[PD] Webcam advice

[day 5]

use Linux, lol


./d5

On Feb 9, 2006, at 12:20 PM, Jonathan Goodwin wrote:

> I only need a cheap camera. Basically I'm making a video installation, 
> which
> for the most part I am producing proper DV quality videos. But I just 
> need a
> cheapy cam that I know will work with OS X to take crude footage for
> overlaying a distorted live feed of the installation's viewer over the 
> other
> video streams.
>
> Trouble is, just having a glance around online, not many manufacturers 
> seem
> to be committing themselves to saying they will work with Macs. Grrr!
>
> Jonathan
>
>
> On 9/2/06 17:07, "james tittle" <tigital at mac.com> wrote:
>
>> On Feb 9, 2006, at 11:28 AM, Jonathan Goodwin wrote:
>>
>>> Phew!
>>>
>>> Just got in from trudging the city centre of Plymouth...no Firewire
>>> webcams,
>>> only USB! Doh!
>>>
>>> How do USB cams fare with the PD, GEM and Mac OS X combo? I'm sure
>>> I read
>>> somewhere that they won't work, am I right?...should I just be
>>> ordering a FW
>>> cam online already?!
>>
>> ...since you're using osx, you have the advantage (and sometimes
>> disadvantage) of quicktime's media handling:  basically anything that
>> says it works with osx will work with gem on osx...this means usb,
>> usb2, or firewire...firewire seems desirable because of a higher
>> datarate, but you can usually only use one camera per firewire port,
>> especially when working with higher resolution images...otoh, several
>> usb cameras can be used on the same port, but they will be lesser
>> quality signals...
>>
>> ...if you are serious about video input, you want to stay away from
>> off-the-shelf cameras (they usually have crappy optics) and look to
>> other solutions; just search for "firewire" or "ieee-1394" cameras,
>> and you should find some $500-2000 cameras that have interchangeable
>> lens mounts...
>>
>> james
>>
>
>
>
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