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mac compatible WEBCAM

iris_failsafe

iris_failsafe

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 4, 2004
255
0
San Francisco, CA
Im trying to buy my mother a ichat compatible web-cam, but Apple doesn't have one and this guy at CompUsa SF told me there are no mac compatibles webcams in the world. So is he lying and in that case where can I get one

My mom has a G4 quicksilver with 1GB RAM and Mac OS 10.3.9, thanks
 
iris_failsafe said:
Im trying to buy my mother a ichat compatible web-cam, but Apple doesn't have one and this guy at CompUsa SF told me there are no mac compatibles webcams in the world. So is he lying and in that case where can I get one

My mom has a G4 quicksilver with 1GB RAM and Mac OS 10.3.9, thanks
Click to expand...

Yeah, the CompUSA guide is basically an idiot. You can use just about any standard USB webcam you like. In order to have it work with iChat you may need to download a patch (not free) but it will work.


Macam

Sample webcam: (this one actually requires Tiger, but you get the idea).
 
Or Any Cheap FireWire Camera Will Work With No Patch Necessary

gauchogolfer said:
Yeah, the CompUSA guide is basically an idiot. You can use just about any standard USB webcam you like. In order to have it work with iChat you may need to download a patch (not free) but it will work.


Macam

Sample webcam: (this one actually requires Tiger, but you get the idea).
Click to expand...
Or without a patch any cheap DV camera with a FireWire port will work. A small tripod could be a way to mount it for her.
 
UNtil recently there was really not any "out of the box" ready to go cameras. SO he was partially right. YOu probably wont find something in a store that is "out of the box" ready to go. There is a new one that just recently surfaced for about $60. You can prolly search these forums to find it. It wasnt until the iSight disappeared that people didnt really start tackling the needs for these camers that is no longer fulfilled by the iSight. So his only mistake is to not consider what migh be out there outside what he has seen and yes if you go looking in stores it would appear that there is no answer for the iSight. You will find something now though.

Kevin
 
Here Are Two Choices Beyond The Old iSight

Multimedia said:
Or without a patch any cheap DV camera with a FireWire port will work. A small tripod could be a way to mount it for her.
Click to expand...
Here are 2 for sale:

ISWEET-CAM Harmonic Inversion iSweet Firewire Webcam $130

Unibrain FireWire WebCam - Fire-i Digital Camera $109 I like this one better plus it's $21 cheaper. It's also not a leaf. Has TWO 6-pin FW ports so you can also use it as a one port hub for any other FW device you want to hook to the port it's connected to on the computer.
 
At an Apple Centre here I saw them using a Logitech webcam with a mac pro, no problems at all, don't know what software they were using with it though.
 
Just bought a webcam today for my Powerbook...

Even if you find something that supports Mac on the box (I found a brand called Genius at the store), be careful because it didn't support anything after OS 10.3.

I'm using the Macam drivers and the new one (Logitech Quickcam Connect) is working fine with Skype. It's not seamless- I do have to sometimes replug it in and restart Skype. The iChatUSBcam "program" is just a driver for iChat which works, but costs $9.95.

If you don't want to spend much, check the macam site before buying a cam. Otherwise got with Firewire or a used iSight.
 
I say just find a second hand iSight, it worked seamlessly with the mac, and you don't have to worry about buying other software that is not guaranteed to work;)
 
Logitech do a single driver which supports the QuickCam Pro 4000, QuickCam Zoom, QuickCam For Notebooks Pro, and QuickCam Orbit/Sphere only.

That seems to be about it really, none of the other major manufacturers (Creative, Philips etc) seem to care to make drivers for Macos.
 
such a dumbass

My girlfriend (such a smart arse) just pointed out to me that if I plug my digital camera in and select 'PC-Camera' MacOS recognises it as a webcam and skype notifies you that a webcam is connected! And the best part.. the quality is awesome and so far I think even better than an iSight.

I am using a Sanyo Xacti 6mp myself, only problem is that the USB port is in the most annoying location (directly underneath there the tripod mount hole is!) so I have to balance it on the left hand side of the top of my monitor :)

The big annoyance is that I just bought two webcams both 'supposedly' with mac drivers that actually don't work at all. Grumble :eek:
 
Multimedia said:
Here are 2 for sale:

ISWEET-CAM Harmonic Inversion iSweet Firewire Webcam $130

Unibrain FireWire WebCam - Fire-i Digital Camera $109 I like this one better plus it's $21 cheaper. It's also not a leaf. Has TWO 6-pin FW ports so you can also use it as a one port hub for any other FW device you want to hook to the port it's connected to on the computer.
Click to expand...

