iChat AV Beta and iSight

[MacRumors]

Today, Apple introduced (http://www.apple.com/ichat/) iChat AV Public Beta and the iSight (http://www.apple.com/isight/) video camera.

The long-awaited iChat upgrade adds both audio and video chats to iChat's abilities -- allowing users to communicate with friends and family over long distances. The sofware supports Apple's new iSight video camera which provides 640x480 Full Motion video at up to 30 Frames Per Second.

The camera also has a microphone and interfaces to your Macintosh via Firewire.

The public Beta of iChat AV (http://www.apple.com/ichat/) is available now. The final iChat version which supports Jaguar will be sold for $29.95. Users upgrade to Panther, however, will get the final iChat AV version included.

The first solid info (http://www.macrumors.com/pages/2003/02/20030227234459.shtml) that the next version of iChat would support video conferencing came in February, 2003. Previous hints (http://www.macrumors.com/pages/2002/04/20020426232617.shtml) were made by Steve Jobs himself. Later hints at a communication device (http://www.macrumors.com/pages/2003/04/20030421115609.shtml) are felt to be preditive of this product. Further details were uncovered by (http://www.macrumors.com/pages/2003/06/20030604120451.shtml) ThinkSecret, and then quickly pulled by Apple's Legal department.

[rockman2023]

Personally, I think the iSight is wayyy too expensive @ $150. But I guess it makes up for the SUPERB software that enlivens the experience of being a Mac user. :D

[Stella]

Video and audio is excellent. Shame that ichat doesn't support icq.

Do you know whether the video is compatible with the windows version of aol messenger?

[Goekeli]

Awesome. I am totally stoked. I hope we can see some outside bench marks soon after they are shipping.

:D

[Ugg]

The specs for iSight are excellent, high quality video and audio. Can't wait to use one. Of course, I need a new PB G5 first!!!!!! Where are they? It seems like a decent price and what a way to save on phone bills!

[yogi477]

The keynote states mac to mac only for now but they will lokk to be compatible in the future hope that helps...

[Romanesq]

Only thing we didn't get together is a powerbook to rain on the box parade.

When they get to this, wonder how much it will cost.

Configuring the mid level machine with just a few things: faster video card, etc. brought the box to over $2800.

Not cheap but then again, it's the fastest in the world.

[Sayer]

For some reason Apple's engineers decided to remove all the controls from the windows and move their functionality soley to the menu bar.

Hardly efficient and intuitive. What happened to the often-touted Toolbar feature of Cocoa (and partially available in Carbon in Jaguar and newer)?

Why can't I get the name of the chat room in the chat room window instead of the first person's name? How am I supposed to know which window is which?

And what's with the half-implementation of Groups in the buddy list? AOL's AIM does it much better.

I guess if you want to play Truth or Dare with some chick you met on AIM get the new iChat. Otherwise its a huge step backwards in ease of use of the original text-chat features and forsakes a whole lot of Apple's own UI features in the Mac OS X releases.

Have any of the leads on iChat actually used ICQ/IRC/AIM before or are they all baby-boomers who read the spec and went in totally blind? Yuck.

iChat 2.0 Preview Alpha/Beta/Whatever - PASS for now.

[jimthorn]

Does installing iChatAV replace your existing iChat, or do you then have both seperate apps on your system?

edit: I decided to just try it, and yes, it replaces the old iChat

[mnkeybsness]

it appears that the old ichat does get replaced when installing ichat AV, BUT from the ichat menu, you can "revert to ichat 1.0"

but right now i'm loving it. i never used the toolbar features that were in the IM windows.

some pros to ichat AV (aside from the AV part)
-click your buddy icon, it remembers past buddy icons that you have used!
-automatic resizes of the type-box instead of the one-line only
-groups...sure they need some work, but it's nice to have! now i can keep people i rarely talk to on and still keep my buddy list slimmed down as to not take up too much space.
-show and hide buddy icons (from the view menu) a la adium anyone?
-appears that the ichat to ichat away message bug is finally fixed
-and a few more nice features...

cons:
-still no profiles
-features hard to access
-multi-IM client support

[damson34]

installing iChat A/V turned my help viewer ichat icon to the ical icon, does anyone know how too fix this?

[jimthorn]

Yikes! Running iChat AV, I just got my first kernal panic on my G4 iMac! Remember that it's beta software, folks!

[martybogert]

hi all -- *long time lurker surfacing*

I was wondering if anyone has tied the voice chat function?

I tried it with my 17" imac and my G4 400. The imac sent to the G4
the G4 received it but the mic wouldn't pick up sound on the G4 and send to the imac.

I'm guessing that the old mic I have on my G4, which came with my performa 6400 isn't compatible. (I know, I know it's a pretty old mic)

I'm wondering if it might require a USB mic as opposed to the old mini-plug type.

hummm.. must test.... will try G3 400 next :)

-martybogert

[jimthorn]

Originally posted by damson34
installing iChat A/V turned my help viewer ichat icon to the ical icon, does anyone know how too fix this?

