Hands-On Tech 259 Transcript
Please be advised that this transcript is AI-generated and may not be word-for-word. Time codes refer to the approximate times in the ad-free version of the show.
Mikah Sargent [00:00:00]:
Coming up on Hands-On Tech, let's take a look at using a webcam while switching between Windows and macOS. Yes, it's possible. Let's take a look. Stay tuned.
Mikah Sargent [00:00:15]:
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Mikah Sargent [00:01:22]:
Hello and welcome to Hands-On Tech. I am Mikah Sargent, and this is the show where I take your tech questions and You guessed it, answer them. Today's question comes in from Fred. Fred has an interesting question regarding the use of a webcam on a system that requires switching between macOS and Windows. So let's dig in. Fred writes, I just purchased a 49-inch Samsung Odyssey monitor to be shared with my 2021 MacBook Pro M1 and my work Dell Windows laptop. Each of my laptops are connected with HDMI cables connected to an HDMI USB switch. The video switching is working great.
Mikah Sargent [00:02:05]:
However, the issue that I have is my USB-A Logitech camera is not detected on my Mac. It works great on my Windows laptop. This camera is also switched through the video switcher. I'm thinking what I need for the Mac M1 is a docking unit, but there are so many different docking units for Mac and a lot of them have less than great reviews. Currently, I'm using my iPhone or iPad with a continuity connection to share my camera for my device. However, I do not always have my phone close to me when I get a FaceTime call. I would rather not have a second camera connected to my Mac when I have a working camera for my Windows laptop. Do you have any good suggestions of a docking unit that would work in this case? Thank you for all that you do.
Mikah Sargent [00:02:42]:
Well, that is very sweet, Fred. Uh, happy to help. So let's figure out what the heck is going on here, because in theory, this sort of, it's not quite a full KVM, but it's an HDMI and USB switch, uh, that is supposed to work between devices so that you can switch the HDMI, but also have this kind of USB kick between the two. Yeah, I, there, there's perhaps something to, to, to go forth with here, but Fred, I'm sorry to use you as an example, but when it comes up, it's always important to, uh, to, to sort of help others when you. Uh, write in hot@twit.tv. Always be sure to include the models of any of the stuff that you're talking about. So you did a great job, Fred, with talking about the Samsung Odyssey monitor. So we know which specific monitor it is that you have.
Mikah Sargent [00:03:39]:
A Dell laptop, would love to know which specific one, but that's okay. And we know exactly what MacBook Pro you have. What I don't know is what your HDMI USB switch is, and it would be great to know. what model it is, whether it's powered or not, because that is kind of what we need to look at when it comes to this. So it seems like the core issue here is that your Logitech USB-A camera works fine when it's switching over to the Windows laptop, but then it doesn't get recognized by your Mac. Now this is— don't worry, this is a really common problem with these sort of KVM-style switchers. And with Macs in particular, because macOS is a little bit different about how it handles what's called device enumeration. So with, let's think of Windows in this case is sort of like a Chihuahua and macOS is sort of like, a trained German Shepherd.
Mikah Sargent [00:04:49]:
What does that mean? Well, it means that Windows is constantly listening for and ready to bark at any USB device that gets plugged into the machine. It is hyper-alert and therefore very sort of forgiving about what gets plugged in. It sees something's plugged in, it immediately goes and says, what are you? Who are you? What's going on? And lets you kind of see it on the system and interact with it. So when that, that, that KVM style switcher is switching over to Windows, boom, all of that stuff is kind of instantly enumerated by Windows. It's, it's looked at and logged and ready to be used. Whereas macOS on the other hand, as sort of a trained German shepherd knows what it believes should be paid attention to and what should be ignored and sort of sent away. And so the German Shepherd sort of rests easy knowing that the USB device is not important. And so it doesn't get enumerated.
Mikah Sargent [00:05:51]:
Essentially, Windows is a lot more forgiving about what gets plugged in and, uh, macOS can be a little bit pickier, especially when it comes to Being part of an external device like this hub, hub-style device, when it gets plugged in, it's going, oh, that's not important. I'm not going to register this. It's, it's not, not something I need to deal with. Right. So when you are toggling between machines, switching back and forth between machines, it's likely that macOS is not re-enumerating. And this may be in part because of the. Specific switcher that you have. It may be doing something that's more Windows-friendly in terms of signaling to the system that it needs to re-enumerate, whereas macOS is not getting that signal, oh, I need to re-enumerate, where an unplug and replug would solve the problem, right? But let's talk about a dock.
Mikah Sargent [00:06:54]:
Um, a docking station might solve it. But frankly, it might be overkill for what your actual issue is before you go down the docking rabbit hole. Um, yeah, reviews can be all over the place. Um, let's talk about what's going on and what you could probably do. Again, likely it's that your HDMI USB switch isn't reinitializing the USB connection when it switches to the Mac. Okay. So it needs to kind of say, ah, something has changed, macOS. Let's talk again.
Mikah Sargent [00:07:26]:
And let me tell you what's new and what's updated. Dock isn't going to switch or isn't going to fix this necessarily if the camera is still being routed through the same switcher. So even if you have a dock on the macOS side, if it's still this switcher that's where the camera is plugged in, that's not going to help. You're only going to benefit from a dock if you pull the camera out of the switcher entirely, connect it to the Mac through the dock's USB ports, but then the problem is the camera is dedicated to one machine and not the other.
