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iSight No Longer Available

Tideswimmer said:
Finally, video chat sessions can look as awesome as they do on TV commercials (that intercontinental stare-out contest on a wall-sized classroom screen) and in movies.:D
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Why not just buy a firewire HDV-camera? Should work like a charm with iChat. Of course, you'd need quite some bandwidth.

mkrishnan said:
Mmm, I would be more than happy to see Skype completely overtake the IM market, text, audio, video, and all. Their product is outstanding. But no one uses it. I have a buddy list of what ... like about 100 people. Half of them are on MSN and the other half on AIM. Maybe three or four people on Yahoo. No one on Skype.
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My experience is different. A more and more people seem to start using Skype. Maybe especially because of SkypeOut, which replaces a house-phone. I've had problems getting fellow Mac'ers to use iChat - but I get them to use Skype, since a lot of people have migrated to Skype lately. (they use both Skype and MSN. Noone uses AIM here.. too bad.)
 
Usb 2??

corywoolf said:
Here's to the iSight 2.0

Featuring:

- USB 2 MP Camera
- Built in IR sensor for Remote
- Bundled Apple Remote
- Better Mic
- PhotoBooth
- PC support w/ iChat for Windows

$79.99
Click to expand...

Something that nobody has mentioned so far is that the current built-in iSights use the USB bus, so making a new external isight USB is no problem.

The IR sensor I can see, but not the remote. The two computers that this would be targeted for would be the Mac Pro and the Mac Mini, which has an included apple remote. Only one computer doesn't have the remote, and that's the mac pro. I guess for legacy computers, this would be nice, but I see the remote as being sold separately, for like $9.

What's wrong with the current mic?

iChat AV for windows, no. Too much competition, too few users. Apple wants PC users to migrate to the Mac, since their profit margins are higher on Macs than on software. Apple doesn't want to make it easy for a PC user to enjoy video chatting when their own ads make it sound so easy on the mac.

I'd love to see a new isight in an enclosure the size of the new shuffle, and knowing apple, it'd have some awesome special mount. An example would be a tiny magnet on it's bottom-back corner than would allow it to be mounted either on top of a piece of metal, or in front of a piece of metal.

I'm giving my bro my external one for X-mas as I now have one in my MBP, but if they came out with a new, and hopefully cheaper, external one, I may just have to get that for me.

-Brian
 
How about full iSight transition

Could be very likely that apple is updating their displays so they all contain intergrated isight!
This way they have again made their displays sort of unique from the rest of the market. And at the same time i cannot imagine it has a big extra production cost. Just another added value strategy, another transition.
Apple displays havn.t been updated for some time either.:rolleyes:
 
webmatthijs said:
Could be very likely that apple is updating their emacs and displays so they all contain intergrated isight!
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The displays have been a persistant rumor... I think the eMac is dead and not coming back. With the super-low end iMac that was clearly designed to provide a low price point for the Edu market, why bother?
 
webmatthijs said:
Could be very likely that apple is updating their emacs and displays so they all contain intergrated isight!
This way they have again made their displays sort of unique from the rest of the market. And at the same time i cannot imagine it has a big extra production cost. Just another added value strategy, another transition.
Apple displays havn.t been updated for some time either.:rolleyes:
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eMacs? They don't sell them anymore.

The displays wil be updated, though.
 
Does the removal of the iSight from the Apple Store US have anything to do with the new chemical laws that have recently come into effect in San Francisco? Along the same lines as the lack of iSight in Europe.
 
I think a new form factor and connection are drastically needed in the iSight.

We have the one of the first iSights that were released, which means we have had it for almost 4 years. While it works wonderfully and all, there are some issues that have popped up and the form factor does look a little long in the tooth.

I have noticed that on my Power Mac G5, if I have both my iSight and 3rd Gen iPod plugged in, iSight on FW400 on back and iPod via FW800 on back, my iPod refuses to sync up properly. It acts as if the HDD if going bad. After utilizing the FireWire Bus reset technique Apple indicates on Apple.com that you might have to use if FW drives do not appear, I noticed that if I unplug my iSight while the iPod refuses to sync up, the iPod roars to life and syncs in no time flat.

With the advent of USB 2.0, FW has lost its place in the market. No one makes a strictly FW connection port on thier periph anymore. Do newer mini DV cameras still require FW for the transmission of video? I don't know that one but if they can make it work via USB than FW could be the Titanic going down fast.

I would love to see a new iSight that clips onto the front of your monitor so that it is similar to the position on iMacs, MacBooks and MacBook Pros. The closer to the screen, the more realistic the conversation seems. But that makes me think of a rumor I heard a while ago about the use of photo cells intermingeld within LCDs so that you could place an iChat window in the middle of the screen where the photo cells are and you would be talking and looking right into the iChat picture on the screen.

Oh and the integrating the iSights into Apple displays??? No frickin way. What a waste of technology. What about professionals like me who have 2 or 3 screen set ups for work or home? Why would you want to have 1 or 2 extra cameras? That's a waste of money.
 
KindredMAC said:
Oh and the integrating the iSights into Apple displays??? No frickin way. What a waste of technology. What about professionals like me who have 2 or 3 screen set ups for work or home? Why would you want to have 1 or 2 extra cameras? That's a waste of money.
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The USB cameras in question (from the recent Intel Macs) probably only cost $5-10 in parts, so cost shouldn't be a driver.

