Mac Webcam

If you own a Mac, you might be interested in running a webcam, but are put off by the cost of the i-Sight. Although this webcam is good quality and looks great with your mac, it still costs three times as much as many of the other Logitech or Microsoft webcams.

Added to that, it's unusual for Creative, Logitech or Microsoft to provide specific Mac drivers for any of their webcams. Apple therefore seems to quite a stronghold over its users. However, there are alternatives to iSight.

Many webcams will work with Mac providing you use some software to make it compatible. Perhaps the most comprehensive (and free) software is Macam - a generic driver for Mac webcams. It's designed for Mac OS X and supports quite a lot of webcams including Logitech, Creative, Philips and other brands of web cam.

See:

http://webcam-osx.sourceforge.net

Of the webcams we sell on webcamstore.net the following currently are compatible with Macam:

-Logitech Quickcam Chat
-Logitech Quickam STX
-Logitech Quickcam Express
-Logitech Quicam for notebooks
-Logitech Quickcam Messenger
- Philips SPC210NC
- Philips SPC215NC

These models are in progress:

- Microsoft VX-1000
- Microsoft VX-3000
- Microsoft VX-6000
- Creative Live! Vista

Note on microphones:

Most of the webcams listed above have built-in USB microphones which are fine for Mac. However, a lot of macs will not support ordinary microphones, since they need amplification. If your Mac has a line-in socket but no mic socket, then you'll need to make sure you're using either a USB microphone or get an amplifier. A USB microphone is usually more economical.

Since some cameras come with headsets, and not built-in USB microphones, this is something you ought to consider when buying a webcam.

i-Chat

Although you should be able to use your webcam with MSN and Skype, you may find you have a problem using it with iChat. A programme you can use to get around this is called iChatUSB -

http://www.ichatUSB.com

The license costs £5, but it will let you do all sorts of things that you wouldn't have been able to before with your webcam.