That's weird. I just checked, and I don't even have iChat help after installing iChatAV. I think I'll hold off installing this app on my iBook until the next release.

[batmyke]

Okay, what's this? I installed iChat AV Beta, and hooked up my dv video camera, but iChat says my computer doesn't support Video Conferencing!! Does anyone know if there are any specific requirements for this? I am running Jaguar 10.2.6 on an iMac DVSE 400 mhz with 640 MB of RAM...

[moorghan]

I just finished a 40 minute audio chat with family in the states. I am currently living in South Africa. I am using a 4 year old iMac and the entire thing was seamless, easy, free, and phenomenal.

I don't know if this kind of technology was available before (probably was, but for the Mac?), but I do know that what Apple has done is make it simple.

All I had to do was walk my mother through the download, and within seconds we were talking for free. This is what Apple is truly offering the world, intuitive simplicity, and people are going to wake up to it.

Today is a truly exciting day to be a Mac-user.

[zim]

they should have done a deal where if you buy the iSight, you get iChat full for free, I know that it is not out as of yet but they could have give you a sn with it.

[requies]

so all this new video stuff is running on the aim network? so you can only video chat with people using ichat? my girlfriend, who lives far away, still has a pc. (tagic, i know. we're working on it) so unless there's some way to video chat with pc people, the new ichat is useless for me. *sigh* i guess i'm sticking with icky yahoo.

[mnkeybsness]

i agree with zim...that is kind of a weird marketing strategy to NOT do that...???

[requies]

Originally posted by batmyke
Okay, what's this? I installed iChat AV Beta, and hooked up my dv video camera, but iChat says my computer doesn't support Video Conferencing!! Does anyone know if there are any specific requirements for this? I am running Jaguar 10.2.6 on an iMac DVSE 400 mhz with 640 MB of RAM...

the requirements on apple's site state that a 600mhz g3 or better is needed. *hopes that his 500mhz g4 will work*

[weave]

So if I buy this $149 camera, can I use it for other things? Like, will it work with MSN Messenger for OS X? Can I use it as a webcam to keep an eye on my home when i'm not around?

[Juventuz]

Well I like it so far, but the away message between AIM and iChat still doesn't work.

Hopefully they'll get it fixed when the final version is released.

I'm definitely looking forward to Panther.

[jimthorn]

Originally posted by weave
So if I buy this $149 camera, can I use it for other things? Like, will it work with MSN Messenger for OS X? Can I use it as a webcam to keep an eye on my home when i'm not around?

It seems like it's just a simple FireWire webcam. You should be able to use it for anything you could do with another FireWire webcam. I imagine you could even use it for iMovie, or to take still pictures for iPhoto. I mean, it's not the best thing for those tasks, but I don't see what would keep you from doing it.

[moorghan]

the requirements on apple's site state that a 600mhz g3 or better is needed. *hopes that his 500mhz g4 will work*

Just used iChat A/V for audio chat with my 450Mhz iMac DV+, 576MB RAM.

No problems except the occasional drop out (56k connection on both ends).

Oh, and did I mention that I am in South Africa and I was chatting with someone in the States?

[Flowbee]

Who else thinks the iSight looks like it would fit very nicely onto the iPod? (with the proper adapter, of course) Turn your iPod into a portable audio/video/photo recorder... how sweet would that be?

Steve even mentioned the iPod when talking about the iSight (comparing the two in terms of function and design).

Maybe I'm way off base, but it was my first thought when I saw how small the iSight is.

EDIT: ...and yes I know that the current iPod doesn't display video. Just thinkin' down the road...

[requies]

Originally posted by moorghan
Just used iChat A/V for audio chat with my 450Mhz iMac DV+, 576MB RAM.

No problems except the occasional drop out (56k connection on both ends).

Oh, and did I mention that I am in South Africa and I was chatting with someone in the States?

sorry, the 600mhz G3 requirement is for video. fortunately for me the statement also implies that any G4 will do. but i also found where it says on the ichat page that you can only audio/video chat with someone else using ichat av. shucks. :\

[Chef Ramen]

i did an audio chat with somebdoy a few hours away...works GREAT! much better than the talk crap AIM has/

looks like ill still have to use icar though...damn!

[smada]

First off, I see no reason why iChat AV shouldn't be able to run with any computer that runs jaguar. It just seems silly. And also, why not allow USB webcams? If it has an OSX driver, what's holding it back from iChat AV? sure it might not be as high quality as a firewire cam, but it should still work!

[rogueimage]

Originally posted by mnkeybsness
-automatic resizes of the type-box instead of the one-line only
I was ecstatic to discover that pressing option-return gives you a carriage return in iChat AV. Is this documented anywhere? Is there any other way to get a carriage return?

[jimthorn]

Originally posted by rogueimage
I was ecstatic to discover that pressing option-return gives you a carriage return in iChat AV. Is this documented anywhere? Is there any other way to get a carriage return?

Option-Return is the way you do that in lots of apps. This is useful for events in iCal, for instance.

I do like the auto-resizing text box. That was a huge complaint about the old iChat.

