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Limited Functionality For QuickCam Pro 9000

J

JeffHendr

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 10, 2002
40
0
Independence, MO
I just purchased a QuickCam Pro 9000 for my Powerbook (17" 1.33 GHz PowerPC with Leopard) since my laptop has no built-in iSight. I chose this camera because it's received great reviews and has an awesome feature set (including 1600 x 1200 resolution at up to 30 fps). Unfortunately, despite multiple postings on various online forums that claim that this camera works on OS X, I have found that this camera has only very limited functionality on any Mac.

Almost every feature of the QuickCam Pro 9000 is entirely software driven. Unfortunately the software is Windows compatible only--Logitech does not have a Mac version of the software. Without the software to drive the camera, you are stuck with a resolution of 320 x 240 in iChat, a resolution of 640 x 480 in PhotoBooth, a maximum of only 5 fps, no auto-focus and no "HD". Basically I could have picked up most any UVC compliant camera for $20 or $30 and got the same result.

Is anyone aware of a third party application or driver that makes it possible to at least adjust the resolution on this thing? It'd still be worth the money if I could at least increase the resolution and get a quality picture. ...Any possibility that Apple will incorporate some kind of basic hardware control for generic webcams in future revisions of Leopard?
 
I'd sure like to know as well. I just brought this thing home today. Can't zoom at all. No functionality except for it dangling there on top of the LCD. I tested it in Photobooth and iChat (using iChat test server). Video seemed slighly choppy but good quality. When I first dabbled with iChat AV I was using my camcorder (Panasonic Pv120??) but the thing would timeout after 5 minutes and I couldn't figure out how to get it to stop doing that.

I think I may take this thing back unless there are some magical 3rd party drivers that would allow me to control the camera (at the very least zoom in or something...)

Anyone here using the Logitech Quickcam 9000 Pro???

(.....digs through manuals to find Panasonic camcorder manual to figure out how to stop the timeouts.....)
 
JeffHendr said:
I just purchased a QuickCam Pro 9000 for my Powerbook (17" 1.33 GHz PowerPC with Leopard) since my laptop has no built-in iSight. I chose this camera because it's received great reviews and has an awesome feature set (including 1600 x 1200 resolution at up to 30 fps). Unfortunately, despite multiple postings on various online forums that claim that this camera works on OS X, I have found that this camera has only very limited functionality on any Mac.

Almost every feature of the QuickCam Pro 9000 is entirely software driven. Unfortunately the software is Windows compatible only--Logitech does not have a Mac version of the software. Without the software to drive the camera, you are stuck with a resolution of 320 x 240 in iChat, a resolution of 640 x 480 in PhotoBooth, a maximum of only 5 fps, no auto-focus and no "HD". Basically I could have picked up most any UVC compliant camera for $20 or $30 and got the same result.

Is anyone aware of a third party application or driver that makes it possible to at least adjust the resolution on this thing? It'd still be worth the money if I could at least increase the resolution and get a quality picture. ...Any possibility that Apple will incorporate some kind of basic hardware control for generic webcams in future revisions of Leopard?
Click to expand...


I just bought this, and while it seems to work on Skype with no problems, I can't get it to work with ichat. Everyone I use it with, it says they declined to view the webcam or timed out, but that was never true. Any ideas?
 
Based on the several webcams I've tested, the Quickcam Pro 9000 has the best image hands-down, better than even the iSight. However, as mentioned above, I can't get the frame rate to go higher than 5fps. If anyone can figure out how to get it to function at 15fps or higher, it would make this the best webcam around.

I have gotten this to work, right out of the box, in both iChat and Skype, without any drivers installed or any other software. I'm using a PPC G5 with 10.5.2.
 
T-Bone said:
Based on the several webcams I've tested, the Quickcam Pro 9000 has the best image hands-down, better than even the iSight. However, as mentioned above, I can't get the frame rate to go higher than 5fps. If anyone can figure out how to get it to function at 15fps or higher, it would make this the best webcam around.
Click to expand...

I've had the exact same problems - the video quality has been great in iChat (it lags on my computer, but those who I'm video conferencing with say that the quality and fps are great), but I can't seem to get over the 5fps mark. I've run across a few software workarounds for camera effects (cheesy colors and whatnot), but they weren't great, and they did nothing for resolution or speed. I hate to say this, but I'm relieved that other people have been having problems too - I thought it might just be me.

PowerBook G4
1.67 GHz
1.5 GB DDR SDRAM
 
Just tried the test server, appleu3test01, does it appear that blurry to the rest of you?
 

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pknz -

I just tried the test server, and the video came in pretty clear for me, even at full screen. The only problem was, again, the feed that I'm projecting from the Quickcam - it's pretty laggy at 5fps, though the video quality itself was just fine. Really, the slow fps is such a killer for this cam.
 
