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iChat vs. Skype video/audio quality

Diatribe

Diatribe

macrumors 601
Original poster
Jan 8, 2004
4,258
46
Back in the motherland
Is it just me or does Skype have the superior audio and video quality?
Whenever I do some audio or video chatting it seems subjectively better than iChat. (Both on a Mac tried close after one another.)

Anyone have similar experiences?



Edit: Wrong forum. If someone could please move that to Mac Apps please.
 
i never find friend on AIM, so no idea, but i can compare skype video/audio to my pc's MSN video conference.

I did noticed skype's video conference give more bandwidth to video transfer. just a feeling.
 
Diatribe said:
Is it just me or does Skype have the superior audio and video quality?
Whenever I do some audio or video chatting it seems subjectively better than iChat. (Both on a Mac tried close after one another.)

Anyone have similar experiences?



Edit: Wrong forum. If someone could please move that to Mac Apps please.
Click to expand...

how video is transfered is different between tha apps network and I believe codec wise as well. Although, I agree it is subjective. Might also be difference in cams as well.
 
superbovine said:
how video is transfered is different between tha apps network and I believe codec wise as well. Although, I agree it is subjective. Might also be difference in cams as well.
Click to expand...


The thing is though, I have tested this with the same person on both apps. And Skype really has the clearer, louder voice quality and the video didn't seem to have as many artifacts.
 
Voice in iChat is low and dull - would be nice if you could amplify it.

Video.. well as long as you're not on a G4-machine Skype might be better. I've never done the comparision on newer machines, but on older machines Skype is bad and hangs, while iChat is great! :)
 
Maybe people need to read the info on the skype site.. skype-to-skype is free. Skype-to-telephone calls within the US and Canada will be free till this Dec 31. After that, its $29.99 for one year.. unlimited calling (or $15 if you sign up before january 31) That's almost free if you ask me.
 
Skype is still a free application. He's (been) complaining that Skype's one-time offer of free long calls to the U.S.A. and Canada has been finished, as they said it would be originally.

Skype is much, much better for voice quality and reliability than iChat is. iChat seems a fragile application except for text chatting.

iChat currently has better video quality but once again, the connection is dodgy. I hope that the people developing Skype settle on how to do the video so that it's clear and doesn't require maximum CPU time to do it nicely.
 
Music_Producer said:
Maybe people need to read the info on the skype site.. skype-to-skype is free. Skype-to-telephone calls within the US and Canada will be free till this Dec 31. After that, its $29.99 for one year.. unlimited calling (or $15 if you sign up before january 31) That's almost free if you ask me.
Click to expand...

Wow! That's a great offer! I wish they did that in Norway too. Here it's pay-per-minute. I've got to recommend this offer to a few friends, though..
 
quigleybc said:
Skype is way better at everything IMO
Click to expand...

I use both of them, and iChat has much better video (smoother, higher framerates) than Skype, and also launches much faster (two icon bounces for iChat vs many, many for Skype). The only thing that Skype is better is the voice quality, it always beats iChat regardless of the connection speed. Video in Skype is IMO worse, though.
 
i use both, but mainly skype. My wife travels a lot and we video chat.. MBP to MBP.. iChat sometimes wont connect, or when it does, it's horrible and choppy, due to the initial connection speed checking iChat does perhaps...

skype just seems to work, and well.

iChat, on a great connection, is flawless, and smooth.. h.264 to the rescue!
 
g-7 said:
I use both of them, and iChat has much better video (smoother, higher framerates) than Skype, and also launches much faster (two icon bounces for iChat vs many, many for Skype). The only thing that Skype is better is the voice quality, it always beats iChat regardless of the connection speed. Video in Skype is IMO worse, though.
Click to expand...

Just a question: what processor do you have?

It would be nice if people complaining on Skype video quality would specify their processor, as Skype video for G4-processors is deliberately crippled.
 
Skype just sounds so much clearer and louder than iChat it's not even funny. Apple should really do something about that. I just tested it again and with Skype I can actually do something else in the room and talk with the person while with iChat I have to sit in front of my notebook to hear what the other person is saying.
 
Poff said:
Just a question: what processor do you have?

It would be nice if people complaining on Skype video quality would specify their processor, as Skype video for G4-processors is deliberately crippled.
Click to expand...


Hmm Im using both G5 (iMac and PowerMac) and Intel (macbook) and have to admit that both video and audio (especially) is waaaaay better on Skype as compared to iChat. But on the other side Skype tends to crash on me with video on and takes like 80% of CPU.:eek:
 
Poff said:
Just a question: what processor do you have?

It would be nice if people complaining on Skype video quality would specify their processor, as Skype video for G4-processors is deliberately crippled.
Click to expand...

I have iMac G4/800. I know the Skype video resolution is lowered twice on
G4s below 1,5 GHz, I have used Skype beta that didn't have that "feature",
but then it was taking 100% CPU time and was completely unusable.

Sure, on Core Duo it works better, but it says something about the
qualifications of the Skype team. I have seen Skype Video on my friend's
MacBook: after a short while of video chat the fans went mad!

I think they give to much attention to encrypt the Skype code than to
make a good product. So much CPU use for video chat, while iChat can
do the same on my mom's old iMac G3?
 
In my experience I found iChat video to be nicer than Skype's, but the audio in Skype to be noticeably clearer to quite a large degree. Both work quite nicely.
 
In my experience iChat has the better Video/Audio quality by far!

With Skype the Audio quality is really bad, I always hear noises and many times I just cant understand what the other is saying. I live in Germany and have a 6Mbit DSL connection and I communicate with friends in Greece that have less bandwidth (512Kbps!!!) and I am sure this is the cause of all Skype problems. Still, with this bandwidth iChat works great and the audio quality is very good, so is the video one.
 
Diatribe said:
The thing is though, I have tested this with the same person on both apps. And Skype really has the clearer, louder voice quality and the video didn't seem to have as many artifacts.
Click to expand...

well then as i mention before skpye uses a peer to peer technology and different codec than ichat.
 
petvas said:
In my experience iChat has the better Video/Audio quality by far!

With Skype the Audio quality is really bad, I always hear noises and many times I just cant understand what the other is saying. I live in Germany and have a 6Mbit DSL connection and I communicate with friends in Greece that have less bandwidth (512Kbps!!!) and I am sure this is the cause of all Skype problems. Still, with this bandwidth iChat works great and the audio quality is very good, so is the video one.
Click to expand...

I'd say that it's something else because I've now got a mobile phone connection and Skype still sounds good.
 
Music_Producer said:
Maybe people need to read the info on the skype site.. skype-to-skype is free. Skype-to-telephone calls within the US and Canada will be free till this Dec 31. After that, its $29.99 for one year.. unlimited calling (or $15 if you sign up before january 31) That's almost free if you ask me.
Click to expand...


calling phones was the best part for me though..and I loved that it was free...:p

oh well. 30 beans a year is good. check that, 15 beans

thanks for the tip about the early sign up
 
iChat's video quality also depends on the host's bandwidth. It does get fuzzy with 4 people though but with 2 its quite good.
 
Wow this IS an old thread. I just tried both with all other factors the same. Same connection to someone else with the same connection... we both used the same camera... the scientific result is... Skype blows compared to iChat... in both the audio and video areas.
 
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