You're ready to purchase a webcam for your PC or notebook. When you begin to do some serious searching on the subject, you find yourself overwhelmed with the jargon or technical aspect of the product. What is CMOS, interpolated, non-interpolated, resolutions, etc.? You never thought something as simple as a webcam could be so complicated, confusing, and intimidating. I, being middle aged was confused by all of the technical aspects of what I thought as just a webcam! This guide is written for those who might want to get a quick reference glossary to help decipher the webcam jargon!

Resolution: Usually seen in the description of the product as 640 x 480, the resolution is the word used to describe the image clarity on your monitor, the greater the resolution the clearer the image on the monitor. This is measured in pixels or mega-pixels.

Pixels: Simply put, Pixels are small blocks of light, for example, if an image is 640 pixels wide by 480 pixels high, equals 307,200 pixels or .3 megapixels.

Megapixels: Digital images usually run into the millions of pixels therefore megapixel is equivalent to 1 million pixels.

Interpolated Resolution: Alos known as "digital" resolution, it is the maximum number of pixels a webcam can produce after software enhancement of the original or "native" image. Often the interpolated resolution is listed along with the products true or "native" resolution. Interpolated resolution should be dsregarded as a factor when purchasing a webcam.

FPS: Frames Per Second can be an important factor in deciding what to purchase, The higher the frames per second, the more fluid the images appear on the monitor. The higher the resolution the image is, the lower the number of frames per second your computer can display making for a choppy image. The lower the resolution the easier it is to process, therefore you get a more fluid video capture.

USB: Abbreviation for Universal Serial Bus, a USB port such as 1.1 or 2.0 device accounts for data transfer rates. 1.1 allows for transfer rates of 12 Mbps, 2.0 offers a much higher rate @ 480 Mbps. In other words if you have the need for speed, go with USB 2.0.

USB Video Class: Some webcams have to have a driver and software installed before a webcam can be installed before it will function properly. USB video class is a standard which allows certified webcams to instantly run on any Windows XP Service Pack 2 (or better) computer without the need for additional software. If you don't like the hassle of installing a program on your computer to use your webcam then you have the alternative!

Face Tracking: You will notice that some webcams have the "face tracking" on the list of specifications. This just means that you can move around and the webcam will track you, this is usually in the premium webcams but it is a nice feature.

CMOS or CMOS Sensor: This is just another technology for image capture and refers to Complimentary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS). These sensors use less power the older CCD (Charge-Coupled Device) and still produce high quality video image. Don't worry too much about this feature when deciding on a product.

O.K. with all that said, what features are most important when purchasing a webcam? It all comes down to what you plan on using it for. Your budget has a lot to do with it too as prices for webcams can vary. Pick the features that you prefer and fit your needs to webcam that closely matches that need.