Webcam support?

James Dore

unread,

Nov 12, 2009, 6:22:53 AM11/12/09

to

What's the state of webcam support in OS X thses days? Will most USB-based
cameras work? I've had a request for one on a new mac mini. The only one
on the Apple Store is a Logitech QuickCam Pro at ï¿œ90, which seems somewhat
steep, although the specs are better than usual.

Cheers,
--
James Dore
New College IT Officer
james.dore@new / it-support@new

Ian McCall

unread,

Nov 12, 2009, 6:38:03 AM11/12/09

to

On 2009-11-12 11:22:53 +0000, "James Dore" <james...@new.ox.ac.uk> said:

> What's the state of webcam support in OS X thses days? Will most
> USB-based cameras work? I've had a request for one on a new mac mini.

> The only one on the Apple Store is a Logitech QuickCam Pro at �90,

> which seems somewhat steep, although the specs are better than usual.

OS X supports the USB Video Class (god alone knows what a webcam ever
was if it wasn't video class...) standard, as of about 10.4.8 I seem to
recall. Probably not massively co-incidentally, Vista also requires
this standard of its webcams in order to get the 'Designed for Windows
Vista' tag.

Upshot: if it says USB Video Class, or "Designed for Windows Vista", it
should work.

More here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_video_device_class

...and Apple mention UVC (USB Video Class) here:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2020

Cheers,
Ian

J. J. Lodder

unread,

Nov 12, 2009, 7:07:29 AM11/12/09

to

Ian McCall <i...@eruvia.org> wrote:

For video only.
The other goodies, pan, tilt, zoom,
will probably be Windows Exploder only,

Jan

J. J. Lodder

unread,

Nov 12, 2009, 7:07:29 AM11/12/09

to

James Dore <james...@new.ox.ac.uk> wrote:

> What's the state of webcam support in OS X thses days? Will most USB-based
> cameras work? I've had a request for one on a new mac mini. The only one

> on the Apple Store is a Logitech QuickCam Pro at �90, which seems somewhat

> steep, although the specs are better than usual.

If it's for someone else better get the Mac certified one,

Jan

T i m

unread,

Nov 12, 2009, 7:58:45 AM11/12/09

to

And if they want to do speech and the cam doesn't have a mic built in
you will either need a USB headset/ mic or a USB <> Audio dongle and a
'std' headset / mic.

FWIW I got a couple of these for mine:

http://preview.tinyurl.com/y8m2982

Whilst they worked under both OSX (10.4 at the time) and XP they were
a bit flaky under OSX.

Cheers, T i m

Richard Tobin

unread,

Nov 12, 2009, 2:04:45 PM11/12/09

to

In article <op.u294k...@chiyonofuji.new.ox.ac.uk>,
James Dore <james...@new.ox.ac.uk> wrote:

>What's the state of webcam support in OS X thses days? Will most USB-based
>cameras work? I've had a request for one on a new mac mini. The only one

>on the Apple Store is a Logitech QuickCam Pro at �90, which seems somewhat

>steep, although the specs are better than usual.

The "Windows-only" QuickCam Pro 9000 works perfectly well on a Mac,
though presumably the Mac version has some additional software.
It's 60 pounds from Amazon.

-- Richard
--
Please remember to mention me / in tapes you leave behind.

James Dore

unread,

Nov 13, 2009, 4:01:37 AM11/13/09

to

On Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:07:29 -0000, J. J. Lodder <nos...@de-ster.demon.nl>
wrote:

> James Dore <james...@new.ox.ac.uk> wrote:
>
>> What's the state of webcam support in OS X thses days? Will most
>> USB-based
>> cameras work? I've had a request for one on a new mac mini. The only one

>> on the Apple Store is a Logitech QuickCam Pro at ï¿œ90, which seems

>> somewhat
>> steep, although the specs are better than usual.
>
> If it's for someone else better get the Mac certified one,

Indeed - especially as it's their money too.