotten a stranglehold over the webcam sector as it’s been over a decade since they were introduced and yet we are still at 640×480 resolution? But, it does look webcams are finally starting to provide affordable webcams with at least 1.3 MP resolution so it’s a long time coming.

I especially like how the base of the webcam is well weighted and does a great job of keeping the webcam balanced, even when it’s twisted in many different ways that the webcam stay standing upright. And the base also has a neoprene or rubbery like lining so that it grips the surface very well and prevents slippage. I also like how the webcam can be rotated around 360 degrees and swiveled on a base that can be easily adjusted to target practically any spot.

The optional mini tripod not only adds height for the webcam, but also additional adjustment for that perfect position. It also has a swivel base that you can adjust with the swivel functionality of the webcam to get that normally unattainable spot or target. You can’t claim this with many other webcams.

The webcam comes with a soft protective lens cap to protect the lens when not in use.

My main quips of this webcam as many of you already know, is the fact that it won’t work on any other Windows operating system other than Windows XP because there are no drivers that will work (as far as I am aware of) with this particular webcam. It will however, work perfectly fine without a hitch on Windows XP.

Please keep in mind that there are many other similar looking “driverless” webcams that are sold under different brand names available from many different vendors. I am reviewing the driverless webcam that is branded by Colorvis and am only commenting on this particular model (CVC-1009) and my experience with this. I have no idea if other similar looking driverless webcam will be the same. Please keep that in mind when reading and watching my reviews and opinion.

Review Summary

USB Fever’s driverless webcam (Colorvis CVC-1009) seems like a decent webcam that can contort and adjust on its base to enable you to capture that special target or position with ease. It comes with a manual LED light adjustment slider that allows for viewing in somewhat darker conditions.

Being a driverless webcam, it obviously does not come with a driver CD but as far as I know, I have not been able to find drivers to operate this webcam in Windows 2000, 98, or Me. So, if you are not using Windows XP, you may not be able to get it to work. Again, I want to stress that I am only discussing my experiences with respect to the Colorvis CVC-1009 driverless webcam and not with any other branded but similar looking driverless webcam that are sold at many other vendors.

Aside from this limitation, the webcam works quite well. It isn’t a fully featured webcam but it does offer the main webcam features. I do like how it can be adjusted in many different ways and the LED light adjustment.

If you require a basic webcam that offers you the ability to adjust the camera in a specific way and or require the webcam to view in darker conditions, then, give USB Fever’s USB driverless webcam (Colorvis CVC-1009) a look.

Palm Discovery thanks Thomas of USB Fever for providing the product for this review.

Thanks for visiting and supporting Palm Discovery. If you are not reading this article from Palmdiscovery.com or Palmdiscovery.net, the website you are reading it from is copying and posting my content without consent. Please visit Palm Discovery for the original source of the material.

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