Logitech and Skype to Deliver High Quality Video Over the Internet

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Logitech and Skype have collaborated to deliver a new standard of video calls over the Internet: High Quality Video. With High Quality Video on Skype, people worldwide can enjoy free video calls that are sharper and smoother than ever before. Whether it's a father reading a book to his kids back home while he travels for work, grandchildren giving their grandparents a close-up view of their first lost tooth, or colleagues connecting across continents to discuss a business proposal, High Quality Video offers image-perfect detail and clarity to help people connect better with their friends and families, co-workers and clients – without having to buy and install expensive video-conferencing equipment.

High Quality Video (Skype 3.6 for Windows and Logitech QuickCam software, version 11.5) brings VGA-quality video calls (640-by-480-pixels) at up to 30 frames per second (fps) to people using a broadband connection (384 kbps connection or higher), a High Quality Video-certified Logitech webcam and a PC with a dual-core processor. Both parties require minimum system requirements to experience High Quality Video. As a result, people can enjoy significantly sharper, smoother video calls in full-screen mode.

A collaborative effort between Logitech and Skype, the High Quality Video experience is created through Skype software, Logitech webcams, and a fully redesigned set of drivers in the QuickCam software, all optimized to work together in a way never achieved before. Logitech's new webcam drivers are specially tuned to recognize callers who have the new Skype software.

High Quality Video on Skype is available with the following premium Logitech webcams: the Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000, the Logitech QuickCam Pro for Notebooks and the Logitech QuickCam Orbit AF (Logitech QuickCam Sphere AF in Europe).

All three High Quality Video-certified webcams offer a Carl Zeiss lens and a premium autofocus system for fast, fluid focusing that helps eliminate the inconvenience of manual focusing. Logitech's autofocus system refocuses images in less than three seconds and helps ensure that images remain crisp even in extreme close-ups (up to 4 inches/10 cm from the camera lens).

For the office and the home, the Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 comes with a flexible universal base, which allows it to rest comfortably on nearly any monitor. For the on-the-go professional, the Logitech QuickCam Pro for Notebooks is sold with a protective travel case and an adjustable, spring-tension clip that accommodates even large laptops with panels up to 20 mm thick. The QuickCam Orbit AF webcam can cover 190 horizontal degrees and 100 vertical degrees of a room and offers a unique pan-and-tilt tracking technology.

Skype 3.6 for Windows is expected to be available as a free download at skype.com in November and will support 28 languages. The Logitech QuickCam Software version 11.5 is available now. The Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000, Logitech QuickCam Pro for Notebooks webcams and the Logitech QuickCam Orbit AF are available now too.

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