ichat

[johng723]

Ok, so I'm trying to figure out how to have video chats through ichat and aim. I know that my girlfriend has the aim 5.5 and has a video camera and everything is all set up since she can have video chats with other people. But for some reason it wont do it with my ichat. I upgraded to 2.1 and I also have a webcam installed. What should I do? man if only video chat worked with msn messenger with macs!

 

[realityisterror]

i'm pretty sure it works... but check this out:

what kind of webcam are you using? if it's a USB camera, you may need to buy a piece of software called "iChatUSBCam" ($5-10 i think)...
if you are using an isight or a firewire DV cam, you should be set..

if ichat recognizes your camera, next to your buddy icon there will be a greenish box with a white camera on it.. if there is a phone or something else, then you're going to need ichatusbcam or a different camera...

hope you get things sorted out,
reality

 

[chv400]

Just wondering what kind of processor do you have and how fast is it.

 

[johng723]

i have a 1.5 ghz g4 with 1 gig of ram

 

[johng723]

so do i need to have a webcam connected in order for it to work? what if i wanted to just do a one way video chat, for instance if i just saw her and she didnt see me. can i do that?

 

[realityisterror]

i think you can only do two way...
but you need ichatusbcam or a firewire camera...
you still haven't answered that part...

are you using a USB or firewire camera?
if USB, are you using ichatusbcam?

reality

 

[sandman42]

so do i need to have a webcam connected in order for it to work? what if i wanted to just do a one way video chat, for instance if i just saw her and she didnt see me. can i do that?

You have to have an iSight or a firewire DV camera connected in order to send video, but anyone with iChat AV should be able to receive it. You can use a USB webcam to send video, but in order to make it work you have to install the iChatUSBCam patch (USB support is not built into iChat). See this link: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=150961

One-way video chats are possible, but I believe they have to be initiated by the person with the video camera. In iChat AV, there should be a menu selection "Invite to One-way Video Chat" available, but only if you have a valid camera attached.

Is your girlfriend also using iChat? If so, it should work pretty easily and reliably. If you're using iChat and she's using AIM on a windows platform, I'm not sure what kind of results you should expect, but it's supposed to work -- you have to be using iChat AV 2.1, though: http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/ichatav.html

Good luck.

 

[Kingsnapped]

My girlfriend has the latest AIM, and a crappy USB camera that I got with my PC four years ago, and I can chat with her fine with my FW camera and iChat. We haven't been able to do a one-way chat, but everything else works great.

 

[Mr. G4]

My girlfriend has the latest AIM, and a crappy USB camera that I got with my PC four years ago, and I can chat with her fine with my FW camera and iChat. We haven't been able to do a one-way chat, but everything else works great.

When you say "chat" do you mean typing? or do you mean using audio to talk?
Check your router firewall to open the port for ichat

To use iChat AV behind a firewall, make sure your network administrator has opened UDP port 5060.


When video conferencing, iChat AV uses four UDP ports in this range: 16384 to 16403.


For Mac OS X Firewall
The simplest workaround is to temporarily turn off the firewall in the Sharing preference pane on both computers.


To keep the Mac OS X Firewall active, follow these steps to add the necessary ports:

Choose Apple menu > System Preferences.

Choose View > Sharing.

Click the Firewall tab.

Click New.

Choose Other from the Port Name pop-up menu.

In the Port Number, Range or Series field, type in: 5060, 16384-16403

In the Description field type in: iChat AV

Click OK.​

​

 

[ALoLA]

I just updated my AIM the other day, but I haven't tried it with the iSight yet. I was using iChat with a PC using friend using AIM and his crappy USB webcam. There was no audio coming from his side though. But it seemed like he was able to see and hear me just fine. By the way, does anyone know if AIM installs any crap (spyware, etc.) like the PC version does?

 

[broken_keyboard]

I have successfully used iSight + iChat to video conference with a PC laptop using AIM + Creative webcam.

The only thing is that when you do video chat it establishes a direct computer to computer link. With text chat the text goes through the server, but with video it is direct, so you need to make sure firewalls/NAT are set up to let the computers connect.

 

[512ke]

Yesterday I did my first iChat, between Europe and the U.S. Both ends were running iChat 2.1 with firewire video cameras. Both had DSL.

The results were freaking spectacular. Wowza. Killer. Amazing!

Question: I know I CAN video chat with a PC running AIM, but how will the results LOOK when compared to 100% iChatting? Does anyone have any first hand experience with this? Does it work nearly as well?

Thanks!

 

[Squire]

Yesterday I did my first iChat, between Europe and the U.S. Both ends were running iChat 2.1 with firewire video cameras. Both had DSL.

The results were freaking spectacular. Wowza. Killer. Amazing!

That's good news. I've been itching to buy an iSight for my parents for a long time. They don't seem to get the part that dial-up wouldn't work. This will be one more reason to urge them to go for DSL.

Squire