iChat and H.264

[Fredstar]

One of the things about Tiger i was really excited about, amongst so many other things, is the 4 way ichat video conference. I haven't actually video chatted in ichat before because i am waiting for isight prices to go down to buy all my family one.
Anyways, H.264 sounded awesome technology to integrate with iChat and after now experiencing it with High Def (despite the high cpu usage) i am wondering how it would effect video conferencing performance. Upload rates are still 250kbs on all bb connections and probs gonna remain like that, so from people who have used it does the H.264 compress the signal, while retaining quality, and help to make video conferencing that much smoother and reduces upload data?
thanks

 

[frenetic]

Well, I can't really tell because I have not experienced it myself - I have installed Tiger on my powerbook, and my partner is is still on Panther. She claims that the quality has improved, though I don't know since she is living 11.000 kms away...

 

[Darwin]

I haven't tested it myself but is there any chance of us guys without G5s to get some better quality, I know I won't be able to do multi-chats with video but does 1-to-1 video on slower machines get a boost in visual?

 

[atomiton]

Does it display with full 30fps on 1GHZ G4s?

What are the minimum specs?

I want to buy a portable Mac to talk between Japan and Canada... but I would love to see real world examples, not the McWorld idealistic stuff that SJ shows... runnning Dual G5s and huge internet pipes.

anyone got any real footage or any ideas of how I can get a hold of any?

 

[Fredstar]

anyone 4 way conferencing? What is it like hosting on a G5? (and others perhaps joining with a G4)
Also the main question i guess i am asking is does the merging of the h.264 technology compress the signal to less kbs, so theoretically making the video chatting smoother, and also give better quality?
thanks

 

[DJY]

The staff at my local Mac1 shop told me on the release night - that you need a G5 (or dual G4s) to initiate a three way video chat... so as I only have a 1.5GHz Pb I guess I won't be able to start a multi person video chat... but will be able to be invited into one.

The only chats I have had using Tiger I haven't noticed any improvement in video quality. One mate with a current iMac actually seemed to be worse??!?!!

I'm hoping that chat just had bandwidth problems or some other temporary hiccup. I'm on 1500/256 ADSL and my mate is on a faster cable - so speed shouldn't have been an issue.... but I'm still hopeful that iChat in Tiger will be better than Panther - but I haven't experienced it yet.