I tried three other cameras and settled on the Quickcam 9000.

The XBox Live Vision is fine for $30, but it's about 7-8 fps and image quality isn't super great. It's only 320x240 too.

The iMage USB Webcam has pretty terrible image quality, but it's 15 fps. It's so grainy, though, particularly in low light. The Quickcam puts it to shame. And it's not that much cheaper and has no mic.

Then there's the iSight, of course. I still say the Quickcam has a better picture, but the iSight is obviously faster. Biggest downside is that you have to pay way too much just to get a used one. I wouldn't even buy one when they were new, cause there was no way I felt I was going to get $150 worth out of it. Video-chatting is still a bit of a novelty for me.

But Amazon is selling the Quickcam for $70 right now, which considering that it comes with a mic, that's really a pretty awesome deal.

Anyone figures out how to increase the frame rate on the Quickcam, please post it. If I had an Intel Mac I'd be tempted to fire up Parallels and test it in XP, but I have a PPC and I'm not buying a new computer for at least another year or so.
 
I'm thinking about just getting a cheap/used dv camcorder (with firewire) off of ebay and using it as a webcam. Anyone ever do this before? Any drawbacks, pros/cons (I'd think/hope the pros far outweigh the cons)?
 
I got the software to install with Parallels but would NOT install under Fusion 1.1, it seemed to find the 9000 Pro but would just set there. If anyone has got this to work with Fusion let us know.
 
With the QuickCam Pro 9000, I was able to record a 640x480 movie at 30 fps with QuickTime Pro. I am using an "Early 2008" Mac Pro, FWIW.
 
macintel4me said:
I tried an iChat video call last night and was getting about 10 fps with my quickcam 9000.
Click to expand...

That's better the 5 fps some say they are getting. I use it on skype and am not sure how many fps I am getting...probably 5.
 
It's ashamed a webcam with the quality of the 9000 pro doesn't run well on my MB and soon to have a new MBP.
 
I upgraded to quicktime pro and got blur-free movie speed with the Quickcam Pro 9000. But then I reinstalled my operating system and I can't get the same frame speed from this camera, very slow and blurry video, even with quicktime pro. I'm baffled why it was great before I reinstalled my operating system and now it's much slower. :mad:
 
Quickcam Pro

macintel4me said:
With the QuickCam Pro 9000, I was able to record a 640x480 movie at 30 fps with QuickTime Pro. I am using an "Early 2008" Mac Pro, FWIW.
Click to expand...

I have the early 2008 Mac Pro and just got the QuickCam Pro 9000...it seems to work only in certain programs.

Have you got it to show up in iMovie 08?

Any special settings to make it work with QT Pro?

Are you just plugging it in, or are you using the maccam driver?

Any other Mac programs that work with the QCP 9000?

Thanks!

Frank
frank@fmstudio.com
 
I've only used mine with QT Pro and Skype. Speed seems to vary, think it depends on light conditions, etc. I almost gave it to a friend, but decided to try it again with QT Pro and it seemed fine, so I kept it. Just plug and play for me.
 
I just bought the Quickcam Pro 9000 today to use with my
Mac Pro desktop. I am upgrading from the former webcam
champ, the Logitech Ultravision.

Hands down, this new Quickcam give superior video clarity
as far as clarity is concerned.

However, the big problem I am having right now is blurred
movement. Anytime I move slightly the image blurs and then
refocuses.

Is this the frame rate problem as described above and is there
a fix for this?
 
i've been doing a bit of research on logitech cams as well, and for a while could not for the life of me tell the difference between the quickcam pro 9000 and the quickcam vision pro... except for the significant price difference, that is.

i've got last february's mac pro as well and i don't want to spend 80 dollars on a 5-10 fps VGA cam when i could be enjoying 30fps HD for a few dollars more.

can anyone else confirm whether the vision pro integrates a lot of the software features (zoom, light adjustment, resolution) into its hardware to justify the price boost? i'm not an expert on the subject but maybe that is why it is "mac compatible" -- no drivers and all the features built in.
 
I gave up on the webcams and bought a brand new but open-box Panasonic camcorder off eBay for $90. It works 1000 times better than any of the webcams I tried, including the more expensive ones. As a bonus, it's a camcorder and obviously not just tied to my computer.

I think that, outside of iSight, this is absolutely the best option for Mac users. It's also incredibly easy to use and requires no drivers or software.
 
ecamm said:
iUSBCam: iUSBCam is not compatible with Snow Leopard. We are evaluating how best to bring iUSBCam functionality to our Snow Leopard customers.
Click to expand...

About to give up. I'm switching from PC to Mac, and stupidly assumed that a superb Webcam like the 9000 Pro would be fine. What a maroon ! :(
 
You are suppose to get the quickcam vision pro which is basically the 9000 but with all the software features built into the hardware
 
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