Sony CMU-BR100 Camera and Microphone for Skype

This unit was mounted on the top of a Bravia XBR 55HX929 TV, and tested in about five minutes flat. While no actual SKYPE call was made there is an echo feature that shows video and sound. Coverage area was just as desired, and the jumping around and sound of an energetic 5-yr old played back perfectly, without any motion jags detected. Great unit well priced.

This camera only works with certain models of Sony televisions. Those televisions have the camera drivers installed already, and will only work with this camera. It was a painless plug and play installation. Video and audio are both excellent. It is about 18 feet (five meters or so) across the room to our couch, but we can be heard without shouting and the whole family can get in the field of view without crowding. Great product!

The video quality is fairly good based on the feedback I have received from people I video-chatter with. I would not call this a necessity but if you have a few dollars to burn, this is fairly cool!One word of advise though, the TV basically allows you to auto sign into Skype every time you turn on the TV. This means anyone can see you and call you in the middle of your favorite show. Then again, that was the whole point of having Skype on your TV!I still feel Sony was a bit evil by not making the camera a standard inbuilt feature in the TV itself. I know it is not because they don't know how. The TV in fact does have an inbuilt camera which is used for picking up faces of the people in the room to do some fancy jazz with the color and contrast. You can even test the camera and see yourself on the TV...you just can't use THAT camera for Skype!

I will be returning this camera that I bought for BDP-S790 due to mediocre video quality and buggy firmware. I tested a Skype video call on my home network between iMac and the player, and found out that video quality captured by iMac's built-in camera was much better. True, that built-in iMac's camera has a higher resolution (1280 x 1024) vs. CMU-BR100 (1280 x 720), nevertheless this should not explain rather a big difference in video quality. Given the price, CMU-BR100 is not worth the money. Skype capability was the major factor when I decided to get this player vs. another PS3 (there is no Skype for PS3).Also, like someone else mentioned in another review, the camera frozen the player on a few occasions.It is a shame that Sony forces BDP-S790 owners to buy this proprietary and overpriced camera, and not supporting its own products like PlaystationEye.

I have just purchased a Sony Bravia internet ready lcd tv and make occasional calls to Australia to family. I have been using a Logitech high def cam on my computer, but thought having Skype conversations through our tv would be a little more comfortable than sitting cramped together in front of the computer screen. I was really hoping this would work. Sony has excellent quality, but this webcam is way too blurry to have a video call. The faces are blurry, there is no definition, and what good is a video call if you can't make out the faces on the other end. Was this product rushed to market to take advantage of the new internet tv options? I don't know, but since Sony only allows their proprietary machines to connect to one another, we are stuck until they design a clearer web cam for their internet enabled tvs. This webcam is not the answer for now. Tiger Direct and Amazon was friendly and quick with the return, so will not hesitate to utilize them for a sale in the future.

At first I was quite annoyed at Sony for restricting the type of cam you could plug in using propriety firmware to prevent third party products but the quality of this cam and its sound system combined with the quality of Sony's TV made up for the, seemingly, inflated price tag. We have had wonderful hours of quality reception from all over the world and a noticeable difference from other cams used through the computer, the quality would, I think, match that of any top-line computer cam available and surpassed that of the Logitech cam I previously used on my Mac through the same TV, which is a Bravia LED, another superior product.