[matznentosh]

Originally posted by martybogert
hi all -- *long time lurker surfacing*

I was wondering if anyone has tied the voice chat function?

I tried it with my 17" imac and my G4 400. The imac sent to the G4
the G4 received it but the mic wouldn't pick up sound on the G4 and send to the imac.

I'm guessing that the old mic I have on my G4, which came with my performa 6400 isn't compatible. (I know, I know it's a pretty old mic)

I'm wondering if it might require a USB mic as opposed to the old mini-plug type.

hummm.. must test.... will try G3 400 next :)

-martybogert

exact same thing happened to me. On my old G4 desktop 450, the microphone connected to the audio in plug clearly works at least as far as the sound preference panel is concerned. But it does not send any sound to my G4 powerbook. Meanwhile the powerbook does send sound to the desktop. too bad

[h00ligan]

Originally posted by requies
so all this new video stuff is running on the aim network? so you can only video chat with people using ichat? my girlfriend, who lives far away, still has a pc. (tagic, i know. we're working on it) so unless there's some way to video chat with pc people, the new ichat is useless for me. *sigh* i guess i'm sticking with icky yahoo.

so yahoo can do video chat cross platform? as i am aware of it there is no video solution for chatting on the mac offered by the big 4: aim yahoo msn icw

[Heltik]

About the option return thing. Did you try pressing the small enter key - that normally has the same effect as Pressing option-return (or control return on a pc - I'm always joking to my PC friends how they have just the one return key in response to the one mouse button thing!!!)

I'll tell you, typing this message on my fresh Safari, with a dual 2ghz G5 in the pipeline... It's nice to know that Apple's plans are coming together.

[noel4r]

does anybody know if the iSight attaches nicely onto the eMacs?

[Kwyjibo]

it looks like it ships with three adaptors and one is for the emac should work fine.

[requies]

Originally posted by h00ligan
so yahoo can do video chat cross platform? as i am aware of it there is no video solution for chatting on the mac offered by the big 4: aim yahoo msn icw

not video chat, per se, as there's no audio with yahoo, but it does do the video. not at a real great quality, but it is better than nothing.

[technocoy]

i want to try this out so bad... idon't have the iSight yet but my internal powerbook mic is working fine with it.... can someone here get on iChat with me (oh yeah baby!;) ) and check this thing out?? i really want to here the quality. thanks for any help guys,

technocoy
oh yeah... BEST DAY EVER!

my IM is shogunsimian

[MacFan25]

Originally posted by technocoy
idon't have the iSight yet but my internal powerbook mic is working fine with it....
I didn't know there was an internal mic in the PowerBooks. Is there a mic on the FP iMacs? :confused:

[Sonofhaig]

Originally posted by batmyke
Okay, what's this? I installed iChat AV Beta, and hooked up my dv video camera, but iChat says my computer doesn't support Video Conferencing!! Does anyone know if there are any specific requirements for this? I am running Jaguar 10.2.6 on an iMac DVSE 400 mhz with 640 MB of RAM...

Yeah, I had the same problem. The weird thing is that my camera works in QuickTime Broadcaster but not in ichat.
Weird!

[Rower_CPU]

Originally posted by MacFan25
I didn't know there was an internal mic in the PowerBooks. Is there a mic on the FP iMacs? :confused:

Look for a small hole at the top edge of the display (left side, I think).

[network23]

Drat! I would have glady traded videoconferencing for compatibility with ICQ and other IM technologies. Most of my friends and family use ICQ, so that means I have to run two IM clients at the same time. I'd much rather just run iChat.:mad:

[Chef Ramen]

im pretty sure that the imac, emac, ibook, and powerbooks have internal mics hidden away somewhere. do the cinema displays have mics? itd make sense

[Sonofhaig]

Originally posted by technocoy
i want to try this out so bad... idon't have the iSight yet but my internal powerbook mic is working fine with it.... can someone here get on iChat with me (oh yeah baby!;) ) and check this thing out?? i really want to here the quality. thanks for any help guys,

technocoy
oh yeah... BEST DAY EVER!

my IM is shogunsimian

I enjoyed chatting live with you.
Real fun software. Now I've got to get some video working! - Paul

[ctb]

Originally posted by batmyke
Okay, what's this? I installed iChat AV Beta, and hooked up my dv video camera, but iChat says my computer doesn't support Video Conferencing!! Does anyone know if there are any specific requirements for this? I am running Jaguar 10.2.6 on an iMac DVSE 400 mhz with 640 MB of RAM...

it requires a 600 mhz machine, sorry man. :(

[requies]

Originally posted by MacFan25
I didn't know there was an internal mic in the PowerBooks. Is there a mic on the FP iMacs? :confused:

yes. have fun! :)

[technocoy]

this rocks ASS! i wish more of my family and friends had macs... now more than ever. gotta get the iSight next week!

[zaphoyd]

I try to do a video or audio chat with anyone i know with ichat. It fails, and give me the message "[name] is busy in another conference" on the receiving end it says "[name] did not respond"

any one else having these troubles, or have an idea how to fix them?

