Disable iSight on Macbook Pro

mheine wrote:
I need to disable the built-in iSight camera on my laptop so Adobe Flash software can recognize another web cam connected via USB. A piece of tape over the iSight won't do it.

Situation: I would like to use a digital camcorder as a webcam for streaming live events online (offers better quality than a traditional webcam). The camcorder is connected to my macbook via USB and Pinnacle System's "Video Capture for Mac" hardware and software. I'm told this set up allows Adobe Flash Player to recognize it as a usb webcam.
The trouble is, iSight is the only camera that comes up as a usb webcam on the Adobe Flash "select camera" menu. I need a way to have Flash recognize the camcorder and not iSight. I'd like this to work rather than buy a new camera with a DV/Firewire output (which does work for me). I think the only solution is to disable the iSight drivers somehow. I would also like to be able to use the built in iSight again also. Any suggestions?

(1) I do not have or use Video Capture for Mac, so I cannot duplicate your problem on my Macs. My best suggestion is that you ask whoever told you that "this set up allows Adobe Flash Player to recognize it as a usb webcam" how to make it work. If that doesn't give you the result you want, consider the following alternatives.

(2) Any method I know that truly disables built-in iSight also disables any other video/camera that connects via USB, so disabling your iSight will not help you.

Have you installed Pinnacle's VideoCapture for Mac compatibility software update from this page?

  http://tinyurl.com/6fmc47

If you have not already done so, make a current backup of your system just before you add the Pinnacle software so you can easily restore your system if the Pinnacle add-on causes conflicts or other problems.

The Pinnacle download page says their software update is only needed for Leopard, but your Snow Leopard may also require it. If you have concerns, you can use the contact info suggested below to ask Pinnacle before you apply it.

(3) Contact Pinnacle directly. The Pinnacle™ Video Capture for Mac® Support page offers comprehensive support services including: Contact info, Knowledge Base and Email, and Live Help (Chat). The Pinnacle support people should be best able to help you make their product work with your system.




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

Umm,

I went to the Mebeam site and created a room.

On my MacBook Pro the Internal iSight shows as a UVC compliant USB camera.

On my G4 (With a USB 2 card added) my external Camera shows also as a UVC compliant device but also works under the DV option (I have no explanation for this.

I used to use a Hollywood Dazzle which had a Firewire port to the computer but this no longer works.

However I seem to remember that there were different options in the list when I tried USB 1.1 camera (NON UVC compliant) some while back.
Things like VGA and other Video formats that cameras send their video in.

I could see on the Pinnacle site ( Video Capture for Mac) that the Specs tab only says Mpeg 4 compression.

This is about as much use as saying "Rock" when talking about music as there are different variants.

This offers no clue as to where and under what type the External Video importer will appear as.

I would look under the DV option first.
After that it will be trying to find out what sort of Video format the Pinnacle device exports.



10:06 PM Tuesday; July 6, 2010

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