your camera is in use by another application

Hi,

I would try a PRAM reset.
Shut down the computer.
Restart it holding down Apple/CMD (or ⌘)+ALT PR Keys until you have heard three Start Up Bongs.





9:32 PM Wednesday; June 23, 2010

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

Hi,

So the Mac is not seeing the Display's camera.

I know another Level 4 poster who has an External Display with a camera.

I can't remember if he has to have a separate USB lead for the Camera or whether it does get sent over the DVI Cable.

He is in a different Time Zone to me so I will email him details of this thread and see if he can enlighten us.

EDIT:
IF you hold the ALT key and click the first item in the Apple icon Menu it open System Profiler
Does the Camera Appear under Hardware USB. The Display should show as a USB Hub.

I am wondering if it is the type on Mini DVI to DVI adpater that you bought if it is over DVI.



10:13 PM Wednesday; June 23, 2010

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

Message was edited by: Ralph Johns (UK)

Hi,

In that case the Level 4 poster I was talking about will have th same set up.

I know he has his Display Camera and his old External iSight both working with iChat (you get and extra Drop down in iChat > Preferences > Video to swap between the two) and has in fact changed camera during a Video Chat.

iUSBCam should not be an issue but we will tackle that as well as the Missing camera with this next bit.

If iUSBCam has been Uninstalled the iChat .plist that is involved may still carry a reference for it.
The same .plist also holds the info about the camera that is supposed to be in use.

Can you go to your Home Folder/Library/Preferences and drag com.apple.ichat.plist to the Trash ?(Deletes it)
Restart iChat and it will check for things like the processor speed, Camera, Add-ons and Internet speed again to recreate the .plist



7:38 PM Thursday; June 24, 2010

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

Hi,

Also try this http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1436 (SMC/PMU reset)



8:32 PM Thursday; June 24, 2010

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

Hello Marcus.

The LED Display's iSight connection is via the USB connection, but I see you already have made that connection.

You may be onto something in suspecting compatibility issues. As explained in Apple's Tech Specs at http://support.apple.com/kb/SP502 Apple only claims that it the LED Display is compatible with MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro systems with Mini DisplayPort. However, my LED Display iSight also works fine with my MacPro, but it, too, connects via a Mini DisplayPort. I never tested my LED Display's iSight with my G5 DP that did not have a Mini DisplayPort. Unfortunately, I no longer have the G5, so I cannot test it now either.

See if Apple's troubleshooting suggestions at http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2400 help you. If not, you might want to ask your Apple-Authorized Service Provider if it can be made to work, possibly even by adding a Mini DisplayPort to your G5.

EZ Jim



Mac Pro Quad Core (Early 2009) 2.93Ghz w/Mac OS X (10.6.4)  MacBook Pro (13 inch, Mid 2009) 2.26GHz (10.6.4)
LED Cinema Display  G4 PowerBook 1.67GHz (10.4.11)  iBookSE 366MHz (10.3.9)  External iSight

I don't know if anyone is still working on this issue, but here goes:

I'm running 10.5.8 and I'm having the "camera is in use by another application" issue.

Mine issue occurs with Skype. Until recently, Skype was working fine, video was great (for skype anyway). This came up seemingly out of the blue.

The camera's microphone still works, so when my girlfriend calls me from Australia (insert pitiful music here: you can see why I want to resolve this) I can see and hear her, but she can only hear me. When I click the video button I get the "camera is in use..." message. So there's that.

Some (maybe) useful info: I installed a USB 2 card in my machine a while back and when I plug the webcam (creative brand) in there, I get both video/audio on skype. This would be great except the audio here is super choppy; I've had no need previously to use the USB2 because the stock USB's worked fine.

I tried the PRAM zap to no avail. I removed the com.skype.skype.plist and nuffin'. ichat doesn't recognize the camera... Anything else?

Can anyone help

Hi,

I take iMovie, Skype, iChat and even Quicktime Player if you have the Pro option say the camera is in use ?

Can you also check that in System Preferences > Accounts > your Account that if you try to Edit the pic and chose to take a Video Snap the camera also shows in use ?
Whilst here, is there any thing listed in Login Items that might use the camera ?

Does the device show in the System Profiler under Hardware > USB ?

Any Dashboard Widgets or Screen Savers that use the camera ?
(There used to be one called Mirror that worked with earlier version of the OS)
There was also Screen Saver that could show a Mercury-like mirror/ripple effect that would then sense movement and display the image across the "surface".



7:39 PM Tuesday; August 31, 2010

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

andy banx wrote:
... I'm having the "camera is in use by another application" issue ... with Skype. Until recently, Skype was working fine, video was great (for skype anyway). This came up seemingly out of the blue.