[Groovsonic]

Has anyone tried the video chat? I don't know anyone with a FW camera and a mac. Not to be too creepy, but in the next 1/2 hour or so, if anyone wants to try it, my IM name is SuperMegaGroov.

I'd like to see how it works.

[requies]

Originally posted by Groovsonic
Has anyone tried the video chat? I don't know anyone with a FW camera and a mac. Not to be too creepy, but in the next 1/2 hour or so, if anyone wants to try it, my IM name is SuperMegaGroov.

I'd like to see how it works.

umm, yeah, you're all like offline and stuff. :)

[Groovsonic]

Originally posted by requies
umm, yeah, you're all like offline and stuff. :)
I'm on.
Honest

SuperMegaGroov

[Groovsonic]

Thats really neat. Anyone else wanna try?

[Heart Break Kid]

in ichat

press cmd+g
then type Jaguar

there are about 500534053405 ppl in that room all trying out video and audio

[jabester]

i hope that it will be compatible with digital still cameras with video modes

[Rower_CPU]

Originally posted by jabester
i hope that it will be compatible with digital still cameras with video modes

Interesting idea...let me check it out...

[edit: Nope, the camera goes into file transfer mode when you plug it in. Too bad.]

[ctb]

Originally posted by zaphoyd
I try to do a video or audio chat with anyone i know with ichat. It fails, and give me the message "[name] is busy in another conference" on the receiving end it says "[name] did not respond"

any one else having these troubles, or have an idea how to fix them?

i had that problem when trying to connect while i was on an airport (802.11b) connection. it works on a 100baseT connection however. i could be wrong though. has anybody had luck via an airport connection?

[Rower_CPU]

iChat is working fine for me on Airport. I've done audio and text, no video yet.

[ctb]

Originally posted by Rower_CPU
iChat is working fine for me on Airport. I've done audio and text, no video yet.

after i posted that message i was able to connect to someone in ohio (i'm in oregon) but i can't connect to someone across town. strange.

[Dahl]

I can't wait till I get a new set up ( G5, iChat AV and iSight ) My brother is using the latest iMac in Denmark and it's gonna be ubercool to try the video chat i August.

I have waited a long time for something like this, but the quality have always been bad. The demo looked pretty good.

[daveg5]

Originally posted by rockman2023
Personally, I think the iSight is wayyy too expensive @ $150. But I guess it makes up for the SUPERB software that enlivens the experience of being a Mac user. :D

but i correctly predicted the camera in the price in the powermac x5 thread yes. oh well it looks great about 50 more then ibot. exspensive but worth it

[Dahl]

I actually find the price "cheap", when you consider the other options.
I looked at http://www.vialta.com/ , which has a video phone on the market. I have not seen a demo and noody owns them ( yet ), there used to be another company too called 8 x 8, but they are gone now.

iChat AV and iSight, if it really works as well as promised, will be huge for me. $150 for the chance to see my family live on the other side of the world is not a big deal. My mom will get an Mac as soon as she sees it in action. :)

[Wardofsky]

I can see potential for this, it would indeed be interesting if in the future you could record (Not view) through an iPod, with audio recording decovered I wouldn't be suprised.

The FireWire restricts it generally down to Macs and probably 3rd party software companies making it compatible with Windows.

The lens is quite good for a web-cam style computer driven camera, the cylinder style is certainly attractive although it may not be as funcitional...

This has Apple written all over it.

[M@rtin]

Isn't there anyone out there who is able to write a program for the "MS Other" platform so these poor suffering IM-users can get in touch with us lucky Mac-users?

I mean, we are always so proud on using our Macs and than we ask for apps so we can get on the Wintel platform. Let's invite them into our world!!

[ErikGrim]

Ooops, I just ordered an iSight. Damn 1-click buying :D

[makkystyle]

Originally posted by mnkeybsness
.......
cons:
-still no profiles
-features hard to access
-multi-IM client support

What do you mean by profiles? I can get them in iChat 1.0. Just highlight the buddy name then click the little info button on the bottom. Then use the drop down to "Show:" "buddy name" instead of address card. I hope this feature still exists in iChat 2.0!!! You may be talking of something different though?

[gandalf55]

dolecki5

for anyone who wants to play around with iChat AV :)

[PubGuy]

External Microphone Problem FIXED !!!

Hey folks, for those of you having trouble getting the sound to work with your external (non-USB) microphone, there is an easy solution:

iChat autoamtically detects INTERNAL microphones. For all others, you need to go into Preferences/Video and manually select your microphone source. It then works like a champ ! :D

[Sonofhaig]

Originally posted by Wardofsky
I can see potential for this, it would indeed be interesting if in the future you could record (Not view) through an iPod, with audio recording decovered I wouldn't be suprised.

The FireWire restricts it generally down to Macs and probably 3rd party software companies making it compatible with Windows.

The lens is quite good for a web-cam style computer driven camera, the cylinder style is certainly attractive although it may not be as funcitional...

This has Apple written all over it.

Your customer service rep, not calling you by phone for specials, but through ichat, and up-linking hot specials for your review. This will be used a lot, and very soon folks.... That's my prediction!