The bigger problem is their use in places where cameras may not be allowed. Many employers do this and Apple would be shutting themselves further out of those markets.

B
 
I think if apple released a high quality USB 2.0 iSight priced at $49 (or thereabouts) and compatible with windows, they could corner the video chatting market. Their cameras are high quality but simply not worth $149 for what you get.
 
corywoolf said:
Here's to the iSight 2.0

Featuring:

- USB 2 MP Camera
- Built in IR sensor for Remote
- Bundled Apple Remote
- Better Mic
- PhotoBooth
- PC support w/ iChat for Windows

$79.99
Click to expand...

That would be awesome but what we're likely to see is that without the bundled remote as it will be sold separately (it already is) and with Front Row. $79 would be really un-apple so I think the price will be $149.

Frederic
 
KindredMAC said:
Oh and the integrating the iSights into Apple displays??? No frickin way. What a waste of technology. What about professionals like me who have 2 or 3 screen set ups for work or home? Why would you want to have 1 or 2 extra cameras? That's a waste of money.
Click to expand...

Second that. I highly doubt that Apple will install iSights right into the ACDs. That would be plain stupid.
 
Anyone notice what's happened to the prices of iSights elsewhere? Check out the price for a used iSight from the Amazon marketplace:

iSight Condition: Used-Like New $259.99

And on eBay, they seem to be going for more than the $149 list price, too. Check out these two finished auctions:

Auction 1
Auction 2

I know that I wouldn't go spending over $200 for something used that listed for $150 new. Sometimes people are just funny, I guess.
 
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I was just in at the apple store (Southdale, Minnesota) and they had a full shelf of them... old? Perhaps they are in the process of updating the website page about it? I know that the first time they disapeared on the site they were gone at apple too...but not this time? Hmmmm...
 
corywoolf said:
Here's to the iSight 2.0

Featuring:

- USB 2 MP Camera
- Built in IR sensor for Remote
- Bundled Apple Remote
- Better Mic
- PhotoBooth
- PC support w/ iChat for Windows

$79.99
Click to expand...

No way. I can understand the drop of FireWire on iPods, but iSight??? I have 2 free FW ports (out of 2 BTW) and 2 USB, but thats because I have a 4 port USB hub. Why overload the USB bus, when FW is sitting idle?

You guys want contratictionary things: both multi-megapixel AND better low light sensitivity + smaller physical size of the cam itself ;) Dream on!
 
With built in isights being so small I think its just time for them to update them. They need to be less expensive and smaller. If they want every mac user to own one so it can work with whatever phone or IM service they will come up with they will need to come out with a better one. I think it will be updated to work with longer distances. An iSight you can put in your entertainment center and will allow you to zoom in on people sitting on a couch. Whatever it is I know I want one.
 
eXan said:
No way. I can understand the drop of FireWire on iPods, but iSight??? I have 2 free FW ports (out of 2 BTW) and 2 USB, but thats because I have a 4 port USB hub. Why overload the USB bus, when FW is sitting idle?

You guys want contratictionary things: both multi-megapixel AND better low light sensitivity + smaller physical size of the cam itself ;) Dream on!
Click to expand...


Well if they do make a PC version of iChat, then we have to bear in mind that USB 2.0 is more prevalent in PCs than FW.

I'm still upset about Apple dropping FW support on iPods as well, thankfully I own a 4th Gen iPod video :)

I'd love a PC version of iChat, I'm so sick of Trillian and Aim any version sucks.
 
I thought older model's of iSights had built in infrared detectors :confused: Maybe I'm just crazy....
 
Gunnjack said:
Well if they do make a PC version of iChat, then we have to bear in mind that USB 2.0 is more prevalent in PCs than FW.

I'm still upset about Apple dropping FW support on iPods as well, thankfully I own a 4th Gen iPod video :)

I'd love a PC version of iChat, I'm so sick of Trillian and Aim any version sucks.
Click to expand...

Do you use a 3rd party firmware for video on 4th gen iPod?

I dont think Apple is going to make a PC version of iChat/iSight. They need more reasons to switch ppl to Macs.
 
That's funny they are not available now, because I got a brand new one from Apple only two weeks ago when I purchased my Mac Pro.
 
maybe there refreshing the isight to plug into the rumored iphone. creating a chance take advantage of leopard and to cast the hypnotic spell of ichat mobile.
 
I very much doubt that the disappearance of iSights from the stores has anything to do with changes in European regulations regarding hazardous materials. Apple pulled its iSights in the summer, but they were back within weeks - at least in the physical stores. It does not take 6 months to change the constituent materials at the production line, since regulation compliant substitutes already exist and are not necessarily more expensive.

This smacks more of an update. I am not expecting anything radical, though, as chatting or Skype does not require anything too bleeding edge. It is probably just a switch away from the Firewire port to USB; probably no better than 1.3MP or maybe even VGA resolution, since broadband upload bandwidth struggles with anything more demanding for most people, and a drop in price to compete better with the likes of Logitech. Anyone requiring anything better would just hook up their digicam/phone/iPod 6G?/whatever.
 
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