[villalobos]

Will Apple finally make iChat compatible with USB webcams? Isight being so expensive, it kills me that the only way to use a USB webcam is to hack iChat, which results in very poor performance. I wish Apple would just allow USB webcams to be used. So is that in the plan in Tiger?

[SMacTech]

I don't think that it will as everything they publicized indicates FireWire support cameras only. This may change with their recent attitude shift towards USB 2 however. I bet they start selling iSight with a USB interface for windows, sometime this year.

[Big Mac]

USB can lick the bottom of my shoe. I would hate to see an inferior Intel bus interface overtake Firewire, especially when video is the issue. As others have said, the only reason why Apple's skimping on the Firewire cables in iPods is that iPods are being sold to PC lusers.

[Mr Heliums]

Originally posted by SMacTech:
I don't think that it will as everything they publicized indicates FireWire support cameras only. This may change with their recent attitude shift towards USB 2 however. I bet they start selling iSight with a USB interface for windows, sometime this year.

I can't see them offering iSight as a PC webcam. There's no reason to - particularly as Windows users are quite happily paying $20 for substandard USB designs.

[Wiskedjak]

USB support for iChat only costs $10

[villalobos]

Originally posted by Wiskedjak:
USB support for iChat only costs $10

I know but the performances are awful. A 1 GHz iBook can't take a regular video chat without choking, That's pathetic.

[villalobos]

Originally posted by Big Mac:
USB can lick the bottom of my shoe. I would hate to see an inferior Intel bus interface overtake Firewire, especially when video is the issue. As others have said, the only reason why Apple's skimping on the Firewire cables in iPods is that iPods are being sold to PC lusers.

Yeah but honestly, for video conferencing quality with the heavy compression, USB 2 would be just as good as firewire... Maybe the other issue would be to have Apple actually support USB correctly, which does not seem to be the case right now.

[Wiskedjak]

Originally posted by villalobos:
I know but the performances are awful.

Yes, well, there is that. I've got a Quickcam Orbit that produces a pretty good picture on my Celeron 900mhz Toshiba laptop and pathetic on my 600mhz iBook.

[piracy]

http://www.ecamm.com/mac/ichatusbcam/

(Why no one offered this simple solution that's been around for ages, I don't know...)

[Wiskedjak]

Originally posted by piracy:
http://www.ecamm.com/mac/ichatusbcam/

(Why no one offered this simple solution that's been around for ages, I don't know...)

It was referred to and the original poster is familiar with it and it's weaknesses

[Superchicken]

Because then Apple would be shooting themselves in the foot?

Anyway, I wouldn't be surprised if we start seeing something like iChat AV being sold to PC users bundled with iSights.

[Link]

A USB2 isight wouldn't surprise me.

[nforcer]

Originally posted by Wiskedjak:
USB support for iChat only costs $10

iChat should support USB cameras "out of the box". Apple has built its reputation on ease-of-use, and having to install and purchase an add on (that could break at any time) is not the easiest way to do things. While I am happy a developer has made support for USB stuff in iChat possible, it's an annoying extra step to get support for something that should be supported in the first place.

Additionally, not everyone has $150 to spend on a nice firewire camera. There are some decent USB cameras out there. I would think iChat, the most noobish of all Apple iApps, would at least support them.

[Wiskedjak]

Originally posted by nforcer:
iChat should support USB cameras "out of the box". Apple has built its reputation on ease-of-use, and having to install and purchase an add on (that could break at any time) is not the easiest way to do things. While I am happy a developer has made support for USB stuff in iChat possible, it's an annoying extra step to get support for something that should be supported in the first place.

Additionally, not everyone has $150 to spend on a nice firewire camera. There are some decent USB cameras out there. I would think iChat, the most noobish of all Apple iApps, would at least support them.

I agree about "ease of use" but Apple only makes it easy to use Apple products and they don't sell a USB webcam. Apple doesn't want people using iChat with one of Logitech's cameras.

[cpac]

Originally posted by Wiskedjak:
Apple only makes it easy to use Apple products

Not true.

Just to name a few exceptions: digital cameras, digital video cameras, non-iPod mp3 players, 3rd party mice/keyboards...etc.

---------

The reason there's no USB support, as I understand it is this:

(1) iChatAV's purpose was to showcase what could be done with proper streaming - nice big pictures, easily streamed across continents (look at the keynote demos).

(2) iChat could never get enouch information over USB fast enough to make the video look good (this is back in USB 1 days)

Now that USB 2 is around and (presumably) could handle the bandwidth requirements for iChat, I wouldn't be surprised if Apple started supporting USB 2 webcams and/or shipping iSight with a USB 2 interface.

That said, I'm not sure how many USB2 webcams there are out there, and I don't see Apple retroactively adding support for USB 1 cameras, as the same problems that kept them from adding support in the first place still exist (namely, that video streamed that way would look like crap comparatively).