Selecting an HD webcam for Skype

Question

Skype

I select a new webcam for relatives to communicate via Skype. Requirements - built-in microphone, decent picture and sound quality; price within a few tr. doesn't matter.
I decided to look towards cameras with 720p video support and got stuck at the “what to choose from” stage.

What we managed to find out

1. Skype did not officially support 720p up to version 4.1 inclusive. But if the camera gave out such permission, support was turned on with the help of a special utility .

2. Skype 4.2 officially supported 720p, but only for certified cameras with hardware signal encoding. From all other cameras, Skype 4.2 transmitted a maximum of 640x480.
As far as I understand, there is exactly one supported camera with a built-in microphone, FaceVsion FV TouchCam N1.

3. With Skype 5.0 it is not completely clear. In the "what's new in this version" list, nothing is said about camera support.
At the same time, Logitech found an entry in the Logitech blog that the new series of their HD webcams support 720p in Skype 5.0 , although there is (sort of) no hardware encoding in them.

Questions

1. Are there other (besides FaceVsion FV TouchCam N1) officially supported Skype cameras with hardware encoding and built-in microphone?

2. What has changed with the version of Skype 5.0 - the restriction on the use of only cameras with hardware encoding has been removed, or did they agree specifically with Logitech, or not only with them?

3. Which webcam with 720p transmission should I prefer over Skype?

And a couple more related ones.

4. The phrase is very embarrassingfrom the Skype website : "If each participant in the call has a webcam that supports the HD standard, the video broadcast will go in high definition." And if such a camera is only on one side, there will be no HD at all (after all, they can theoretically cut it on purpose)?

5. The Skype site now requires "a fast Internet connection with a speed of at least 512 kbps".
At the same time, version 4.2 required twice as much.
Is this purely a marketing downgrade, or will 512kbps version 5.0 pass 720p just fine?
What channel is really needed for high-quality transmission?
The question is relevant, since the outgoing channel is not always wide.

Answer 1

Following the topic on Habré habrahabr.ru/blogs/hardware/104345/ I bought my parents a Logitech C510 camera www.logitech.com/en-us/webcam-communications/webcams/devices/6817 just for Skype. I don’t know what’s wrong with the old Skype, but when everything is fine with me and their fifth, the picture quality is simply amazing (if the channel width allows). With great pleasure I display the picture on a 19'' monitor (1280x1024) and enjoy life =)
I thought about trying to display a picture from Skype on a full HD TV, but so far my hands have not reached.
The real channel of the parents is several megabits - a leased line in the regional center. This is enough despite the fact that both they and I are for NAT, i.e. the flow goes through the 3rd point afaik.

Answer 2

Microsoft LifeCam HD-5000 even comes with Linux out of the box!
720p

Answer 3

I use Logitech C510/C905 cameras for Skype, they have an excellent picture (subjectively the quality is higher than MS LifeCam HD-5000) and a very good microphone - you can hear what a person is saying from 5-10 meters away. I know only one drawback - under Windows you need to install drivers, without them the video can be noisy. This was not the case under Linux.