The camera's microphone still works, so when my girlfriend calls me from Australia (insert pitiful music here: you can see why I want to resolve this) I can see and hear her, but she can only hear me. When I click the video button I get the "camera is in use..." message. So there's that.

Some (maybe) useful info: I installed a USB 2 card in my machine a while back and when I plug the webcam (creative brand) in there, I get both video/audio on skype. This would be great except the audio here is super choppy; I've had no need previously to use the USB2 because the stock USB's worked fine.

I tried the PRAM zap to no avail. I removed the com.skype.skype.plist and nuffin'. ichat doesn't recognize the camera... Anything else?

Can anyone help

{added: Ralph is always quicker!  Try Ralph's expert suggestions first, but here are my ideas...}

As I understand, you have a creative brand USB2 webcam (video works, but choppy audio), and
an external Firewire iSight whose mic works with Skype but video doesn't, and
your external Firewire iSight doesn't work at all in iChat.

(1) http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2090 may give you some ideas.

Test as many Apple apps as you can with your iSight and test them all in more than one user account.

(2) You can check Skype's comprehensive help pages if your only remaining problem is with Skype:

  https://support.skype.com/

(3) If you cannot get either webcam working properly, you may be able to configure your System Preferences... > Sound > Input to use your iSight's mic as your default system sound input device. By doing that, you may be able to configure Skype to use your creative webcam as Skype's video source while it uses your iSight's mic for its audio input.


Message was edited by: EZ Jim


Mac Pro Quad Core (Early 2009) 2.93Ghz w/Mac OS X (10.6.4)  MacBook Pro (13 inch, Mid 2009) 2.26GHz (10.6.4)
LED Cinema Display  G4 PowerBook 1.67GHz (10.4.11)  iBookSE 366MHz (10.3.9)  External iSight

Thanks for taking the time Ralph!

So some answers: Skype and iChat say the camera is in use (don't have QT pro) but I just checked and the camera does work in iMovie.

The System Pref's>Accounts doesn't let me take a pic with the camera...

The System Profiler does show the device in Hardware>USB

I disabled all the widgets I could on the dashboard, I don't use dashboard anyway. Screen saver is just blank.

Can't find any app that would try to be accessing the camera! Very frustrating.

Hi Andy,

We have done some (not All) of the things in EZ Jim's item 1) in that we have checked the System Profiler (Success) and another other apps.

You have already tried a PRAM reset.

If you don't have one already can you go to System Preferences > Accounts and create a New Mac User Account for Testing. An Admin one would be best.
Can you Start Up iChat and you can use the same Info you use in the usual Mac User account.

Does iChat work Here in Video Chats ?
Repeat for Skype ?

On Logging out of that account and back in your Main account I am a little surprised that you can start Video Chats but not get the message before the connection starts.
I am presuming it is a call started at the other end and from their end it appears to be an One Way Video Chat ?

It also sounds like iMovie and therefore Quicktime is "holding on" to the camera.
I take it iMovie is not an open app when this happens ?

You did not mention if anything was in System Preferences > Accounts > (your account) > Login Items that might be using the camera.
This would be apps and utilities that start up when the computer does.
iTunes Helper is normally in there.
You may have something for an External Keyboard or Mouse.
There may be other things that have been put there by you or by certain Installs.

Linked to this but most likely somewhat separate is apps that might be able to use the camera that you are unaware of.
Did Comic Book come Bundled with your Mac and is it Open ?
Obviously any other IM app that can Video ?

You said in the first post that the Audio was also choppy.
What Setting do you have in System Preferences > Quicktime > Streaming ?
Essentially this is the speed at which the computer uses to watch On Line Video.
iChat also uses it but has issues with the Automatic Setting (reads it as only 384kbps in Leopard) and the top setting (but lowest in Drop down list) of Intranet/LAN
It is worth setting this to the 1.5Mb/T1/Intranet/LAN setting and restarting iChat so it "sees" the new speed.

Check also what Internet Sppeds you are both getting, both Up and down
http://www.speedtest.net/ (use yellow star and pick one if any in drop down)
You should see at least 80% of what you think you pay for.

Can you also open up Console ( Applications/Utilities)
This should default to displaying either Console or System Messages.
Either will do.
If iChat is open can you Quit it and then restart it.
Do you get any Messages in Console about the iChat Camera ? (May possibly say the count for cameras is below 0)

That should be enough to be getting on with 🙂



10:57 AM Wednesday; September 1, 2010

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

I had the same irritating problem. After some research I found a solution which worked for me. I went to "Activity Monitor" to see which applications are running on my macbook. I found "Google Talkplugin" was the culprit behind all. I "Forced Quit" from "Google TalkPlugin" and my webcam started working with other applications such as Skype, iChat etc. However this problem resurfaces every few minutes. I uninstalled "Google TalkPlugin" and it solved everything.