Built-In iSight Very Slow

Question

I just bought and turned on my new 12-core Mac Pro, and the built-in iSight is running very slowly--that is, at a very low frame rate. I'm testing it in Photobooth, but also runs slowly in other applications. And I'm pretty sure it's not just the display frame rate because the flash that Photobooth uses when it takes a photo sometimes doesn't sync up with the photo is takes.
And no, I don't have a thousand apps running. And yes, I did try restarting my computer.

Answer 1

aoisenshi9 wrote:
Bright and early, tested my iSight, and it's still running at a slow frame rate!
And it's not just displaying slowly, it's also capturing video very slowly. Might my 27" LED Cinema Display be bad...? They're still very new, so maybe there haven't been enough people to use them to have a large enough sample size?
Hmm... Really hoping the display isn't bad...
(1) Unless your Mac itself has problems, what is being played back will always be exactly what is recorded. If other apps are working slowly or unreliably, too, here are some things you can and SHOULD consider:
  http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/8750.html
  http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/21245.html
  http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/8492.html
  http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/27988.html
  http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3258
Also, make sure you have plenty of free space on your startup disk (I keep 50-75%, but 25% should be more than enough) to give OS X the headroom it needs to work efficiently.
(2) If you are using FileVault, turn it off and see if that resolves your problem:
  http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/8727.html
(3) How slow is "very slow"? Using the iSight built into my 24"&nbps;LED&nbpsdisplay, Photo Booth only captures 14-20fps for me depending on light.
According to Apple's http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/27044.html Photo Booth is used to create silly and fun video effects, so do not expect it to be a robust and highly configurable or controllable application.
Did you try other apps like iMovie and QuickTimeX? Have you tested other user accounts?
(4) Because your display's iSight connects via USB, it may be sharing bandwidth with other connected USB devices. Disconnect all other USB cables while you test to determine whether that makes a significant difference. Also, test connecting your monitor's USB input to a different USB port on your Mac.
(5) Best quality video requires *_much more light_* than most of us consider normal room lighting. Unless you use the equivalent of full sunlight, you will likely not see the maximum 30fps regardless of which software you use.
Use BRIGHT light, and make a test recording with QuickTimeX. Then play both that test and one of your "slow" Photo Booth videos back with QTX to determine whether the frame rate of the QT recorded file is different from those recorded in Photo Booth.
(6) If your frame rates are below fifteen in bright light, consider the troubleshooting suggestions beginning on page 15 of the User's Guide manual that came with your LED display.
(7) If all else fails, contact an Apple-Authorised Service Provider for professional help.
Message was edited by: EZ Jim
Mac Pro Quad Core (Early 2009) 2.93Ghz Mac OS X (10.6.4); MacBook Pro (13 inch, Mid 2009) 2.26GHz (10.6.4)
LED Cinema Display; G4 PowerBook 1.67GHz (10.4.11); iBookSE 366MHz (10.3.9); External iSight; iPod touch 4.1