How do I find out whether my camera is a UVC device or not?

Linux

1. First find out the vendor ID (VID) and product ID (PID) of your webcam as described here.
2. Use the lsusb tool and look for video class interfaces like this: (In this example, the VID is 046d and the PID is 08cb.)

lsusb -d 046d:08cb -v | grep "14 Video"

If your device is a UVC device, you should see a number of lines that look like this:

bFunctionClass         14 Video
bInterfaceClass        14 Video
bInterfaceClass        14 Video
bInterfaceClass        14 Video

In this case the Linux UVC driver should recognize your camera when you plug it in.

If there are no such lines, your device is not a UVC device.

Windows

1. Download and install the UVCView tool that Microsoft provides.
2. Start UVCView and select your camera on the left.
3. Look for lines like the following in the descriptor window:

bInterfaceClass:       0x0E  -> Video Interface Class

If your camera is a UVC device, you should be able to see the above line as well as many others containing references to "Video". If there are no such lines, you are not looking at a UVC device.