Mikah Sargent [00:07:59]:
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Mikah Sargent [00:08:47]:
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Mikah Sargent [00:09:31]:
Again, I don't know what, um, what USB/HDMI switcher dock thing you have, but a powered USB-A hub is going to do, uh, it's going to potentially solve your problem because it needs to have kind of it's almost as if it has more brains within it because it's powered, which gives it the ability to re-enumerate, um, or tell macOS to re-enumerate the USB devices that are plugged in. So $15 to $20 to get a USB hub that's powered, and that might take care of the issue. So you'd essentially take this powered USB hub, plug that into your HDMI USB switcher, plug the camera into the powered hub, and then see if that solves the problem here. If that doesn't work, look at the switcher itself. Not all KVM USB style switches will handle macOS well, regardless of the sort of cheaper ones. Higher quality options like those from UGreen, there's also a company called CKL, are like built for this purpose. So they know what to do in terms of renumerating USB devices for macOS and communicating with macOS. Look for specific switchers that work well with macOS.
Mikah Sargent [00:10:55]:
I've actually talked about, uh, my recommendations on previous episodes of Hands-On Tech when it comes to KVM switches. So you can go back and check that out. Now, if you want a dock, I have some suggestions for you. You can get extra ports, you get better display output, you get charging, and some of these docks will work across the board. So they would work with a Windows machine as much as they would work with a, with a Mac. Uh, but if we're going, if we're looking at Mac first, Mac priority, you can't go wrong with the CalDigit. Uh, TS4 is an option for now. You could actually, they make the TS5 at this point, but the TS4 is I have, I have one right now, right in front of me.
Mikah Sargent [00:11:38]:
I have used CalDigit's docks since forever. I have two CalDigit Thunderbolt Station 3s that I don't use anymore because we've moved along, but just this thing is fantastic. It is powerful. It is good. And it is, I would call it the gold standard for Mac docking. Thunderbolt 4, tons of ports, including multiple USB-A ports, plays super nicely with macOS. It is expensive, $350 to $400. but you're paying for something that works every single time.
Mikah Sargent [00:12:13]:
And I think that's the most important thing. There's also the OWC Thunderbolt dock. OWC is really well regarded. Uh, it's not as expensive as the CalDigit and OWC knows what it's doing when it comes to communicating with Mac. Anker also makes a docking station, even more budget-friendly, still has USB-A ports, pretty good macOS compatibility. But not as good as CalDigit. Uh, when it comes to a dock though, this is where it gets a little complicated because you would want to connect the Logitech camera directly to the dock's USB-A port, but, and not route it through the switcher. But that means then that you're going to need to unplug it from the dock, plug it into the, uh, the switcher and then use it with Windows, right? Or just plug it into your Windows machine, unplug it, plug it into your Mac.
Mikah Sargent [00:13:02]:
It's complicated. You could technically get like a USB switch and have that push to both devices, but it's so complicated to do it that way. Um, ultimately I want to believe that the powered USB hub is going to be your solution to solving this or investing in a true KVM solution like those from Ugreen, which yes, it's an investment. Yes, it costs more. but it'll be, you know, foolproof and will not give you the issues that you've experienced. That said, yeah, I, that's also true, Burke. Um, you could also, that's a, that's a really good point. It may feel like overkill.
Mikah Sargent [00:13:49]:
I don't know why I didn't think of this, but you could just buy, they're not expensive at this point, another Logitech. Probably you've got the C920 or whatever. Um, you could just buy another Logitech, uh, camera and plug that in to the dock that you're using for macOS. And so then when you switch between macOS has a camera and then your Windows machine has a camera that might end up costing less than buying a new. Powered dock or, you know, a similar solution. You may feel though, that's a little silly. If that's the case, then again, you've got some other options here, but here's my suggestion.
Mikah Sargent [00:14:37]:
Forget all of that.
Mikah Sargent [00:14:40]:
The Logitech C920 is an okay camera, but it's not great. And you talked about how you have used continuity camera. Your iPhone is a much better camera than almost every USB webcam that you would have. Most of the Logitech models, if not all of the Logitech models, most, if not all of the Elgato models. If the only reason that you're not using your iPhone as your webcam and continuity camera full-time is because you sometimes have your phone elsewhere, might I suggest a MagSafe, um, stand like this one from Twelve South. So that your phone can be near you at your desk at any time. And even better, consider a MagSafe mount for your display that sits above the Samsung Galaxy, right? Or Odyssey that would let you just quickly thwack your phone up there and serve as your camera. If you are encouraged, uh, sort of, uh, subconsciously to bring your phone with you to your desk, then you'd always have it there and can use that instead because it is a better camera than almost every other camera that you could have.
Mikah Sargent [00:16:04]:
That's a webcam anyway. That's just a thought. You don't necessarily have to go that way, but that is a thought on what you might do. In any case, those are my suggestions for you. And as always, I would love, love, love to hear if this worked for you, Fred, using a webcam between macOS and Windows with sort of a better hardware solution, frankly, for it. Thank you so much for your question. hot@twit.tv again is how you get in touch, and I will be back next week for another episode of Hands-On Tech. Bye-bye.