I've justed read through this thread and as a Mac newbie I have a question:

what's the difference (speed, quality, usability, etc.) between USB2.0 and Firewire? I was researching the iMage USB Webcam by Ecamm and their USB webcam goes for considerably less ($60), though they say their webcam will work without any extra drivers software, since it uses the built-in iSight driver. They also provide something called a we plugin download which will enable iChat and iMovie to recognize the iMage Webcam.

Thanks for any advice or insight (no pun intended) you can offer.
Dan
 
Still no compatible webcam

Hi,

I'm new to this forum and looking for a budget webcam with microphone that is compatible with Panther, Tiger and OS9 as I use all three OSes on my MDD, most of the time I'm in Panther.

I bought a couple and installed the macam driver but no joy. I'm tired of buying a different model and then have to get my money back. The helpdesk at Trust doesn't even know which chips are used in their different models so even the SourceForge compatibility list is almost useless.

Who has bought a good compatible camera with mic recently for a reasonable price, say up to 40 dollars? I don't need a DV-camera. I would use it for Skype and chat programs and also as a general purpose mic for OSX.

The iMage sounds good but it has no microphone.

TIA for your comments.

Regards, Jörg.
 
yawg said:
Hi,

I'm new to this forum and looking for a budget webcam with microphone that is compatible with Panther, Tiger and OS9 as I use all three OSes on my MDD, most of the time I'm in Panther.

I bought a couple and installed the macam driver but no joy. I'm tired of buying a different model and then have to get my money back. The helpdesk at Trust doesn't even know which chips are used in their different models so even the SourceForge compatibility list is almost useless.

Who has bought a good compatible camera with mic recently for a reasonable price, say up to 40 dollars? I don't need a DV-camera. I would use it for Skype and chat programs and also as a general purpose mic for OSX.

The iMage sounds good but it has no microphone.

TIA for your comments.

Regards, Jörg.
Click to expand...

I just got this for a friend: http://www.mac-pro.com/Macally-IceCam2-USB2-0-Video-Web-Camera

It seems to work just fine on Leopard and XP (in Fusion) and has a built in mic.
 
Hello everyone! I just bought a Mac Pro and quickly realized the same problem; and so I search about 10 stores and I founded at Frys Electronics store here in Vegas, an out of the box ready to use webcam called GEAR HEAD. Model # WC875FT. It has 1.3 MP with 2.0 USb connection. it's only $50 and not a bad picture.
 
Tiger/Panther compatibility

Hi,

Apparently the new webcams are compatible because Apple migrated to Intel CPUs.

I'm on a G4 PowerMac and those won't work as I heard in an Apple store here.

I like the Macally IceCam2 but apparently it works only with Tiger.

Has anybody used the IC2 with Panther? I have the macam driver installed, if I get basic camera and mic functions for sound in and Skype etc. that would be enough for me.

OS9 compatibility would be nice but isn't necessary.

I have an old Connectix webcam for Mac with an ADB-connector that worked in OS9, would it work again with a ADB to USB adapter?

TIA for your comments. Regards,

Jörg.
 
motulist said:
Just because it's not officially supported doesn't mean you can't use it.

Try the open source webcam driver project.

http://webcam-osx.sourceforge.net/
Click to expand...

Been there done that ...

It's still hit and miss, cameras change all the time, they seem to have different chips in the same model. Even the guy at the Apple store couldn't guarantee that his webcams would work in my MDD :rolleyes:

I'm getting a Macally Icecam and a used M-Audio Revolution 7.1 soundcard where I can plug in my ancient Mac mic. Phew ...

Thanks for your comments.

Jörg.
 
Re Leopard compatability

Recent post suggests that a G4 will not work with UVC compliant webcam, not true. I have a working Logitech to prove it. If you can run Leopard, then UVC webcams work out of the box.
 
Hi,

Today I got my Icecam and it worked straight away without futzing around ...

But it's useless for Skype, there I get a very dark murky picture with interference distortion in the lower part.

And I bought it mainly for Skype. Oh well ...

Cheers, Jörg.
 
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