Isight pic has blue bands - iChat problem?

Question

Hi ~
I recently set up a new external isight with my G4 desktop and 17" studio display. I have not yet tried to video conference; thus far I've only checked out the camera to be sure it works. I have no trouble getting an image within iChat 3.1.5, but the picture has blue vertical lines running through it. The lines are there both in bright room light and dim light. Beneath the lines, the image looks quite good.
I have tried all the obvious fixes: a different firewire port, different cable, etc. Didn't help.
I don't believe the camera's optics are at fault. I have Security Spy on the computer. If I control the camera through Security Spy, and set the camera's output to 640 x 480, the picture is clean with no blue lines. However, if I use Security Spy to set the camera's resolution to 320 x 240, the blue lines appear.
I know that isight is a VGA camera, so 640 x 480 is its native resolution. I think what may be happening is that somehow iChat is telling the camera to set its output at 320 x 240 instead of 640 x 480. I can't find any way to manually change the resolution of the camera from within iChat. (And I can't videoconference from within Security Spy.) According to Apple's description of iChat, it employs a new H.264 video codec, which "intelligently scales to available bandwidth and hardware for improved overall performance."
I fear my iChat is not being very intelligent at all, but is messing up what should be a lovely picture from a nice little camera!
Any suggestions?
Thanks!
~ Diane
G4   Mac OS X (10.4.8)  
G4   Mac OS X (10.4.8)  

Answer 1

Hi, Ralph ~
I haven't chatted with anyone yet, but I have successfully connected to appleu3test02.
I ran Terminal as you suggested. Here's the result:
165653.666401 Loading hardware rules from hardwarerulesH264-G4.plist
165653.667188 Checking H264 hardware rules
165653.667537 Satisfied rule #5 (20:160x120)
165653.669601 setLocalUserName: Diane Rains & Stu [email protected]
165653.710458 ### NEW STATE: to: VC_INIT, from: VC_INVALID
165653.711159 ### NEW STATE: to: VC_IDLE, from: VC_INIT
165653.711271 ++++++++ confStatusMapRemoveAll
165653.711319 ( ) -- mapUserIDToSecurityInfo cleared --
165653.712784 UPnP init passed
165653.713039 NATTraversal created
165653.713488 Bandwidth based on QT prefs = 1500
165653.741452 BWD: GotBandwidth: 1110749/1113243 (up/down) @[192.168.1.2:255.255.255.0]
165653.742018 BWD bandwidth: 1110 kbits up, 1113 kbits down.
165653.742305 videoNetworkCapable: 1 -- 3 max participants.
165653.742541 audioNetworkCapable: 1 -- 9 max participants.
165653.742850 vcCapabilities returns: 0x0000001f
165653.743128 VCCapAudio
165653.743356 VCCapVideo
165653.743568 VCCapMultiAudio
165653.743997 VCCapMultiVideo
165653.744258 VCCapMultiAudioHost
Kinda looks like it is sending out a 320x240 signal. (Can't really be 160 x 120, can it???) The firmware supposedly was udpated to 1.0.3 the first time iChat launched with the camera plugged in. However, the updater log does mention something about an error:
iSightUpdater was launched by iChat.
2006-12-13 17:01:03 -0600: iChat BundleVersion: 436
2006-12-13 17:01:03 -0600: iChat ShortVersionString: 3.1.5
2006-12-13 17:01:03 -0600: Auto update feature on.
2006-12-13 17:01:03 -0600: iSight Updater will install firmware version: 1.0.3
...then goes on to say...
Initiating software installation...
2006-12-13 17:01:33 -0600: Software installation terminating with error 00000000.
2006-12-13 17:01:33 -0600: Flashing firmware onto iSight...
2006-12-13 17:02:01 -0600: Flashing iSight terminating with error 00000000.
2006-12-13 17:02:01 -0600: iSight Updater quitting...
I actually tried to reupdate with 1.0.3, but Tiger wouldn't let me.
Now here's a new piece of the puzzle. I downloaded a demo version of iglasses today. In fiddling with its settings, I discovered that I could eliminate the blue lines if I increase the color temperature and white balance so much that cool colors (esp. blue) are nearly absent. I also found that I could colorize the picture with every hue but blue. In the blue area, the picture just goes unsaturated.
So now I wonder if there's a problem with the way in which the camera measures white balance/temperature at the cool end of the spectrum.
Not sure how Security Spy gets around this, though...
~ Diane
G4   Mac OS X (10.4.8)  
G4   Mac OS X (10.4.8)