Getting iSight to work

[Conor]

DVDpedia ask the system for the default camera. In most cases this tends to be the iSight (I haven't read any where how to change that preference). One way to disable the iSight is to make it busy with another app like iChat then launch iSight in DVDpedia. There is also this iSight disabler I found on the internet, but since it disabled the camera's USB driver it might also disable the Logitech.

[viclauyyc]

I tried the disable iSight thing. the script works but dvdpedia can't pick up the signal from the logitech. How about those barcode scanner, will they work? My labrary is kinda big so must use some kind of easier input. thanks

Here is the detail of the build-in iSight.
Built-in iSight:

Product ID: 0x8501
Vendor ID: 0x05ac (Apple Inc.)
Version: 1.84
Speed: Up to 480 Mb/sec
Manufacturer: Micron
Location ID: 0xfd400000
Current Available (mA): 500
Current Required (mA): 100

[Conor]

It's likely that disabling the iSight via the script disables the Mac OS X ability to see the Logitech camera as well. There should be a preference in system preference as there is for audio input under sound. Thank you for the iSight information. Could you please run this version of Bookpedia and just open the iSight once then send us the output in your console log so that we can find out the camera's product id.

The barcode scanners will work including the bluetooth versions.

[Bookbug]

I have an iMac Intel Core Duo with OS X 10.4.11. I have found it impossible to get iSight to respond to ISBN numbers.

With a large number of books to catalog, I am interested in using a scanner pen. What kinds of pens have people used successfully?

[Nora]

Take a look at this thread for scanners and cameras that work well with the Pedias. (I don't think there are any scanner pens on that list but if you have a specific one in mind, do add a post to that thread asking other users - maybe someone has used that specific scanner but hasn't commented on it.)

[clbrown]

Unfortunately the ProductID_34049 camera is a rare camera that Apple put into a few models of their computers and we can't really figure out what makes it so different and more finicky about scanning. It's most likely that the focal length is not the same and we have to improve our code to be able to handle even more blurry barcodes. Thank you for verifying that for us. We'll let you know if we come up with any improvements on the scanning.

I have the same camera on my iMac. Taking a hint from this message I was able to get it to work by placing a magnifying glass between the camera and the bar code. The darn thing needs glasses I guess.

[Marc]

Unfortunately the ProductID_34049 camera is a rare camera that Apple put into a few models of their computers and we can't really figure out what makes it so different and more finicky about scanning. It's most likely that the focal length is not the same and we have to improve our code to be able to handle even more blurry barcodes. Thank you for verifying that for us. We'll let you know if we come up with any improvements on the scanning.

I have the same camera on my iMac. Taking a hint from this message I was able to get it to work by placing a magnifying glass between the camera and the bar code. The darn thing needs glasses I guess.

I've the same isight me too. But even with a glass it doesn't work .
Is it a "special" glass

[presleylennon]

I know this is an old thread - but I need some help. iSight was working just perfectly for me with my Bookpedia. Got all my books scanned and all was good. Occasionally, depending on the material of the book, it would turn green and flash trying to focus and scan it and it just wouldn't - so I'd have to key those in, but there were only a few like that.

Just got some new books and I've been trying to scan them in and it doesn't even TRY to focus - turn green and flash trying to read it. It just does NOTHING. I have no idea where I can go and play around with the settings for the camera or anything. Is there anything I can do? Can someone help me?

And if iSight no longer works, what are my options for inputting books besides typing and searching for each one manually? I know you can use a scanner, but does it have to be a specific kind of scanner?

Any help is appreciated as I'm very frustrated because I have lots of books to input and I'm about to be getting more next month... thank you!

[Pebowski]

I use this USB scanner from Acan and it works very well, no problems at all.
http://cgi.ebay.at/USB-CCD-BARCODESCANN ... 3155wt_907
Only shipping time can be 1 month.

Regards,
Peter

[Nora]

@presleylennon - Did you recently change computers? It's strange that the iSight feature simply stopped working like that.. As far as scanners go, there's an extensive thread here about scanners and webcams that work well with the Pedias.

[lab1950]

My apologies in advance for the fact that this post does not shed any light on the problem, but I just wanted to put my sixpence worth in while I can.

My Macbook Pro iSight works perfectly with this software BUT my 27inch LED Cinema Display iSight plain refuses to work.

I really have no idea how one can work and the other doesn't. Especially when both work in other software.

[Nora]

Thanks for the feedback. The cameras all have different focal lengths and we're having a hard time fine-tuning our code to work with all the different camera options offered by Apple. Especially the iMac where the focus is much further away than with the MBP.