video processing (i.e. open cv)

Also, you might ask this question on the OpenCV email list, or at the http://www.openframeworks.cc/ forum as you can probably get a lot more info from there.

Good point, I'll do that right now.

But while I'm here, I'll say that that by HD I meant high-res webcam, something I'm sure most pc's today will handle. The question is how well?

can handle the HD output

Did you mean input?