iSight and WebCams

[Shanley]

I am buying my first Mac after Oct. 26th and I am buying my mother and my sister web cams so that we can see my sisters new baby and chat.

Does anyone know which web cams work well with iChat or is what I am trying to do impossible?

Can Windows users chat with Mac users on isight?

 

[jlanuez]

I am buying my first Mac after Oct. 26th and I am buying my mother and my sister web cams so that we can see my sisters new baby and chat.

Does anyone know which web cams work well with iChat or is what I am trying to do impossible?

Can Windows users chat with Mac users on isight?

I use my iSight (with MACs) and I use iChat with a friend on a PC and we video chat with no problems.

On his PC he uses a headset to eleimnate feedback on his end. I don't have to do this, and not sure about his set-up and why he does. When he is not on his headset I hear a terrible echo

Not sure if you can have more than 2 ppl. at a time, have never tried that yet.

 

[Ninja Guidan]

I am buying my first Mac after Oct. 26th and I am buying my mother and my sister web cams so that we can see my sisters new baby and chat.

Does anyone know which web cams work well with iChat or is what I am trying to do impossible?

Can Windows users chat with Mac users on isight?

Your family on Windows can use AIM and you can use iChat (logged in with an AIM account of course). If your family doesn't have webcams, then you can do a one way video chat where they can see you. But if it's your sister with the baby, then who cares if YOU have the camera. They don't want to see you, they want to see the baby. So...Logitech cameras and AIM accounts for the Windows users...AIM account and iChat for the Mac.

 

[jamesarm97]

I read that iChat only worked with iSight and firewire webcameras. The only reason I bring this up is I was looking for a camera for my wife's mac mini so I could chat while at work and saw a Dynex webcam on sale at Bestbuy. The first thing I did is look on the package and saw it supported OS X / Macs. I installed the driver and connected it to the mini. It saw the device and the built in mic works, but It would not show up under iChat. I looked on the installation page for OS X and at the very bottom in fine print (inside the manual) it states the camera does not work with iChat. That made me mad because it was the one reason why I bought it. They did not show that on the outside of the box.

 

[mkrishnan]

Skype is another very popular option -- Skype is available both for Windows and MacOS, and it does video conferencing. Some people have reported that it has problems less often than AIM/iChat.

In terms of cameras, Logitech is certainly a great recommendation as made above. Another very inexpensive option that is compatible with pretty much everything is the XBox live camera. I think it's available in a kit with a headset for about $30-40 (or you can use the internal mic if you have a notebook -- most of them have microphones on the bezel surrounding the screen). It works with OS X and Windows and shouldn't need custom drivers on either.

EDIT: Reading your post above... starting with... 10.4.9, I think, a number of USB cams are supported in OS X without drivers. Pretty much any camera that runs in OS X without a driver should work in iChat. This this may be necessary for cameras that require their own driver. I'm pretty sure that the Xbox cam and most of the logitech ones work out of the box, though. Dynex I know nothing about. I've never heard of the brand before.

 

[Shanley]

Thank you all!

I give everyone 10 points. You have been very helpful.

"They don't want to see you, they want to see the baby." - Ninja Guidan

Truer words were never spoken.

 

[mkrishnan]

"They don't want to see you, they want to see the baby." - Ninja Guidan

Haha, I just noticed the user name. Mmm, Ninja Gaiden... good memories.

 

[Ninja Guidan]

Skype is another very popular option -- Skype is available both for Windows and MacOS, and it does video conferencing. Some people have reported that it has problems less often than AIM/iChat.

In terms of cameras, Logitech is certainly a great recommendation as made above. Another very inexpensive option that is compatible with pretty much everything is the XBox live camera. I think it's available in a kit with a headset for about $30-40 (or you can use the internal mic if you have a notebook -- most of them have microphones on the bezel surrounding the screen). It works with OS X and Windows and shouldn't need custom drivers on either.

EDIT: Reading your post above... starting with... 10.4.9, I think, a number of USB cams are supported in OS X without drivers. Pretty much any camera that runs in OS X without a driver should work in iChat. This this may be necessary for cameras that require their own driver. I'm pretty sure that the Xbox cam and most of the logitech ones work out of the box, though. Dynex I know nothing about. I've never heard of the brand before.

How's the video quality with Skype? I was going to try it but it was easier getting my family to use AIM since some of them were already signed up (I'm in the boat as the OP except I'm the one with the baby so they don't care if I see them, they just want to see her). Everyone says they can see my side with no problems. My dad has an HP laptop with a webcam built in so we could see him and he could see us. Well his side looked like pixelated crap. But I don't know if that was an issue with his PC or AIM. So I'm just curious about the default video quality with Skype.

 

[Nick12945]

How's the video quality with Skype? I was going to try it but it was easier getting my family to use AIM since some of them were already signed up (I'm in the boat as the OP except I'm the one with the baby so they don't care if I see them, they just want to see her). Everyone says they can see my side with no problems. My dad has an HP laptop with a webcam built in so we could see him and he could see us. Well his side looked like pixelated crap. But I don't know if that was an issue with his PC or AIM. So I'm just curious about the default video quality with Skype.

He probably just has a low resolution webcam on his laptop.