macOS Monterey broke my USB webcam

[RumorConsumer]

Just upgraded an MPB from Big Sur to Monterey 12.5 and fell into this apparent black hole. Have a Logitech 920x Pro HD Webcam that was working just fine under Big Sur, and all of the "hold you mouth like this" fixes I've seen discussed don't solve the problem. This model has a built-in cable, which may be the death-knell unless Apple fixes the problem on there end, which is plugged in to the two-port MBP via a Totu multiport hub. I've tried all three USB-A size ports on this hub with the same result (no connection). Has anyone found something that works using the 920 cable?

I haven’t given this much thought to be honest. I’m not sure how adding anything to the cable would really make a difference. I think this is the current state of affairs for Logitech users. I’m sitting here with two logitech cameras w fixed cables that I can’t use.

 

[jasnw]

Well, I think I just got lucky. I unplugged everything from the MBP including power, turned it completely off, plugged in the power, turned it back on, and reattached things one by one. Bingo, the camera is now working. Who knows what was wrong, but I'm definitely not looking this gift horse in the mouth. Good luck to everyone who's got this problem.

 

[Bananner817]

I'm on Monterey 12.5 and just had this issue happen to me. Everything was working fine until I had to unplug the camera and now it isn't even recognized. What kind of cable did you find to work? Any chance you can send a link

What camera are you using?

Cable Matters [USB-IF Certified] 10 Gbps Gen 2 USB A to USB C Cable 3.3 ft (USB C to USB Cable) in Black, Compatible with iPhone 16/15, 16/15 Pro Max, 16/15 Plus

Cable Matters [USB-IF Certified] 10 Gbps Gen 2 USB A to USB C Cable 3.3 ft (USB C to USB Cable) in Black, Compatible with iPhone 16/15, 16/15 Pro Max, 16/15 Plus

www.amazon.com

using the Brio. Spoke to Logitech support and did all the things they suggested and still nothing.

 

[RumorConsumer]

Well, I think I just got lucky. I unplugged everything from the MBP including power, turned it completely off, plugged in the power, turned it back on, and reattached things one by one. Bingo, the camera is now working. Who knows what was wrong, but I'm definitely not looking this gift horse in the mouth. Good luck to everyone who's got this problem.

But if you check your system profiler, is the device running at full speed 5gbit or 480mbit? My issue was never that it didn’t work, just that it turned the image to crap because it’s now low bandwidth.

 

[Bananner817]

But if you check your system profiler, is the device running at full speed 5gbit or 480mbit? My issue was never that it didn’t work, just that it turned the image to crap because it’s now low bandwidth.

It doesn’t even show up as a recognized device.

 

[RumorConsumer]

It doesn’t even show up as a recognized device.

Sorry I meant @jasnw

 

[jasnw]

Sorry about the late response. I have the camera plugged into a port on the Totu hub that's ID'd on the hub as USB 3. However, looking at this device under the Hardward->USB section of the system profiler all of the ports on this hub the camera is showing up looking like a USB 2 device. Speed is "up to" 480 mbps. I never looked at this when I was running Big Sur, so I don't know if this is a change. However, I'm not seeing what I'd consider crap images, although my threshold for a "crap image" is probably different than yours.

 

[RumorConsumer]

Sorry about the late response. I have the camera plugged into a port on the Totu hub that's ID'd on the hub as USB 3. However, looking at this device under the Hardward->USB section of the system profiler all of the ports on this hub the camera is showing up looking like a USB 2 device. Speed is "up to" 480 mbps. I never looked at this when I was running Big Sur, so I don't know if this is a change. However, I'm not seeing what I'd consider crap images, although my threshold for a "crap image" is probably different than yours.

if its a bigger megapixel/res camera it won't be supported by that data rate AFAIK.

 

[RumorConsumer]

It is entirely likely that this is all happening because they are messing around with stuff to make way for continuity camera.

 

[eadnams]

As an update, near as I can tell, MJPEG was removed from MacOS for webcams after Big Sur, so cameras that use that codec for higher resolutions (or lower bandwidth connections), can no longer access that, which hobbles them, or makes them useless.

Which also explains the cable related issues, since now lower bandwidth is a larger problem when the cameras are being forced to use NV12 422 or YUV 420 codec, which needs more bandwidth, especially trying to capture from them in real time.

Very frustrating.

 

[RumorConsumer]

As an update, near as I can tell, MJPEG was removed from MacOS for webcams after Big Sur, so cameras that use that codec for higher resolutions (or lower bandwidth connections), can no longer access that, which hobbles them, or makes them useless.

Which also explains the cable related issues, since now lower bandwidth is a larger problem when the cameras are being forced to use NV12 422 or YUV 420 codec, which needs more bandwidth, especially trying to capture from them in real time.

Very frustrating.

Thank you for explaining what happened. Yeah it's a bummer. Do you know or see any indication that camera companies (Logitech) have pivoted at all with their products to adapt to the change?