Webcams & OS X Leopard on G5

I have a G5 dual 2GHz Tower from I think 2003 or so. Just purchased a Creative Live! Optia AF Web Camera. Running OS X 10.5.1. It seems to work with all my applications (like iChat, Quicktime Pro, etc...) but not sure it is 100% in terms of speed. I believe my G5, all 3 USB ports should be USB 2.0. This camera is also USB 2.0. So, I believe it should be doing 480MB speed like USB 2.0 does. I am not sure what the iSights with firewire were but my guess they were 400MB speed so these USB 2.0 should be equivalent.
Anyway, I launch my iChat AV or Quicktime Pro 7 and do a recording with it. I talk and the mics pick it all up for audio. Video looks decent. Just choppy when I play it back and watch it as I record or while using iChat, same thing, choppy. For example, if I move around, my lips don't look fluid so it does not look like a nice smooth movie would, looks more like I am playing it over the internet at slow speeds.
Is this how web cams look? They record but choppy or should the recording look smooth and lifelike and not choppy?
I do a few karate chop moves and move my hands around and it all looks choppy as heck.
Just curious if this is the norm. When I play it back in Quicktime and have it show data, it shows recorded 30fps and playback is normally around the same. Sometimes more like 27fps to 30fps. It changes around as it records.
So, does 30fps supposed to look fluid?
tj

Hi,
Several people have reported problems with this supposedly UVC compliant cam, particularly in iChat.
Anything above a setting of about 20fps should look fluid.
Set it to something you processor seems to be able to handle consistently such as 20 or 24/25
Most anything else is due to lighting.
11:21 PM Saturday; December 8, 2007

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