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So I was just wondering is there anything like this on a mac with the isight, where you can record video using the isight via the command line? Thanks in advance!

alex
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1 Answers1

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On Linux 'ffmpeg' uses the 'video4linux2' capture API, and on Windows there is a version called 'video4windows.' A version of this API does not exist for the Mac.

If you wish to record video from your iSight camera from the commandline, use this free software instead:

Wacaw - Webcam Tools for Mac OS X

Here is an example of its usage.

  • Step 1) See what video hardware is present:

wacaw -L

  • Step 2) Capture your video to file. On my MacBook, it reports my internal iSight camera as a USB device of ID '2' with an input of ID '0'. Here's how it looks for my MacBook. The 'video-device' may differ for your computer, and you might also be able to omit the '--video-input 0' section:

wacaw --video --video-device 2 --video-input 0 --duration 3 --VGA ~/MyMovie

Another alternative is to install Linux, and 'isight-firmware-tools', on your Mac hardware. There are details on using on this blog, though I did not test them. Unlike the Wacaw method above, you would have to boot into an entirely different OS to use this second alternative.

Hope this helps!

original_username
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