Skyping in front of your 50-inch screen TV makes perfect sense. Why pull out the tablet or the laptop, after all, when you can just stay in the living room after Breaking Bad and hold online chat while parked on your Space Invaders Couch? Except your TV really is just a TV — none of that weirdo internet crap they load into some models these days. If you still want to get Skype on it, the TV Cam HD solves your problem fast.
Made by Logitech, it’s an external webcam that you can plug into your TV via HDMI. Once that’s done, it’s fully operational — you can now pester that ex-girlfriend you’ve been trying to get to talk to you on Skype the last three weeks right in the comfort of your living room.
The TV Cam HD is some sort of a miniature single-purpose computer with Skype preloaded. That way, you don’t need to add any other hardware to do video calling on your HDTV. Just connect it to your home network (both Ethernet and WiFi are supported) and you can log in to Skype just like you do on a computer.
Once set up, it acts as a full-time Skype connection. That means, it can receive calls (it rings just like a phone) and messages even if your TV is turned off. We’re not sure how you feel about being available on Skype 24/7, but that’s, pretty much, what you get here. Features include Carl Zeiss wide-angle lens, digital zoom and capable low-light performance (at least, according to Logitech).
Pricing for the TV Cam HD is set at $199.99. It hits US shelves this month and Europe next month.
