Microsoft's budget 720p HD-5000 LifeCam reviewed

A week after becoming a reality, Microsoft's LifeCam HD-5000 webcam has been given the review treatment by Mobile + Netbook and, while it delivers what looks to be generally excellent quality video, it doesn't score perfectly high marks. For one thing, this cam does not feature onboard hardware encoding, which resulted in 40 percent CPU utilization for this tester when recording at 720p on a Core i5 750 processor -- ouch. This also means that the cam will not be usable for Skype HD, as that service requires onboard hardware encoding. But, other than some slow focus issues, the camera delivered quite good quality and color and, at just $50 MSRP (we're seeing them for $40 online), it's still quite a bargain.

FaceVsion rolls out 720p FVexpress webcam combo kit

FaceVsion already debuted its TouchCam N1 Skype HD webcam at CES, and it's now followed that up with its new FVexpress Combo kit, which is apparently tailored specifically for Google Talk users. That kit includes the company's FV TouchCam L1 HD webcam (pictured above), as well as an FVexpress ExpressCard that does hardware H.264 encoding of the video before streaming it over the internet with the included QuLives communication manager software (which is itself fully compatible with Google Talk). All of that expectedly pushes this kit past the usual cost of a webcam, but the $149.95 asking price isn't exactly too extravagant considering what you're getting.