MP 1,1-5,1 MacPro 5,1 with 10.15.4 Isight camera problems

[Enthuser]

Hi, I have sourced an ISight 1023 for my unsupported mac pro. The video seems to work albeit at a poor resolution (which is not the main issue) but the microphone is not recognised? Am I missing something? It is connected via firewire though an 800 to 400 6 pin adaptor to one of the front ports. What should I use to enable it and maybe even provide some control of the video too?

 

[jack070767]

My cMP and isight FireWire adapter 800/600 works fine.

 

[ryanmkincaid]

You're lucky, I can't get my camera to be recognized on my MacPro 5,1. Any help would be welcomed. Really need it for Zoom meetings. Thanks

 

[Enthuser]

I can’t answer for the zoom issue, others have posted good advice about changes for that, I have it recognised in FaceTime and Skype however the quality leaves much to be desired. My microphone still doesn’t work but using AirPods I can at least use it. Looking for another camera to up the quality, a pity because I like the design of the iSight. Good luck

 

[jack070767]

I don't know why, but my isight works perfect whit zoom, skype, facebook live, ecc.
A week ago the isight disconnected and I have to change the firewire port from the rear cMP to the front port.
Now works fine.

 

[EugW]

What macOS versions are all of you using? I understand the OP is using Catalina, but what about the others? Is audio working for any of you?

 

[bdukes22]

Audio issue is most likely relate to firmware of iSight. Should be 1.0.3. To complicate matters, I believe the only way to update the iSight firmware is via OSX Leopard. Haven't done this myself so can't speak to that part of it.

 

[ryanmkincaid]

I never managed to get it to work on my Mac Pro. I purchased a Logitech Cam and that works fine. So I'll just drop the iSight onto eBay. This summer has tested my Apple hemisphere and I'm not smiling. Every device has been a problem.

 

[Larsvonhier]

Have the same no-audio problem with my iSight on firewire with various Macs under macOS Catalina.
In some other thread someone reported that prior to 10.15.4 it still could be set as audio input source.
I tried that on a fresh 10.15.3 installation on a MP3,1 - no luck. iSight firmware is 1.0.3.

Perhaps there is some helper tool for non-apple webcams that would re-enable the mic? (I had a crappy web cam back on my G5 that was usable that way). Can´t recall the name of that tool, though...

 

[Larsvonhier]

I don't know why, but my isight works perfect whit zoom, skype, facebook live, ecc.
A week ago the isight disconnected and I have to change the firewire port from the rear cMP to the front port.
Now works fine.

What macOS version are you running?

 

[Andrew Kinnear]

Firewire Isight Audio is back for Catalina and Bs ?

[edited] I've changed the name of the folder, so now it s the good one ;) thank you @Andrew Kinnear Hi all, I was so upset that my iSight wasn't no more supported by apple system, I had video working but no sound, no iSight sound in sound pref pane ... and after some research I found this...

forums.macrumors.com

This worked for me on Catalina 10.15.6 on a 4,1->5,1 cMP.

The folder name needs to be changed though, as downloaded it's "isight audio driver". It needs to be "iSightAudio.driver" for the system to load it.

In case there were any other inconsistencies with the supplied download I copied the folder from a 10.13 backup.

 

[Shookis]

SOLVED:
I just upgraded to Catalina yesterday and can confirm that iSight sound is broken in 10.15.7 and was working fine in Mojave. After reading this, dug out and booted old G4 and updated iSight firmware to 1.0.3. That did NOT fix the issue. What DID fix the issue is copying old driver from Mojave to the Catalina install. I was able to get the iSight sound to work by copying the iSight drivers from another drive still on Mojave in /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/HAL/iSightAudio.driver into the /System/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/HAL/ directory. I did this while booted into Mojave to get around the System being mounted readonly in Catalina. Everything seems to be working correctly now. The iSight shows up in Sound control panel as input source, and was able to use both camera and sound from iSight in several zoom calls without issue.

 

[EugW]

Just sayin'...

I bought the iSight too out of Nostalgia, but then I picked up a low end US$29 Lenovo USB webcam and the quality of the video is vastly superior to the iSight and the audio is a bit better too. Plug and play on both my Big Sur iMac and my El Capitan Mac Pro. I think I'm gonna retire the iSight since to my pleasant surprise, the base of the webcam is large enough to accomodate 46 mm deep bezel of my 30" Cinema HD Display. I wonder how the Logitech C920 would look. That's still less than a hundred bucks, but is 2 tiers higher end than the cheap one I bought.

 

[Larsvonhier]

FireWire iSight mic works now in 10.15.7 also with the additional (old) drivers. Thanks!

 

[anarchi]

I've been using my 2003 iSight quite happily with Catalina on my MacPro5,1 (OpenCore and with the audio plug-in copied from Mojave). I've just upgraded to Big Sur and the camera doesn't work at all. It is recognised by Skype, FaceTime and Microsoft Teams as a camera, but the preview image is black and there is no green light on the camera. Does anyone know of any fix for this or should I bite the bullet and buy a cheap USB one?

 

[EugW]

I've been using my 2003 iSight quite happily with Catalina on my MacPro5,1 (OpenCore and with the audio plug-in copied from Mojave). I've just upgraded to Big Sur and the camera doesn't work at all. It is recognised by Skype, FaceTime and Microsoft Teams as a camera, but the preview image is black and there is no green light on the camera. Does anyone know of any fix for this or should I bite the bullet and buy a cheap USB one?

Bite the bullet and buy a good USB one.