Filed under: Accessories, Hardware, Video, Apple
The iSight is Dead? Long live the iSight!
Hardmac reports that the stand-alone iSight as we know it has been given End of Life (EOL) status by Apple and that we should expect a new one within the next few months. While I can't currently find confirmation of that fact, I'd say it's a safe bet. The US and Canada Apple Stores do still list the iSight for sale, however, albeit with an estimated shipping time of 2-3 weeks. UK and European stores don't list the iSight for sale at all.So what can we expect in a new and improved iSight? Hardmac speculates that Firewire will be dropped in favor of USB 2.0, for better PC and Windows compatibility and that Apple will add IR and an Apple Remote "to bring FrontRow functionalities to officially not supported Mac models." Personally I'd prefer it remain Firewire and add Bluetooth, but we'll just have to wait and see what Apple has in mind.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
timothy said 11:06AM on 10-26-2006
I have no use for an iSight, but if they make it so it supports FrontRow on non-supported macs, I'm buying one.
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Leonard Nimrod said 11:16AM on 10-26-2006
I'm surprised this wasn't available when the Mac Pros were released. It's a great Apple-like solution to add an IR to Mac Pros and older-Macs.
Why would you need bluetooth on a camera? Bluetooth would increase to the size of the camera and is not dependent on line-of-sight, and add to the already high cost of the iSight camera. If you need a Bluetooth add-on then Belkin's dedicated USB solution is more than sufficient.
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bryan said 11:26AM on 10-26-2006
Not listed on the UK site as it is illegal to now sell the iSight in Europe.
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ffh said 11:30AM on 10-26-2006
I work at an apple store and we just got a big shipment of them this week.
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TD said 11:32AM on 10-26-2006
They are available in Europe because it doesn't comply to regulations.
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Christian said 11:33AM on 10-26-2006
The introduction of an IR for not officially supported models would make sense, given that his Steveness said that Leopard would include Front Row out of the box in his WWDC keynote if I'm not mistaken.
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bob said 11:44AM on 10-26-2006
surely this is just beacause of the eu ban because of mercury, so there wont be any actual difference other than EU complience
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deevee said 11:47AM on 10-26-2006
what about an isight that could snap pictures with or without a computer ,built in 1G! of memory
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Warren said 11:54AM on 10-26-2006
You know what would be really smart? Making the iSight work with the iTV. Think about the possibilities....All of a sudden, you can chat via video from your living room with people on their Macbooks, iMacs, presumably on some whizz-bang future iPhone....since the iSight is now a component in every iMac and iBook, and presumably will eventually find its way to the Studio Displays, this makes a lot of sense. Plus it'll still work like it always has, giving Mini and Pro owners (without Apple displays) the option of using it like usual.
Otherwise, it's just a webcam that's rapidly being devalued by commodity Apple hardware.
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TD said 12:02PM on 10-26-2006
8: So just like a digital camera?!
iSight: Now on Location
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junkie said 12:06PM on 10-26-2006
isight usb 2.0 +
ichat or triton compatibility for PC =
seemless video/audio call to iphones
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Uncle Jerry said 12:13PM on 10-26-2006
Hope they drop the price some if it's listed as EOL. I would like to have one for my iBook since I don't plan on buying a new computer anytime soon, but don't want to pay the $150 price tag that's on it now. Drop it down to $99.99 and I'll probably pick it up.
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junkie said 12:26PM on 10-26-2006
Revise that:
usb2
osx for x86 retail
iphone to ichat video support
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Sren stergaard said 12:45PM on 10-26-2006
Thats actually some pretty dumb speculations - changing from firewire (which is available on all macs since jeebus was born) due to please the guys on a pc? - Comeon - thats about the stupidest thing ever (and no - there aint the same point of goodienesses as there was to make the ipod an usb2 device unless apple is to release iChat etc for the windows platform)
- Bluetooth is simply too inefficient in terms of videostreams - if some had suggested wifi rev. n or g - the thrughput would be ok - but bluetooth is simply too slow for this kind of a cam.
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junkie said 12:49PM on 10-26-2006
all new macs have isight - so any new version should target PC install-base.
gotta figure they have sold as many firewire cameras as they could.
you can buy one now for an old mac, but not doing so is like a $150 rebate on a new mac
also if you check system profiler - seems like built-in isights are usb based already.
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Navvy said 1:20PM on 10-26-2006
I sold my iSight in Fall 2004 based on ThinkSecret's rumor of a new iSight (ha!). Boy, have I missed having a webcam! A revision is looooong overdue!
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Jonathan said 1:27PM on 10-26-2006
If it means anything - the camera on my macbook pro is wired on the USB bus (from system profiler). Maybe thats a clue that further development will be based on USB?
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ToeKnee said 1:39PM on 10-26-2006
Newer, cheaper option:
http://ecamm.com/mac/imagewebcam/
They are Mac-friendly, the cam is only $59.95 and comes with some extra software, and it works great with iChat. I ordered one recently and had it sent to my nephews to use to make iStopMotion movies, and the only thing we've tried so far is iChatting, and it seems to work just fine. Shipping in U.S. is free and was pretty quick. Only downside is it requires Tiger, so won't work on older Macs unless they've been updated.
At less than half the price of iSight, I highly recommend it just based on what I've seen so far.
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ryan said 2:02PM on 10-26-2006
Damn! and my company order for 30 is supposed to ship on Monday after being back ordered for a month and a half.
I just cant get the timing right :-/
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Nicholas said 2:28PM on 10-26-2006
I'm always amazed that the biggest iSight/iChat feature gets almost no press at all: Apple is the only maker of video conferencing hardware and software which does sufficiently good noise and echo cancellation that a set of headphones is not required. Although Skype and others are bringing video conferencing to the Mac platform, all of the solutions I have seen except Apple's lack this very necessary feature.
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