[cryptochrome]

Originally posted by zaphoyd
I try to do a video or audio chat with anyone i know with ichat. It fails, and give me the message "[name] is busy in another conference" on the receiving end it says "[name] did not respond"

any one else having these troubles, or have an idea how to fix them?

I'm pretty sure this problem, and others like it, are caused by firewalls and NAT issues. You'll notice with quicktime streaming that you have to open ports or go through the http one to use it behind a firewall. This is also true of natural firewalls like routers with Network Address Translation.

In other words, unless you have access to configure your firewall/router, you're out of luck. I don't know why certain programs HAVE to communicate through specific ports, but they do. This is why IPv4 sucks. I hope IPv6 fixes this problem.

Still, I would have hoped apple would avoid it with iChat AV. But I guess they couldn't. Frankly, rendezvous/zeroconf is severely crippled by these NAT issues to the point of uselessness.

[ctb]

Originally posted by cryptochrome
I'm pretty sure this problem, and others like it, are caused by firewalls and NAT issues. You'll notice with quicktime streaming that you have to open ports or go through the http one to use it behind a firewall. This is also true of natural firewalls like routers with Network Address Translation.

In other words, unless you have access to configure your firewall/router, you're out of luck. I don't know why certain programs HAVE to communicate through specific ports, but they do. This is why IPv4 sucks. I hope IPv6 fixes this problem.

Still, I would have hoped apple would avoid it with iChat AV. But I guess they couldn't. Frankly, rendezvous/zeroconf is severely crippled by these NAT issues to the point of uselessness.


I thought that might have been the source of my problems, but I found that it wasn't.

My network setup is fairly simple:

Cable Modem > Linksys Router > 10/100 Switch

Then from the switch many connections are made, but one goes to my 802.11b access point. I'm connected to that via AirPort on my PowerBook.

I configured the router so that my PowerBook was the DMZ host, no go. Removed the Linksys Router from the picture and instead received an IP from Comcast's DHCP server, same deal. Connected directly to the Cable Modem even, skipping the access point and switch, nothing.

Mac OS X firewall was off as well.

I tried connecting via audio with someone in Ohio and we were also having problems. They restarted iChat and then, it worked. We didn't try Video, but Audio worked like a charm.

Yet I could still not connect via Audio or Video with a friend across town who has the same ISP.

No word on what did the trick with my Ohio friend. This was after I reconnected my router and was behind the firewall again.

I can only speculate this is because iChat AV is still a Beta and there are some slight discrepancies.

[idiparker]

I banged my head on the wall as the audio was showing up (i.e. bars) in the sound control panel, but not on Ichat. I even went to the Video preferences and changed that, but then I discovered I only changed the sound output (not the input) panel. Fixing that got the thing to work.

Now I'm just trying to get a USB cam to work, with no success. It says there is no camera attached to this machine, though I thought I read it would accept USB cams...

[michaelrjohnson]

does the audio "telephone" feature work with broadband???:confused:

not just 56k modem connection???

[MacFan25]

Originally posted by Rower_CPU
Look for a small hole at the top edge of the display (left side, I think).
I see it, on the bottom left side. I wondered if this was it or not. Wasnt sure. Thanks.

[Heart Break Kid]

i just went to the apple store in lenox mall today

the staff there showed me the new isight - the quality on that thing is amazing. it puts to shame any and all competition.

the difference of having the camera at eye level is insane


ps.

chat room = JAGUAR

[ctb]

Originally posted by michaelrjohnson
does the audio "telephone" feature work with broadband???:confused:

not just 56k modem connection???

you should be able to use the audio feature with either type of connection.

[MasterX (OSiX)]

To clarify for everyone:
G3 600Mhz+ for video
Any G4 and duhh any G5 for video
Any Jaguar running mac will work with audio.

Broadband and a FireWire camera required for video

56k or more and a USB Mic or internal or analog mic required for voice chat

USB Cams dont work because they all use their own silly drivers, while firewire is far more universal

I also can't get any video or audio chats (except a few times) can't figure out why, probably has to do with my router.

Anyone know what ports iChatAV uses?

[Aeolius]

Now, if only we can get enough folks together for an online game of D&D via iChat AV and klooge.werks :D

[Flowbee]

I think I'll be waiting for the final version of iChat AV before upgrading. Maybe by that time I will have met some better looking friends. :p

[rogueimage]

I think I have narrowed down the cause of the erroneous "Busy in another conference" dialog. It seems that if your TCP/IP is configured via DHCP, you cannot do AV chat with someone getting their DHCP configuration from the same place. This would include people on the same router--as in my case--or others in the same area with the same ISP--as others have mentioned.

Configuring TCP/IP manually enabled Rendezvous AV chat to work. Of course, it also disabled my internet access. If there is anyone else out there who can confirm these findings, I would appreciate knowing about it, and encourage them to submit a bug report to Apple, via "Provide iChat Feedback" in the iChat menu. I would be especially interested to know if configuring manually solves the problem for people not on the same network, but using the same ISP. Of course, your ISP would need to provide the information for manually connecting.

