[nuggetman]

i'm looking for a cheap webcam to work with ichat, any suggestions?

ive got an old intel pc camera pro, but i don't think there's mac support for it

[cpac]

there may be hacks to use regular USB webcams with iChat, but officially I believe you need something that connects to a firewire port meaning either a digital camcorder (expensive, but not bad if you've already got one) or an iSight (not all that expensive, depending on your definition)

(FYI - the reason behind this is, I believe, and bandwidth issue - the cheapo-web cams can't capture and transmit enough of the info over USB to work/look good in iChat)

[macvillage.net]

correct, it's bandwidth.

Though I remember there were some other firewire cam's before. Can't remember who made them though.

I'd guess USB2 has the bandwidth though not supported.

[Grrr]

UniBrain Fire-I is around half the price of an iSight, and is FireWire. Has no built in Mic though. I don't use one myself however. I have an iSight.
USB cams can work with iChat. But its a bit tedious.. IOxperts make a driver that works well with many cams, but you have to pay for it. The hacked Macam driver is free and I think works with even more cams, even some that were previously PC only. But frame rates are rather low from this driver. And then to enable USB cams to work with iChat, you need another app (which also needs paying for) called iChat USB cam. I have used this set up with an old Philips Toucam Pro USB cam and it all worked perfectly well, bar the frame rates with the Macam driver. Frame rates are hugely improved with the IOxperts driver though. Perfectly useable.
See? bit tedious. Best to get a fireWire cam by far..