I bought three Phillips SPC 900 NC webcams because they claim to support up to 90fps and I have had good luck using linux with the PWC drivers in the past. Plugged into a generic Ubuntu 7.10 install, I found that 640×480 resolution was automatic, with 15fps. 320×240 worked at 30fps. (I tried 160×120 resolution, but wasn't able to get a speed faster than 26fps with that, so I'm doubtful of the 90fps claim from Phillips, at least with the stock Ubuntu drivers.)
This useful website looks to provide nice OpenCV support for this camera.
I have also archived the relevant files on my site, in case the above link goes down.
I have an old webcam (using the stv680 driver) and I am trying to use a Phillips spc900 to replace it on Ubuntu 6.06. When I boot with the spc900 installed the driver pwc is not loaded. Is there some where I can find a how to to get this working?
Gary,
Using an older version of Ubuntu, you will probably have to manually install the driver, which will require the kernel source files to compile against.
(You may find it easier to simply upgrade Ubuntu to 7.10 or 8.04)
If you decide to download the drivers and install them yourself, you will find the following links useful:
Current driver development:
http://www.saillard.org/linux/pwc/
Old driver development:
http://www.smcc.demon.nl/webcam/
Jay