Camera in use by another application

I am having the same problem with a G4 using Leopard 10.5.6 and a Cannon Elura 80 connected by firewire. It says "Your Camera is in Use by Another Application." I have no other applications running and it still sends this message when I go to the Audio/Video in the Systems Preferences of iChat. Other applications such as Skype and iMovie work just fine with the camera attached. I am stymied and would appreciate any help.

Try a Restart holding down Apple ALT+PR until she has heard three Start Up Bongs
(Zapping the PRAM)

Also go to System Preferences > Accounts > Her Account > Login Items tab and check no other app looks like it is likely to use the camera.
DO Not tick the box as this lease the App in the list but Hides it (not in the DOCK if it would normally show there)

It may pay to quit all Open Apps including any Web Browser as this can use the camera on some Web sites.

The Camera info is held in com.apple.ichat.plist but deleting this at this stage is a bit over the top.

It causes the loss of all the settings made in the iChat Preferences, Font, Font colour, Background (Bubble ) colour, Incoming choices, Save Transcripts, Menu Bar icon.
In addition to these the Saved Status Messages are lost.



2:36 PM Monday; January 19, 2009

I tried resetting the PRAM (using the option rather than the alt key) but it did not resolve the problem. By the way Apple says 2 not 3 gongs before releasing at http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379.
The login items that I have are: Slim Batter Helper, iToons Helper, Speech Synthesis Server, Disk Warrior Starter and Main Menu. None of these seem to be related or use my digital camera. I close all apps, including web browser and the problem persists.
Thanks for trying to help. This is becoming frustrating.

Hi,

Yes I am aware that the current Doc says only two Bongs.
I have yet to see it said anywhere why this has changed.

I cannot see that any of those Apps would be using the camera, as you also suggest.

Can she see herself in any application that can use the camera such as Photo Booth or iMovie ?

If she can't then it is a driver problem.

If she can then it may pay to do the deletion of com.apple.ichat.plist



9:14 PM Monday; January 19, 2009

I took my computer and camera to the genus bar at the apple store and showed the genus the problem when I tried to use my camera on iChat (“You camera is in use with another application”). He connected my camera to another computer and it worked flawlessly on iChat. He also saw that it worked flawlessly on my computer on Skype. He then removed all four iChats in the .plist file including the one you suggested with no change. He then went into a test account to see if the problem was in my user account but still no change. He then archived and installed but again no change. He then called a Tier 2 Apple Support person who was baffled. He then gave up. Any other thoughts or am I through?

Hi,

Humm, tricky.

Deleting all the .plist would normally sort it if the camera info iChat holds was duff.

An Archive and Install would replace the App and the two Support folders.

That would leave a .plist that belongs to something else that iChat works in conjunction.

The symptoms are not the usual ones for this next issue but do you have Perian (An Quicktime Add-On ) at version 1.1.3 on your computer ?
An Archive and Install would probably keep this.
If so see the last post in this thread http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1858850



8:21 PM Saturday; January 24, 2009

My video camera, an Elura 80 by Canon will not work with iChat but gives the message "Camera in use by other application." I was able to borrow a Sony Handycam and it worked fine with iChat. So I am assuming that the problem of my video not working and my getting the message "Camera in use by another application" lies somewhere with my camera the Canon Elura 80 which used to work fine with iChat until recently and still works with Skype and iMovie. Is there some kind of driver problem that Apple changed with its iChat update that could effect this camera? Is there anywhere I can go for information?

Hi,

I take it this is over Firewire ?

Also does this camera have different Video formats that it can Output ?
IS it set to HDV for iMovie ?

It needs to be DV as iChat will only see DV over Firewire.



10:43 PM Thursday; April 23, 2009

You are correct that it is over firewire. My video camera, a Canon Eurla 80, is about 5 years old and has no HDV capabilities on DV.

Other video format choice/selection ?



10:55 PM Thursday; April 23, 2009


It is late here and will be sometime before I get back to any reply

I have been working on this matter for months as you can see from the thread, so a lapse of time in your response is quite trivial. I just really appreciate your efforts.
Since the borrowed Sony camera worked, I feel I have isolated the problem to the Canon Elura 80 video camera but really don't know what to do from here. If you could scan the Canon Elura 80 manual at

http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/co...&modelid=11008

making any suggestions for changing settings, I would be most appreciative.

I see the post I replied to as being dated the 23rd of April some 4 months after my previous reply.

That seems to me that I replied in hours and you took months.

The link in it's current format does not link to anything and give me a 404 error

As I have already suggested some cameras can change the format that they output.
I have an old analogue camera that can change between PAL (for Europe) and NTSC (for lots of other places).
Later cameras ("Digital" ones) can sometime do the same TV signals and DV and possibly Mpeg as well.

This article is less forthcoming about those options but does say it can do 16:9
I would check that this is not an issue.
It also seems it will do VCR playback which suggests PAL or NTSC (which iMovie can "see") and this may be an issue.



6:08 PM Friday; April 24, 2009

Thanks for your prompt reply and sorry about the link to the manual not working. If you can send me an email to lburech@mac.com I might be able to send it in a better format. It took me months because I could not locate a video camera to borrow. Once I did, I was able to confirm that my problem likely was one with my Canon Elura 80 camera rather than software, since the borrowed Sony worked with iChat. I am still somewhat bewildered that my camera works so well on Skype but not iChat, but maybe Skype like iMove can see signals that iChat cannot. I will try to run down your latest suggestions, but please excuse me if it takes time; I am not as proficient with equipment as you are apparently.

Hi,

My Email is actually in my profile that you can read if you click on my name on the left.

However in this case I do not want this particular manual.

I am sure you have read it enough to determine if it has the suggested Setting changes as to Output framing (4 X 3 or 16 X 9) or format such as PAL/NTSC or Mpeg or Real DV and the controls behind the LCD screen.

Some camera as you say do send out signals in the form iMovie can see (Almost anything barring Flash).
Skype also is not restricted to DV only like iChat is.

The Internal iSight on some Macs is actually a USB Camera but the OS makes it go through a USB Digitizer ready for iChat. What can not happen is input from a Firewire camera going though the digitizer.

This utility iUSBCam does similar for certain USB Webcams and has done since iChat 2 (with updates to the present)
Part of it's original function was to get the external iSight to work with below Spec Macs (G3/600Mghz).

Camcorders tend to be a bit out on their own as their is not a similar Utility for them if they do not do DV output.

DV Output is not strictly synonymous with having firewire capability on the camera.



9:42 PM Friday; April 24, 2009