iChat video quality?

[pgseye]

Hi,

I successfully made a video call to someone with ichat, but found the video quality of the built in isight horrendous (new macbook - I wish there was a way of taking a screen grab). I made sure there was reasonable lighting, but had I not known the person at the other end, I don't think I would have been able to make out their facial features.

We're both on 1.5 mbit connections.

What is the quality of the built in isight generally like? Should it be crisp enough to make out the other person? (I'm assuming so).

I'm thinking of buying an external webcam.

Any other suggestions why it would have been poor.

 

[swiftaw]

How does the quality of your camera impact how the other person looks, that's the quality of their camera.

The video quality depends on both upload and download speeds. Most people have enough download speed, but upload speeds tend to be poor.

I've had no problems with image quality.

 

[Dybbuk]

The iSight's quality is amazing. I'm surprised to hear this. Just open Photobooth and you can see for yourself that the quality is fine.

 

[ivi7]

I use Skype and i dont have any problem with the video quality. Try that out and see if the problem still persists.
As far as a screen grab is concerned you can press shift + apple + 4 to take a screenshot.
And I dont think there is anything wrong with ichat because picture quality depends on many factors. Once I had problems because of darkness once the other user switched on another couple of lights the quality seemed much better.

 

[phungy]

Video quality is great up to 3 people. Once the fourth joins it becomes blurry

 

[gauchogolfer]

Did you ask your friend how you looked on their end?

What kind of computer do they have?

 

[pgseye]

Thanks for the help so far guys. I've taken a screen grab and gotten the other party to do the same and have attached them so that you can see what the quality is like. It shouldn't be this poor, should it?

We're both using new macbooks with the latest version of ichat. We're on 1.5 mb connections. I've adjusted (as recommended in the apple forums) the Quicktime streaming speed to 1.5 mb.

What else could be happening? What codec does Quicktime use (how do you check?).

Anyway, thanks again.

Paul

 

[ivi7]

You're right it shouldn't be this bad. Mine works better than this.