Do you use iChat AV?

[hotwire132002]

I've just been wondering, how many people here use the video/audio chat function of iChat AV?

I would, but I don't know anyone (other than me) who has a webcam that's compatable with it. :(

[PlaceofDis]

i use it to audio chat with my girlfriend in chicago, and i webchat with my 'rents back home on occassion as well

i use adium for regular text chats though

[bentley]

nope

.mac is unheard of and AIM is rarely used amongst my friends.

[Nermal]

Post back with what options you want, and I'll add a voting section for you :)

[rtdgoldfish]

I use iChat but just for AIM. I don't have an iSight yet. Waiting for a price drop or update. Anyone got one that they want to sell??

[hotwire132002]

Post back with what options you want, and I'll add a voting section for you :)

"I use iChat AV for text messaging only"

"I use iChat AV for Audio Messaging"

"I use iChat AV for Video Messaging"

"I would use iChat AV for Text/Video Messaging, if I knew anyone else who used it!"

The voting section would be nice! Thanks!

[Nermal]

Enjoy :)

[Bear]

"I use iChat AV for text messaging only"

"I use iChat AV for Audio Messaging"

"I use iChat AV for Video Messaging"

"I would use iChat AV for Text/Video Messaging, if I knew anyone else who used it!"

The voting section would be nice! Thanks!How about the option: "I don't use iChat AV and am not planning on using it."

[Nermal]

Duh! Can't believe I didn't see that one missing myself!

[Jaffa Cake]

All but one of my contacts are on MSN so iChat isn't an option for me personally. Like (I suspect) most people around here, Adium is my client of choice.

[mad jew]

iChat looks great, but now I've just gotta find some friends who don't use MSN. :(

Thanks for the poll BTW Nermal. :)

[wwooden]

Lets see, my dad, mom, sister, aunt, girlfriend and myself all have iSights. So yes, I definitely us iChat. We can't wait until Tiger comes out and we can try the multiple video streams.

[hotwire132002]

Enjoy :)

Thanks for the poll!

[hotwire132002]

I've just gotta find some friends who don't use MSN. :(

Same here...

[iLikeMyiMac]

I would use it if I had an iSight, but I don't nor does anybody I know. I used to use it for text messaging until I tried Adium.

[skp574]

I use iChat to talk to the in-laws. They are on AIM and I'm using .mac. We had trouble trying to get video chatting to work. But some how it managed it. Not sure how exactly. Just shut off all the firewalls and it eventually connected (video that is). Audio and text chatting worked fine though.

I have two iSights, one for my iMac at home and one for my PB on the road.

[musicpyrite]

iChat for text, Skype for audio, Yahoo! for video.

[puckhead193]

I only used the video chat once the other 2 times it didn't work....but for regualr IMing i use Adium :cool:

[maya]

Have no real reason to use iChat at present since no one I know uses AIM and I don't have or want an iSight yet.

If iChat supports other protocols I might look into investing into iSight. :)

[Bern]

I would love to use iChat, but unfortunately most pc users are convinced they must use MSN :( I've tried converting them to AIM, but they say I should change to MSN instead.

I have an iSight, which I bought for short movies to iMovieHD, but would love to use it for chatting. I know I can do this with Yahoo, but again am faced by the dilemma of MSN users.

The new iChat in Tiger looks to be great, but Apple's naivity that we will be able to use it saddens me. Unfortunately Apple just doesn't have the user market share to use it.

[7on]

I use Adium but pop open iChat from time to time because my parents bought one for me to video chat with them. They're the only ones I chat with though.

[tangerineyum]

Everyone I know uses AIM, but of the 96 people or so on my buddylist, 2 are mac users and they're brother and sister. The brother is the primary friend and the sister is there cuz she wants to work in my future boba cafe. So really, I know one other person who would use ichat for ez voice and video. Makes the feature pretty useless for me.

[link92]

I use it for audio/video, but I normally use Proteus.

[Applespider]

iChat AV using iSight is great where you have friends and family that you don't see often. I'd probably use it if Mum ever got an iSight (hmm, add that to the birthday idea list!) rather than phoning her.

But I'm less likely to use it (or set it up on the PB each day) for casual use with friends. Generally when friends and I IM each other, we're holding other conversations and doing other things at the same time. When we tried AV, we felt conscious if we wrote an email or checked a website in between that we were ignoring other people.

Add to that the reduced chance to have a 'pyjama night' or be a slob when the iSight is plugged in and I can see why it's never really taken off.

[emw]

I use iChat video conferencing on occasion with my brothers, who live out of state, but more often with my wife and kids while I travel. In that sense, it's a fantastic tool, especially since my kids are still young and enjoy seeing me on the computer.

I'd use it with my parents if they ever get broadband...

[caveman_uk]

It seems very few people in the UK use AIM so I use Adium as it supports MSN - the MS client seems buggy and doesn't do file transfers properly.

[kgarner]

I use it to video chat with my family. Works really well. My dad has an iSight and I use my DV camera. Looking forward to seeing how Tiger will impprove the quality.

[bousozoku]

A couple of people have video chatted to me but I have no webcam or DV camcorder. I tried the audio chat while it was in beta and it worked okay, but between the various microphones and my Cambridge Soundworks speakers, I couldn't get much out of it.

It's all text chat for me now.

[johnnyjibbs]

I'm in the "I would use iChat but everyone I know is on MSN" boat. I do have iChat running, but virtually no-one I know has it. And once I saw the shambles that was AIM on a PC, I stopped asking my friends to install it!

