I am going to hook up a webcam purchased in the US to my computer. I would also like to purchase a webcam for a computer located in PORTUGAL.

My question is: can I purchase the second webcam in the US or do I have to purchase the webcam in Portugal because of the differences in the broadcast media PAL vs NTSC? The webcam will be used for communication purposes between two households. Any SUGGESTIONS?

Any suggestions on the software to be used to commnunicate?

Thanks in advance for any help in this matterYou can purchase a webcam in the US and use them Portugal, USB is UNIVERSALLY 5V 500mA so it shouldn't matter what country you are in unless you purchase an externally powered one i.e. plugs into a wall socket (rare if not NON existant). The PC does the encoding/decoding when it comes to PAL & NTSC so that's nothing to worry about.

I assume you are trying to set up video & audio communication so I would recommend SKYPE, its free software and free to make calls. The only charge is too make calls to land lines and mobiles.

http://www.skype.com (your browser will automatically redirect to your local region)Webcams typically operate at baseband video (very low frequency). PAL and NTSC are over the air broadcast standards designed to operate at much higher frequency's and don't have anything to do with webcams.

Never SAY never, but it shouldn't make any difference where the webcams are bought.Here is some information.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAL

What you get from the USB port is neither PAL or the US format. It is RAW video data that has to be converted to display on a standard TV set.