Gear Head USB webcam...

I purchased the Gear Head WC830I, and can't get it to work at all (yet) under Mac OS 10.4.11. The manufacturer's website (www.pcgearhead.com) has no info, only contact phone & email.

Same here. Bought it at Fry's today. Seems invisible. Nothing on Gear Head website about this Camera... model number is a higher number than anything to which they refer. Will keep playing and check back here or post any positive results...

It's worse than we feared, these guys appear to be a sack - see http://www.macmall.com/macmall/shop/detail~dpno~7344517~Action~READREVIEW~redir~ 1.asp and read this other poor sap's story - and note the price! So my local Fry's is getting a return tomorrow. Weird, the Fry's MacGeek told me it was the only Mac cam they recommend (they only had that and the Ice cam) and that they work great and no returns... ...no surprise about Fry's employees technical expertise & ethics (notwithstanding the occasional sharp person, I think I encountered one two years ago, she was really on the ball) - unless you visit the opening of a new store when they send in their dream team - but this is a worthless product. I just hope I can resist screwing with it because I hate to be beaten by a 1/4lb of "plug'n'play" electronics that's "supposed" to work... And I refuse to bootcamp Windows except in dire emergencies (like my 5 free Home Depot music DLs via Puretracks - only took three days & 4 emails!)

Oh well. So what cameras are good? I'm prepared to go for an $x-hundred network camera, but surely there is something inexpensive that works well enough for me to see if my new rescue dog is getting too wild with my other dog and three cats here when we go out...

Whatever bad review you read there is no longer in place. I have this camera and it is recognized only by some applications, but not PhotoBooth.app, and it never provides a picture.

There are BOATLOADS of dirt-cheap Mac compatible 'driverless UVC webcams' starting to arrive from the Far East. I tried one that worked great for about 2 weeks then croaked from bad wiring or soldering inside; cheap junk. You do want one that is truly based on the UVC - Universal Video Class web cam standard. _They Just Work_ on a modern OS X Mac 10.4.x (or Windows Vista-XP) A short hit-list of known, working cams is at http://www.mac-compatible-web-cam.com/

Right now it's still wisest to go with trusted brand names from the major players like Creative Labs, Logitech, Microsoft, etc. You get what you pay for - or grief if you don't. But this new UVC standard, OSX support for it, and price competition means good things. Finding Apple compatible webcams will get ALOT easier - and more affordable in the year ahead.

i'm on 10.4.11 and just bought the same camera. i'm on a powerbook g4. what are you looking to do on the webcam? i was trying to capture images for my students to make animations. it seems to work ok on ichat, at least it shows up and previews on it.

make sure that you are using a usb 2.0 slot. on my powerbook, i just got a pci card that has 4 usb 2.0 slots, which i'm plugging my gearhead web cam into.

as for capturing, here's a link to something that works for me. you can capture video and pics from what i can tell. CamSpinner- http://www.optima-system.com/camspinner/

let me know if that helps!

So you got a Logitech Quickcam Pro for Notebooks to work? Any special downloads required? And do you think any of the cheaper Logitech cams will work on a mac also (I really only want to use it with skype but don't want to have to pay a fortune for a 'mac compatible' camera)??
Thanks

Basically any _UVC - USB Video Class_ compliant webcam will work on OS X 10.4.3 (ideally 10.4.11) and up. It does require a USB 2.0 speed port. It's a rapidly emerging 'driverless webcam' standard that eventually all webcams will adhere to - not just the Mac but for ANY computer platform. Only Logitech's top end Pro models, or Creative Labs mid to higher-end cams for example are UVC compatible. Others in their mid to low end are NOT. Hercules & HP make some decent UVC cams as well. Check out http://www.uvccompatiblewebcams.com/ for a wide range of options.

Recently, many cheap far-east import cams are beginning to flood the market, mostly via eBay. Most are just absolute junk even if they are UVC compatible. The lousy MacAlly IceCam2 is one of these: in my opinion, a $10 junk import cam rebranded and sold for $30. So beware the bottom of the barrel, ya want cheap, ya get cheap.