How to iChat with a USB webcam
09/07/05 17:35 Filed in: Apple
After spending a good amount of time trying to figure
out MacOSX's iChat, a quick check on Google showed
that it does not support USB webcams, even if you
have the proper drivers for them (Logitech for
instance).
Fortunately there is a low-priced solution with the aptly named iChatUSBCam from http://www.ecamm.com/mac/ichatusbcam/. This software allows iChat to use an existing USB webcam instead of those much more expensive firewire cameras. Also, they have a great list of suggestions where to find MacOSX drivers for many USB webcameras (you still need a USB webcam that will work with MacOSX).
The existing version 2.0.2 does not work with 10.4 MacOSX Tiger but there is a beta version that supposedly does. I don't know if it was us but using the original version 2.0.2 on out 10.3 MacOSX system we had problems making an iChat to a 10.4 MacOSX. After loading the beta version of iChatUSBCam the problem went away.
Don't forget to be sure your firewall will let the video through. Until we changed our firewall rules we could not accept an incoming call. Apple describes the needed changes here: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93208 .
As a side note a PC user can also communicate with the iChat video client if they use a Windows XP computer and download the latest AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) software from http://www.aim.com/. The video quality will not be as good as between two MacOSX systems.
Fortunately there is a low-priced solution with the aptly named iChatUSBCam from http://www.ecamm.com/mac/ichatusbcam/. This software allows iChat to use an existing USB webcam instead of those much more expensive firewire cameras. Also, they have a great list of suggestions where to find MacOSX drivers for many USB webcameras (you still need a USB webcam that will work with MacOSX).
The existing version 2.0.2 does not work with 10.4 MacOSX Tiger but there is a beta version that supposedly does. I don't know if it was us but using the original version 2.0.2 on out 10.3 MacOSX system we had problems making an iChat to a 10.4 MacOSX. After loading the beta version of iChatUSBCam the problem went away.
Don't forget to be sure your firewall will let the video through. Until we changed our firewall rules we could not accept an incoming call. Apple describes the needed changes here: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93208 .
As a side note a PC user can also communicate with the iChat video client if they use a Windows XP computer and download the latest AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) software from http://www.aim.com/. The video quality will not be as good as between two MacOSX systems.