Panasonic TY-CC20W Skype Camera kit for Viera TV's

The only disappointing thing I've found so far is that the Skype app on both the 2012 Blu Ray players and TVs has non functioning choices so it probably is not specifically designed for use with this and other Panasonic products.Although the app shows adjustments for pan left and right,up and down, and zoom in/out (10 positions) the zoom is the only useable option as the unit is fixed and cannot be moved.But the real problem is with the camera settings for colour and brightness /positioning reset button which does not work as one would assume - as usual with modern technology there are minimal instructions. Anyway clicking the reset causes the video to go dark and however one manually adjusts the settings it is not possible to restore the original bright image without disconnecting it and then connecting it to a windows 7 laptop or similar and hoping that that will enable the correct factory settings. I was lucky in that when I changed the connection from my TV to the bluray player it did correct the problem but others have according to the Skype community board have had to download extra software.So to sum up in future I will make a note of the settings before adjusting them and if I wish to restore them I will do so manually and not chose reset which seems to affect the exposure and does not reset it to facory setting.Other than the above I'm very happy with the comparative ease of use and the fact that you can have Skype on in the background while watching TV / blu ray while waiting for the call notification to appear.

Picture very good from the camera, definition excellent and very little/no flare (trail of light when subject moves). The reason I have not given 5 stars is that the camera is held in place by a magnetic stand at the bottom of the camera. Why, when there is no iron in the casing of a Panasonic TV, I do not know, all the TV cases I have looked at are plastic. To add to the problem, the alloy that the camera stand is made of, has a mat surface that I cannot get any sticky tabs to stick to so when I try to attach the camera with sticky tabs it falls off with the tabs stuck to the TV but not the camera. My camera at the moment is magnetically attached to a metal strip which is then attached to the TV stand by sticky tabs.

Having Skype on my TV is great for my 5-year-old son who can walk around the room and show drawings and toys to his grandparents. It's also more dynamic viewing for them because he's not just seated in front of a PC.I recently travelled for business and can vouch that the video image produced by this camera is one of the best I've ever seen, and the multiple microphones seem to cancel out the echo in the room, and the audio is very good considering the person on the other end can be far away from the mic. The whole thing is a lot smaller than I expected. It's only about 6 inches wide (left-to-right)I give it 5 stars for quality. The only drawback is price. But I've seen someone explain that the cheaper PC webcams we're all used to don't need all the electronics that this has. It has a mini computer in the unit to process the video and audio. So if you're willing to pay, and you have compatible Viera equipment, you'll probably be as happy with it as I am.I use it with a compatible Panasonic BluRay HDD Recorder DMR-BWT720, which is a cool piece of kit that has Viera compatibility. My TV is a piece of junk that isn't even HD !

The setup is heavy handed if you are using a remote tv handset. Though I have used Skype for over 10 years, the setup was not very intuitive, in that the computer based setup is a lot easier and different, the transmitting video was not immediately available and a lot of trawling thru the menus to make it work. Still not sure what initiated it and I have to say that recently video has not been available from the start of a video chat, but scrolling left to right and back on the display type (tv picture alongside, chat image on 100% screen etc) without selecting actually sends your image. The note under the thumbnail says ‘Sending video” buts its not being seen the other end.The design is good and sleek with an effective magnetic articulated foot which allows it to be fitted over the top edge of the tv. As i have the tv mounted on a mobile base, and the top is fairly close to the sound system above it, It would have been nice to be able to mount it down the side of the tv, but I was a little used to smart phones adjusting the plane of view automatically, so I was disappointed to find the lens orientation is fixed to horizontal.It does the job hence its ok. Not the most expensive in town, but there are no frills and with video being as hit and miss as it is, it needs tinkering every night that I use it which is harder work than I would want.

The webcam looks good and it attaches easily to the TV. The Skype application is simple and easy to use although it would be more convenient to have Skype on the first screen of applications.The unit appears to have multiple microphones and works well even when there are several people in the room engaging in the Skype call. The camera is less convincing - it needs an adjustable lens so as to zoom in/out to match a particular room e.g. in our room the TV is slightly too far away from the sofa so someone sitting on the sofa is only partially visible.Having to sit on the floor so the camera can see you removes some of the benefit of having Skype on the TV rather than a laptop.The picture from the camera displayed on the TV looks OK. However, when we Skyped our daughter at University she complained the picture on her end of the link was broken up and pixelated to the extent she insisted we went back to using Skype on a PC - which worked fine. The problem was almost certainly network congestion on her end but the question is why did Skype on the TV do so much worse than Skype on the PC at handling the reduced bandwidth.At present I would not recommend this unit unless you are confident the people you wish to communicate with have a high quality internet connection. It seems less able to deal with reduced bandwidth than PC based Skype. This is disappointing given the cost of the unit.