This is obviously a bug, and makes AV chatting over Rendezvous useless to almost anybody. Hopefully Apple will have this fixed very soon.

[Rower_CPU]

Odd, rogueimage, my gf and I tested out audio chat last night, both running off Airport on my home network. DHCP from same place and it worked fine...

Might be a peculiarity of your ISP/firewall.

PS. You did open port 5298 for all Rendezvous participants, right?

[MasterX (OSiX)]

I switched my LAn from DHCP to manual a while ago simply because i'm in Cisco and we learned subnetting and i was eager to try it out.

The idiots guide to subnetting is simple:
1) Get the IP Address of your modem (can be done from your router's config website)
2) Get your ISP's DNS servers (comes from the same place mostly)
3) Switch router to manual from DHCP
4) Assign your macs IP addresses from 192.168.0.2 through .9
5) Subnet mask of 255.255.255.240
6) Enter in your DNS servers
7) Enter router address as 192.168.0.1

Make sure your router is set to be 192.168.0.1 on your LAN port

That should do it, Rendezvous always worked for me, but its fun having manual IP addresses, seems to speed up locating network servers too

[rogueimage]

Originally posted by Rower_CPU
PS. You did open port 5298 for all Rendezvous participants, right?
Do you mean open that port in the OS X firewall? I don't have my firewall turned on, since I'm using a router.

[rogueimage]

Originally posted by MasterX (OSiX)
4) Assign your macs IP addresses from 192.168.0.2 through .9
5) Subnet mask of 255.255.255.240
...
7) Enter router address as 192.168.0.1

First of all, will this work with a cable modem which may or may not connect to the ISP using a static IP? Second, we usually have eight computers (six Macs, two PCs) connected to our network at a minimum. Can I use higher numbers than .9, or go to xxx.xxx.1.1, -1.2, etc. for IP addresses? Finally, out of curiousity, why that particular subnet mask?

[j33pd0g]

So when I read: 56k or *more and a USB Mic or internal or analog mic required for voice chat... Does *more mean ethernet? I chose not to get a 56K modem in my new tower... on account of I never bring it anywhere and I have DSL.

[Mattski]

It will good to get iSight....again.

It's impossible to tell how much of it I've lost since having the internet.
:D

[MasterX (OSiX)]

Originally posted by rogueimage
First of all, will this work with a cable modem which may or may not connect to the ISP using a static IP? Second, we usually have eight computers (six Macs, two PCs) connected to our network at a minimum. Can I use higher numbers than .9, or go to xxx.xxx.1.1, -1.2, etc. for IP addresses? Finally, out of curiousity, why that particular subnet mask?

OK to answer your questions:
1) Subnetting your computers and assigning static IPs will work regardless of the connection method required for your modem to get online (provide a conncected modem and your router does the rest)

2) Sorry about the limit, but I had to look up the IP chart i did for my own subnetting (it's all very specific). Given a subnet of 255.255.255.240 it's actually recommended you use the IP range 192.168.0.17 though .30 if you do 192.168.1.x it won't work btw. For whatever reason a lot of routers (my own in fact) seem to work with 192.168.0.2-.9 which shouldn't be but is. Go figure.

3) Subnet mask is 255.255.255.240 because it represents you want to use 16 bits of your internet IP to subnet into your LAN. It gets complicated but it's a C class IP subnetting scheme. Just make sure you enter in everything like i said and it *should* work (subnettng really is a pain so i hope i didn't mess anything up. if it fails, revert to DHCP)

EDIT: I found a mistake. If you use 192.168.0.1-.9 use a router address of 192.168.0.1

If you use 192.168.0.17-.31 use a router address of 192.168.0.17.

just made that mistake on my own Lan, im working hard to get stupid iChat to work grrr

[Wardofsky]

There's no MacRumors chat room, well there was when I went in but no one was there.

I've started up Wardofsky for no paticular reason, voice calling across Rendezvous scared the daylights out of my cat.

[Juventuz]

I tried out the audio part of iChat tonight with a friend who lives in Cali. I'm in NY and let me tell you it was crystal clear. It worked flawlessly. I absolutely loved it.

Good job Apple.

[MasterX (OSiX)]

Originally posted by Juventuz
I tried out the audio part of iChat tonight with a friend who lives in Cali. I'm in NY and let me tell you it was crystal clear. It worked flawlessly. I absolutely loved it.

Good job Apple.

Were either of you behind a router?

[obeygiant]

I'm in Michigan and have an Audio Chat
with my buddy in San Jose. It worked like a dream. FULL DUPLEX and no delay or echoing. Really nice.
I just ordered 2 iSights. The price isn't too bad considering its firewire AND it has sound. I was looking at some other firewire webcams and they were 99bucks with out a microphone.

I'd also pay a little extra for something with and apple logo in it.. :)

[Juventuz]

Originally posted by MasterX (OSiX)
Were either of you behind a router?

He was on a dsl line using airport. I am behind a router.

