How to tell what other program is using webcam?

Hello,
My in-laws sometimes (maybe 20% of the time) get a message that says that the webcam is already in use by another program when they try to video chat with us. The message is in Danish and says something like "Webcamaret bruges af et andet program". They haven't started any other program. iChat shows a green camera icon on both their buddy list and on our remote system's buddy list.
Restarting or stopping iChat and disconnecting/reconnecting their webcam always seems to fix the problem, but I'd like to understand how to fix once and for all. Restarting is time consuming and rather disruptive for them and reseating the webcam is difficult for them physically to do.
They have a Mac Mini Intel 1.66 Core Duo. I recently switched out their firewire-based iSight with a USB-based Logitech Quickcam Vision Pro for Mac. They had the same problem with both, but they don't have the iSight any longer to try it again.
They are half-way across the world, and not tech-savvy, so resetting the PMU won't be possible.
I've looked through their Console logs, but don't even see any error message when it occurs.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
David

Hi,
Have them check in System Preferences > Accounts > (The Logged in account) > Login Items.
This is a list of the apps and utilities that start up when the Mac does.
(iTunes Helper is a common one that most people have).
This is one common cause of another app having access the the camera.
Look for iMovie, Photo Booth, Any System or iChat Add-On relating to Camera and camera tweaks, Any Software for the Logitech (It should not need to be started up at computer Launch)
Comic Book if bundled with their Mac.
Also check this list EZ Jim's Work
I would also get them to Check the System Profiler and then use the reveal Triangles to see Hardware > USB
If you have another way to login in to their computer other than iChat Screen Sharing then you could run this in Terminal
/Applications/iChat.app/Contents/MacOS/iChat -errorLogLevel 7
With iChat Shut down:-
Copy and Paste the Bold Text into Terminal and then hit the Enter key.
This will start iChat and Create Log in Terminal.
When the Buddy List has finished Loading Quit iChat in the Normal Way.
Copy the whole Log up to that point and paste it into TextEdit and send it to your self.
If you read through it, it should list two Cameras:-
1) the External (Or any Internal iSight for other reading this)
2) A software one ready for iChat Screen Sharing.
If the Regular one lists a Count less than 0 (zero) then iChat is having a job reading the Hardware state.
If this is the case then you could try deleting com.apple.iChat.plist from their Home Folder/Library/Preferences (Just drag it to the Trash)
iChat will need to be restarted where it will rewrite that .plist after checking the System again.
NOTE:-
This does lose all the other settings they have changed from Defaults in the iChat Preferences except the Accounts pane. (Saved Transcripts, Font choices, IM colours etc)
Are they using their Web Browser to Chat on Flash Based or the Google Mail Web Chat page ?
If that Tab or Window is still open (if they are still in a "Room") the camera will be "held" by the web Browser.
If they do use this method and it is Flash check they have not ticked the "Remember" button to Allow access each time they use that Chat site (I am not sure if the Google Chat Plug-in has a similar "Allow" Pop Up).
FaceTime for the Mac (The Beta) can in fact use the camera at the same time as iChat. It does not seem to matter which application is launched first.
Resetting the SMC on the Mac Mini is not invasive
Resetting the SMC for Mac Pro, Intel-based iMac, Intel-based Mac mini, or Intel-based Xserve
1. Shut down the computer.
2. Unplug the computer's power cord.
3. Press and hold the power button for 5 seconds.
4. Release the power button.
5. Attach the computers power cable.
6. Press the power button to turn on the computer.
See the third Expandable link in this Article (Near the bottom)
In most cases it can be just that the System has flagged somewhere that it thinks the camera is in use when in fact nothing is.
A PRAM reset may sort it but the SMC reset is more certain.
A PRAM reset.
Shut down the computer.
Restart it holding down Apple/CMD (or ⌘)+ALT PR Keys until you have heard three Start Up Bongs.
Hope this helps.
8:40 PM Wednesday; January 26, 2011
Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

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