Dell SP2309W Webcam

[Jethryn Freyman]

I have a late 2011 Macbook Pro, running 10.9.4, with a Dell SP2309W connected by HDMI cable to a HDMI to Mini Display Port adapter into the Thunderbolt port. The monitor has a 4 port USB 2 hub and a webcam, and I have used it on Macs running 10.5.8 and 10.6.8 without problems. I have Perian and macam installed for codecs and webcam drivers.

I can't use the webcam.

Applications will cause the light next to the camera to light up, but they just display black. Tried with Quicktime , Quicktime 7 Pro, Quicktime Broadcaster, VLC 2, and Photo Booth.

No error messages, and nothing in Console.

Any help?

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Activity Monitor sees it:

Monitor Webcam:

Product ID: 0x2649
Vendor ID: 0x05a9 (OmniVision Technologies, Inc.)
Version: 89.09
Speed: Up to 480 Mb/sec
Manufacturer: OmniVision Technologies, Inc.538-2640-08.09.09.1
Location ID: 0xfa131000 / 10
Current Available (mA): 500
Current Required (mA): 200

 

[AcesHigh87]

When you go to use an application that can use the camera (photo booth for example) do you see a drop-down box to set which camera to use? I know it comes up if multiple cameras are attached.

Or, rather, do you simply get a screen saying no camera attached? I know this is the case when trying to use photo booth on say a mac pro with no webcam.

 

[Jethryn Freyman]

When you go to use an application that can use the camera (photo booth for example) do you see a drop-down box to set which camera to use? I know it comes up if multiple cameras are attached.

Or, rather, do you simply get a screen saying no camera attached? I know this is the case when trying to use photo booth on say a mac pro with no webcam.

Yeah it shows them up and selectable, but selecting them shows just a black screen and no error messages.

 

[AcesHigh87]

That is unusual, it means the computer is registering that they exist and can be controlled but it appears like no video feed is being sent back from the webcam to the program.

I'll search around and see if I can find anything to help you out.

 

[Jethryn Freyman]

Now using a late 2011 Macbook Pro with the screen and Mavericks, System Profiler still picks it up, but it doesn't work in any application nor are are any cameras detected. I've got macam and the Quicktime component installed. The monitor USB cable is connected to the computer, too

It used to work pretty reliably on my 2004 Power Mac G5 running 10.5.8.

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VLC 2.1.5 will attempt to open (and detects) the camera and microphones as a "Capture Device", and switches on the light on the monitor for the camera, but captures nothing.

Sound Studio 3.5.5 will detect the stereo microphones and will capture stereo audio successfully. The camera itself it made by OmniVision.

 

[Jethryn Freyman]

OK, weirdly enough, it works fine with a program called "Snapped Beta" which is basically a hacky Mac desktop version of the mobile app Snapchat. It works the monitor webcam when nothing else shows anything but the white LED on and blackness.

 

[Jethryn Freyman]

Just tried Photo Booth randomly on 10.9.5 and it's working

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Quicktime 7 Pro works too.

Full quality is 1600x1200, 7.5 fps at that res, 232mbit/sec, 24 bit stereo 44.1KHz. High quality is VGA and 128kbit AAC audio

 

[Jethryn Freyman]

Resolved: The webcam USB cable needs to be plugged in from the monitor to the Mac ON BOOT UP. If it gets unplugged, like you move the laptop away and use it without the screen, you'll need to reattach the cable and reboot for it to work. There's probably a simple init function that can be made to run on startup with an Automator shell script for this...