[MasterX (OSiX)]

Then I just have crappy luck. I can't connect to anyone reliably (only got 4 chats working behind the router)

[rogueimage]

Thanks for the help, MasterX OSiX (Nick, I presume?) I was able to get the router working, with the computers accessing the internet, without DHCP. I did it the way you suggested, and also by simply using the numbers the router automatically assigned to my computer before turning of DHCP. Both worked as far as TCP/IP and network connections.

Unfortunately, Audio chat still didn't work over my LAN, or over AIM between two of my computers. It seems the router itself is the problem. It's an Asanté router. I wonder if anyone else is having problems with that brand.

[MasterX (OSiX)]

Copying DHCP settings to manual is a popular trick, sorry i forgot to mention it. I tried both ways and still can't get iChat to work (NETGEAR Firewall router)

[nabich]

the isight is also compatible with Quicktime Broadcaster. I bought the isight today and already ran a sample broadcast stream. very cool.

Final Cut Pro 4 also recognizes the isight microphone for voice over recording.

i'm still looking around to see what else recognizes the camera. supposedly, the installation of ichat av enables other apps besides ichat to recognize the camera.



Originally posted by weave
So if I buy this $149 camera, can I use it for other things? Like, will it work with MSN Messenger for OS X? Can I use it as a webcam to keep an eye on my home when i'm not around?

[Rower_CPU]

Originally posted by rogueimage
Do you mean open that port in the OS X firewall? I don't have my firewall turned on, since I'm using a router.

Yes, the OS X firewall. It warns you when you start iChat if you have the firewall on and tells you to open the port.

[martybogert]

hi all i saw that some ppl were having trouble with their routers and I've been helping some of my friends get it setup.

I'm not too sure on how to set it up with DHCP enabled, but I did get it working perfectly with Static IP's.

I've setup a little tutorial with screenshots on my server for my friends and thought it might be a good idea to share.
--MB

router setup

http://ortgeist.com/router/jpg/Picture01.jpg

the landing page for the router really shouldn't change too much just make a note of the device ip and the subnet mask. the device ip is your routers ip addy. The macs that are on you network can be any ip you choose after the routers ip.

http://ortgeist.com/router/jpg/Picture02.jpg

ok now the DHCP needs to be disabled and you need to set the # of users to 0 or the DHCP is not truly disabled. you can add the DNS #'s in the fields also.Click Apply.

http://ortgeist.com/router/jpg/Picture04.jpg

now you need to set it up in the network prefs. like above configure is set to manual. Now you need to set you IP addys. For example: my ip is 192.168.1.2 and dans is 192.168.1.3 ::: no 2 macs or devices can have the same IP. Click Apply.

http://ortgeist.com/router/jpg/Picture03.jpg

Now with the old firmware version you can't lable the ports. so you just need to fill in the port ranges that are above. Also the TCP and UDP are in a drop down menu: choose both. then enter the ip address of the macs that you want to use the ichat with. Click Apply.

[gandalf55]

i just had my iSight delivered - its awesome! It gets a little hot... but its sweet looking, quality is top notch. only gripe: here @ work, the flour light turns things a bit green - including me. i wish there was a control to panel to manually adjust the color balance, etc.
!!!

[Dahl]

Maybe Apple can squeeze in a basic color balance before the final version comes ? :D

[AhmedFaisal]

Most of my friends have PCs and AIM doesn't support video yet so basically iChat ist useless in the Video part for me. Unless Apple jumps over its shadow and releases an iChat for Windoze I have to stick to Yahoo Messenger for Video, damn.
Cheers,

Ahmed

[erikbraun]

I used my JVC HR-DVS2 FireWire DV/VCR and sent excellent video and audio (from a VHS tape, title not to be revealed) over cable broadband across town. Quite possibly the coolest thing I've done in a while.

Anyone know how much power the iSight will draw off a laptop battery?

[jimthorn]

Originally posted by gandalf55
i just had my iSight delivered - its awesome! It gets a little hot... but its sweet looking, quality is top notch. only gripe: here @ work, the flour light turns things a bit green - including me. i wish there was a control to panel to manually adjust the color balance, etc.
!!!

Coming soon from a third-party manufacturer near you... snap-on filters for your iSight. :p

[jaison13]

now how do i find other people to vid-chat with??

[gandalf55]

command-G, "jaguar" from ichat - enjoy

[evolu]

And it's beautiful!

Packaged like an iPod with the clamshell hinged box.

I'm so addicted to apple quality. And I don't want help.

[haddiscoe]

According to the WWDC transcript:

"Eyes and Ears of iChat. Remarkable video camera. Full motion video at 30fps, 24bits/pixel. Auto focus. low light. 640x480. bulit in mic. Firewire connector. "iSight cam is the size of a AA battery, at half the length" - usercomment "

Where did the usercomment come from. I just visited the local Apple Store and saw the iSight for the first time and it's nowhere the size of an AA battery. The size of two D-cells at least!

Not a problem because it's still a nice compact unit and I'll more than likely buy one, but a half-sized AA battery would have been better. :-)

[batmyke]

Well, gang, after some research, I found out that iChat AV's video chat feature requires a 600 mhz processor or higher. Bummer for me until I get a new machine or upgrade...

