Chosen Solution
I am trying to eliminate noise in webcam images (shows up more in the brown part of this image). Toshiba Satellite L75-B7240. Windows 8.1. Searched for new drivers, none found. Uninstalled webcam and rebooted, no change. No camera controls found. Any updated, or better, drivers available? Links?
Hi @R&L Guilfoyle Uninstalling the USB drivers should be the same as uninstalling other devices. Restarting the laptop should reinstall them again automatically At the end of the day it could also just be a faulty webcam sensor and not a software problem. (supplier example only) If you consider replacing the module here’s a video that may help. You can see the webcam at 1:10 minutes into the video. You have to be quick though to see it or to pause the video at that point ;-)
Most laptop webcams are known for this issue where the signal to noise ratio is poor. My Lat 7490 even looks bad despite being reasonably new since it has a 720p 0.9MP camera (non-IR, IR Windows Hello units aren’t as common with these). For the HPs I have in production the 840 G3 looks almost as bad, but the G5 is tolerable - still noisy but it’s more usable and most of them (if not all) have Windows Hello — which has more utility. As an example, this is what I worry about: CPU, GPU/IGP - these matter for driving high resolution displays. Yes, an i5 can drive a 4K monitor, but it often suffers graphically due to the weaker CPU. You really need the i7 for laptops with integrated 4K panels — there is a reason if you want the 4K panel in your laptop on day one, you HAVE TO purchase an i7 version!The exception there is the 35W “i5 H” processors - they can handle 4K a lot better than a 15W i5.RAM/SSD - no soldered RAM, not even partially. SSD is identical to RAM.NOTE: I used to begrudgingly tolerate partially soldered, but that expired when it became an excuse to make things too thin to get proper cooling.Processor generation - 8th gen is the current minimum.Don’t shoot me for this hike — shoot Microsoft.Backlit keyboard REQUIRED.No joke — It’s a $10-20 option brand new a lot of the time if it isn’t standard, so you’re just a beancounter if you do not take it and your old laptops will be valued accordingly as I will swap it.Windows Hello — optional, but if I’m looking at 3 laptops (i5 8th/8GB/standard webcam, i7 8th/16GB/Win Hello, 16GB, i7 8th/8GB/Win Hello) guess which ones are the most likely to make the cut?These still must pass the 8th gen check; Windows Hello will NOT save a 7th gen variant. BUT if it passes the CPU test it’s going to be at the top of the list. Why do I mention my check list? I tend to go for machines that check those boxes very well and treat the webcam as an afterthought. When the camera inevitably sucks, oh well — the rest of it is very capable and it will have a serious set of specs you can’t get on a new machine for the same money. At that point, who cares? The point is I will ALWAYS FAVOR high-end specs like an i7-8550/8650U or even an i7-8665U over a camera I never use all that often, or a well-priced i5 that’s worth considering. With old laptops, bad webcams are the norm — no matter how hard you try. A lot of them use 0.9MP “720p” sensors (early-mid 2010’s) or 640x480 sensors (entry level machines like the HP Stream and Chromebooks to this day, older laptops from the early-late 2000’s). Yours is within the 640x480>”720p 0.9MP” transition period. Thankfully anything reasonably new often uses a less insufferably bad sensor (commonly 0.9MP 720p) because people who use the camera began to call them out a few years ago around 2013/Haswell. However, these sensors are notoriously high signal to noise ratio parts due to the sensor size. That said, the newer machines are better as they are finally starting to partially manage the noise to signal ratio with larger sensors and better processing but you’re still putting lipstick on an unfixable pig. If you have to have one that’s not crap, get a USB webcam. The built-in camera is for people who value convivence, not quality. Even a cheap Logitech camera has better noise management. Just to give you an idea of how bad cameras on laptops are even on the high end of the spectrum this is how bad my 840 G5 is even with a 4K screen and i7. The sensor used here works fine, but it’s bad performance wise.
