External webcams -- do any work with built-in isight?

Question

I have an intel Macbook with the built-in isight camera. I'd like to be able to use an external web cam -- but I can't get any to work -- the machine simply ignores them.
Can anyone tell me which, if any, external cams have worked with this setup?
And for those who may ask -- the isight works fine, but I'd like the flexibility of having a cam on a cord so I can point it around the room without have to move the entire laptop.
Thanks,
John

Answer 1

jackthelad wrote:
This appears to be the closest thread I could find regarding the use of external webcams with OSX.
I recently acquired an XBox 360 webcam which for all of my pre-purchase research told me was suprisingly compatible with Macs. I am running 10.4.11 on an Intel Macbook, but the webcam does not produce an image. Before I accept the reality that I've possibly purchased a faulty camera, I wanted to check here to see if perhaps I needed a driver, or some additional software to make it operative. I've installed the most recent MacCam app as a precautionary measure although my understanding is that the XBox 360 should run natively on Tiger and above, a simple plug & play. Although the camera is recognized in my System Profiler, again it doesn't produce an image, nor does it appear to to powering up via the 2.0 USB port, not even with the addition of MacWeb.
I'm I missing something, or have I just purchased a lemon? Any feedback?
macam is not required for your XBox 360 Live webcam (or any other UVC webcam) when used with Mac OS X 10.4.9 or later. You can uninstall it from your 10.4.11 Mac.
If you have not recently done so, shut down your Mac and do a cold boot (not merely a "Restart.") If restarting your Mac does not correct the problem, try all suggestions related to built-in iSight from http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2090
(You can use the suggestions for your webcam because both it and built-in iSight are USB cams.)
If your ONLY problem is with one particular app that is supposed to use a webcam, you may simply need to reinstall that one app.
However, if the testing suggested there shows that your webcam problem occurs in all apps in more than one user account, the reset suggested there may restore proper webcam function.
However, if your XBox 360 Live webcam still does not work after carefully following all relevant suggestions in the "How to Troubleshoot iSight" article but it does show as a USB device in your Mac's System Profiler, your problem may be with your Mac OS. Try applying the 10.4.11 Combo Update using the following process:
• Use Disk Utility to repair permissions.
• Download and install OS X 10.4.11(Intel) Combo Update: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL172
  (PPC Mac users should use http://support.apple.com/kb/DL170)
• Immediately after the restart that completes the update, repair permisssions again.
If necessary, use the suggestions from http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2090 again after applying the Combo Update to determine if the symptoms are the same.
EZ Jim
Mac Pro Quad Core (Early 2009) 2.93Ghz w/Mac OS X (10.6.2)  MacBook Pro (13 inch, Mid 2009) 2.26GHz (10.6.2)
LED Cinema Display  G4 PowerBook 1.67GHz (10.4.11)  iBookSE 366MHz (10.3.9)  External iSight