[weave]

I'm on holiday in the southwest U.S. and just video conferenced with the wife back in boring Delaware. We are both behind NAT devices. It works like a champ. Really impressive and doesn't require the router to have Microsoft's uPNP service (universal plug-n-play) like many of the MSN "enhanced" features do. Very impressive.

The quality was pretty good too, but the sound was a bit annoying with the delay. But it's the first time I've done audio over the net too and I've read that is normal and considering what it goes through (and both of us were on airport connections) understandable.

What is far more impressive is evocam (http://www.evological.com/evocam.html) . I've used it as a webcam to watch my cats. Not only does it include a built-in web server to stream but can also be set up to store up to 48 of the latest images to an outside ftp server (and set to only do it on motion detect if desired), email images, and record time-lapsed quicktime moves.

Here's an example of an image from my "kitty cam"

http://user.dtcc.edu/~weave/webcam.jpg

evocam allows one to define separate zones on the image and perform separate functions based on motion in each zone. On above image, I have it set to record snapshots if the cats move on the perch and a separate zone on the doorway that has a text voice speak "I see you" as someone enters the room. Neat stuff.

Note you can also set the amount of jpg compression applied to each image. Mine are set about half way, each image around 50-60k.

evocam is $20 shareware with a 15-day free trial period. A real bargain. It works with any firewire camera, including allegedly video cameras (which it originally was written for). I'm not connected with them anyway, just a very happy customer (well, I will be a customer as soon as I get back from holiday. I'll be sending off my $20).

[Aeolius]

I'll second the recommendation for Evocam. If you want easy to master webcam software, look no further.

[Toppa G's]

I was at the Apple store in Chicago's grand opening last Friday and watched many people playing with iSights, and won one of the 20 they gave away myself :-)
I have made it work with EvoCam and QT Broadcaster, but since my iBook is too slow, it will not work with iChat AV. Time to upgrade, I suppose.

[AhmedFaisal]

There is such Addons as BuddyVision and Eyeball Chat for AIM. Has anyone tested those out with iChat already?
Cheers,

Ahmed

[Pete_Hoover]

Originally posted by Flowbee
Who else thinks the iSight looks like it would fit very nicely onto the iPod? (with the proper adapter, of course) Turn your iPod into a portable audio/video/photo recorder... how sweet would that be?

Steve even mentioned the iPod when talking about the iSight (comparing the two in terms of function and design).

Maybe I'm way off base, but it was my first thought when I saw how small the iSight is.

EDIT: ...and yes I know that the current iPod doesn't display video. Just thinkin' down the road...

I was thinking the same thing. Someone did a picture of that on Spymac.

[gandalf55]

panther just stopped mounting any FW devices - anyone encounter this? my isight, external drive, & ipod are begging for use again. i repaired permissions, etc. to no avail.

[bcsimac]

Apple released a tech note telling us that iChat AV doesn't support video conferencing with a DV video camera on any G3 based Mac. The only supported configuration is a G3 600Mhz or higher based Mac with iSight camera. Only G4 or G5 machines support video conferencing with DV video cameras besides the iSight camera.

Originally posted by batmyke
Okay, what's this? I installed iChat AV Beta, and hooked up my dv video camera, but iChat says my computer doesn't support Video Conferencing!! Does anyone know if there are any specific requirements for this? I am running Jaguar 10.2.6 on an iMac DVSE 400 mhz with 640 MB of RAM...

[bcsimac]

I won't get to enjoy iChat AV much since I have an older iMac....rev B to be exact. I would need the sonnet tech's harmoni upgrade to get much use for it. Oh well, someday I will have to upgrade......whenever I really have the money to do it.

[bbowdon]

Originally posted by bcsimac
I won't get to enjoy iChat AV much since I have an older iMac....rev B to be exact. I would need the sonnet tech's harmoni upgrade to get much use for it. Oh well, someday I will have to upgrade......whenever I really have the money to do it.

First, as I understand the 600MHz clockspeed requirement for iSight only applies to G3 chips... apparently any old G4 chip will do.

But my question is the same several other posters have mentioned: Why buy an iSight when I can't use it to conference with Windows users?

It would be like buying an email client that can only exchange email with other Mac users -- cutting out most of the world from my communication.

There's either got to be a Windows version of iChat AV (after all Apple sells a Windows iPod, and will be offering a Windows version of iTunes Music Store)...

OR interoperability with other Windows-based videoconference programs.

Has anyone heard anything about either of these possibilities??

[tkoonce]

The "NEW" iSight camera is in "Vanilla Sky" Tom Cruise Movie over 2 years ago!! Watching Vanilla Sky Last night and noticed Tom Cruise is having a video conference in the movie with his office and he has a iSight on top of his G4 Power Mac LCD screen. With the movie being out in theatres in 2001 that means the iSight has been around for over 2 years and whats even funnier is that Apple knew that it was right in front of our eyes the last 2 years, if we would of only known where to look!

[Dahl]

We need some screen shots! :D