Mac <---Voice&Video Chat---> PC

[jchang]

Some say AIM some even say just buy an isight.

Right now me and my gf(long distance, very hard)use a program
called iVisit, and this software just sucks.
There is a time limit on the video chat and the voice quality is so
bad(it makes us angry because we're like What? WHAT? WHAT!!!)
that we just rather type chat.

With AIM, I used iChat and she used AIM. But I don't know
if she couldn't set the settings right or it is just not compatible.

We tried Yahoo messenger but we couldn't even find out how
we can voice and video chat with each other

Is there any messenger out there simple, fast and free like MSN?



Please help us out and let us save $$ on LD phone cards.

 

[haiggy]

I am in the same boat, although my girlfriend is an hour away and -- 9 more days until I can drive. W00t! She uses AIM, and I use iChat with a USB Webcam and the iChatUSBCam application that allows iChat to use USB cameras. I know that Mercury Messenger (formerly dMSN?) is going to support webcam on the mac so you might be able to use it with her on MSN some time soon.


Edit: If you want voice chat, you can both download Skype. www.skype.com

 

[Colonel Panik]

I wish that Apple would make iChat for PC. That way they'd shift millions of iSights and those of us who need to do the cross-over communication thing could.

 

[FelixDerKater]

It would be nice if AOL would just give us a full-featured AIM client. They haven't done hardly any major updates since OS X first came out.

 

[tace]

?

Skype works great for voice chat and its free. If she has AIM and broadband there is no reason why you can't do Video Conferencing using iChat and iSight. I do this regularly with my brother in Europe. He is using XP. There is also a third software that I used a few times that was also pretty good for cross platform Video Conferencing but I can't find its name.

 

[emw]

I've also used iChat (Mac) with AIM (PC) to do voice and video chats with my brother. It works reasonably well, although apparently the AIM resolution on the PC side is a little weak, so she won't be able to see you as well as you see her (is that a good thing? ).

I haven't used any other chat software on the Mac because I haven't had to. I'd encourage you to check the settings on AIM to make sure it is correct, because it really does work. What are the symptoms for the bad connection you're getting with AIM? Does it not connect at all? Only do voice? I can try and find out some more details from my brother on how he has it set up if that would help.

 

[johnnyjibbs]

Currently Mac to PC:

Voice only - use Skype (http://www.skype.com)
Video - use iChat AV and AIM 5.5 for Windows XP (Mac must have a camera attached).

One day we'll get iChat AV/AIM voice only chat (coming in Tiger I believe) and MSN video (we can dream).

 

[johnnyjibbs]

It would be nice if AOL would just give us a full-featured AIM client. They haven't done hardly any major updates since OS X first came out.

I doubt they'll bother now that we have iChat. Who would use AIM's hideous interface when you have the elegance of iChat?

 

[Baron58]

Please help us out and let us save $$ on LD phone cards.

Mac:
iChat, an iSight (for video), and Logitech USB 300 Headset

Windows:
Trillian Pro ($50) if you want video, or Trillian Basic ($0) if you just want audio.
www.trillian.cc
Logitech QuickCam 4000 (for video)
Logitech 300 USB headset.

Both:
set up AIM accounts to use with iChat on the Mac and Trillian on Windows.

Done.