iChat AV and PC AIM video chat: which webcam?

[jxyama]

i'm looking to buy a pair of webcams to video chat between iChat AV and PC AIM client. i'm not looking for the best resolution or picture quality. i simply wish to add images to IMing a distant friend.

if this topic has been covered, i'd appreciate a pointer to those threads. i searched under "ichat" and "ichat av" and found nothing useful.

first question: PC in question only has usb1. is that quick enough?

i'd like to avoid paying too much, so if i can help it, i'd like to avoid spending $130 for iSight. what are some other webcams that work with Macs? i realize i need a FW webcam or pay for a patch... which is the better solution?

for the PC, i'm pretty set on logitech quickcam zoom. it's $45, which is a good price for my budget. anyone with some experience?

thanks for any replies.

 

[freiheit]

Hardware monopoly

Unless I'm very much mistaken, iChat AV only works with Apple's iSight camera. It's much like how Apple's DVD player and iDVD will only install if an Apple branded DVD drive is in the system. It's all part of the hardware monopoly that is the Macintosh (which in turn is part of why Macs cost so darned much to buy compared to PCs).

NOTE: I'm a recent Mac convert from the PC. I just got and installed Panther and the 10.3.5 update last night. Never used iChat AV (since it didn't exist in 10.2.8 that I had before) but I'm saying I _believe_ it only works with the iSight. I could be wrong, and I sincerely hope that I am wrong.

 

[jeromeusa]

Open standards

I'm pretty sure you can use any webcam, but the iSight works best. In fact, I've used my iSight with Yahoo! but their video image quality was staggered at best.

USB1.1 is probably too slow, but may work. I've heard of another firewire webcam that's around $100 or even $90, but is just not as pretty or functionally mountable as the iSight. Sorry for not providing more specifics, but I just couldn't let a possible misundestanding occur, based on the above 2 comments.