I've since persuaded by brother to get a Mac, but he still prefers MSN :o :(

iChat for Windows NOW! Please Apple! :p

[aricher]

I agree - Apple really needs to get an easy iChat-like program for windows up and running - iSights would sell like hotcakes. I use my iSight all the time to see family and friends all over the world. My wife and I just had a 2 hour scrabble game with some friends in Norway last night - ah technology. :)

[freddy11]

I use iChat video frequently with my two brothers and my dad. One brother lives in Chicago so that works out great, he can see my little girl more often now. Dad got us all iSights this last Christmas, with visions of four-way chats in the future.

[Mr. Anderson]

I use it regularly with a few people, some of them here on MR. Great stuff and look forward to the 3 way conferencing with Tigger.

D

[aslauga]

My best friend has a webcam and uses Trillian, mostly MSN and sometimes ICQ, I thought about getting a cheap one but don't see the point. In the UK, *everyone* is on MSN, which means that everyone else is too. And until there is some good software for the mac which uses a webcam with MSN I'll spend my money on something cooler, like an iPod :) (and I know about Mercury, but its a lot of money to shell out for a webcam that will only work with alpha/beta software).

[ravenvii]

I use iChat for text chats only. I suppose I could use Adium, but I love the iChat menubar item - I rarely ever have the iChat buddylist window open, I just use the menubar to see who's on. Keeps my desktop clutter-free.

[Le Big Mac]

I would use it if I had an iSight, but I don't nor does anybody I know. I used to use it for text messaging until I tried Adium.

That's me too. Although when I upgrade my mom to a G5, I'll get her and me an iSight, so she can see the baby regularly.

[john1123]

i'll use it once tiger comes out since my contacts are on msn as well :D

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=118007&highlight=ichat+jabber+msn

we need a new poll option:
"i will use ichat with the jabber hack once i get Tiger"

[Zim Bargo]

Now this whole Jabber thing i'm interested in - and clueless about. As I undertand it it should allow us to use iChat to hook up with people on all kninds of different protocols...

I'd love to use iChat and have the iSight already but, as has already been mentioned quite alot, here in the UK everyone uses MSN - and Mac users seem to be few and far between. I bought my iSight so I could see what's going on with my new nephew & niece.

My question - with Tiger & the great looking opportunity this looks like it should provide - will this only be useable by inter-Mac users? Even if we can't do 3-way video conferencing with, say, a PC user will both PC and Mac user benefit from the new codec of Quicktime 7?

Hope this gets sorted out as right now there just isn't a decent way of video conferencing with my (unenlightened) PC user friends. My main hope for the future as it stands is Skype video conferencing - audio is great, if they can do the same job with video - fantastic. but most of all I want to be able to use the new conferencing facilities due in iChat with Tiger - it's not really a selling point if no one gets to use it, so come on Steve - make it a an app that we can actually use!

Please

Zim

[jimsowden]

My friends and I call it "Bitch Chat" because it randomly loggs of, drops messages, cuts off away and aviable messages, and crashes when someone send you a new message. Clean it up, apple!

[NaMo4184]

Adium here.

No tabs.. no chat!

[sorryiwasdreami]

I like iChat AV a lot for its integration with Mail.app and Address Book. Occasionally, I'll use the audio chat function on it but mainly I use it for text messaging.

[biohazard6969]

all of my friends use MSN messenger, plus they all have PC's, so i use aduim for texting and sometimes skype for audio, also use Virtual PC to do MSN webcams

[Zim Bargo]

Hadn't thought of that - I have Virtual PC, which I got with Mac Office, but didn't install it as I didn't have any reason to.

2 questions - How much space does VPC take up? (I don't want to install it just to webcam i it takes a fair bit).

And what's the videocam like - as good as iChat looks like it could be if anyone else you knew used it?

[biohazard6969]

ichat has a lot better quality and it works a lot faster then virtual pc ever will, and virtual pc takes up a ton of space, i had it installed and it was taking up about 12 GB on my 12" PB, i ended up putting it on an external hardrive that i hook up whenever i need it

[JeDiBoYTJ]

I use it for a little of everything.

All my friends use AIM, so iChat is the way to go. We do audio chats sometimes, and the occational video chat. My friend uses his iSight, and I use my firewire camera.

[lordmac]

I use ichat for everything, it works great for. Im in the states and it seams like nearly everyone here uses aim at least in the 2 different states that i have lived in (CA. VA.) I have tried aidum and all the customization is great in it but it is still too buggy for me and for some reason direct connection with it is really really flaky. As for the lack of tabbing in ichat i fined that with expose, tabs are much less needed then with jaguar and windows. Although i know it may not seem like in some areas if you look at the number of active users aim has the most but for something like instant messaging its only what is locally used that matter to most. As a interesting note I have a friend who works on the AIM stuff and this summer they are completing redoing the look of aim and will add a bunch of stuff. So-hopefully it will be more appealing to those who are trying to get some of there pc friends to use it. :) Also for those like me who have ever used aim on a pc and think the program weather bug that downloads with aim that deserves to die and go to hell repeatably. Well they are getting rid of it. (Funny story during a conference call they had with the company who makes it they could hear the sounds that weatherbug makes to tell of of a a new weather report and they asked them to turn it off for the conference call and the heads of the company who make it didn't know how.) :)

[ravenvii]

It's too bad about Weather Bug, it used to be a cool app. But then it sold out, and began to suck. Same thing with AIM - everything AOL touches turns to ****.

[x86isslow]

iChat doesn't have enough useable features. I can't live without a profile, and I can't stand the way iChat implements logs- each conversation is separate text file, none of which are searchable in any meaningful fashion. AV, flashy sure, but I'd never use it.

Adium all the way :-) (especially since .8 beta has functional file transfer!!)

[paulypants]

I use it for all three regularly.

[eXan]

I didnt vote, cause most of the time I use text-msnger and occasionally video with friend in Germany