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Using iChat between a PB & iMac

V

Vanilla

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 19, 2002
589
0
Atlanta, GA
Hi
So here's the problem:

I have one .mac account.
I have an iMac at home
I also have a PowerBook which I use for home and work.
The iMac and the PowerBook both have iSight
I'm going to go abroad for a while on an assignment and would like to video iChat with my wife.
Is there any way I can do this?

I looked at Bonjour which seemed to suggest that both computers could access the same .Mac account and communicate and it does work but only if they are on the same network.

I tried opening an AIM account and suffixed "PB" on my name to distinguish it but I think I can only IM chat to this from the iMac and I really want to video chat.

Is there a way I can get one more .mac email address without paying for the family pack which seems a excessive for my needs?

If my query has an obvious answer then I apologise in advance, I just can't see the wood for the trees at the moment.

cheers
Vanilla
 
Yes, the free trial seems to be the way to go, plus I think you "keep" the .Mac member name after that (although I'm surprised that AIM names are "text-only" for you, as I regularly iChat with AIM/PC-using friends and family).

In any event, I highly recommend testing the setup from outside your house to verify that it works prior to going away - this might be of help.
 
iChat will at the very least to audio through AIM accounts. I don't have a web cam so I don't know about video but I though it worked with AIM as well.
 
First: do both machines meet the minimum hardware specs for video chat? (600+Mhz G3, or any G4 or G5)
Second: do both locations have the minimum internet speed? (100kbps up AND down)
Also, make sure you add the respective screen names to the proper buddy list (PB screen name on the iMac, and vice versa).
 
Thanx for the advice. So it looks like taking the trial option is the way to go and hope that at the end of it I get to keep the @mac.com email address.

I can access the AIM account I set up but it only allows instant txt messaging unfortunately, which is not what I was looking for.

Finally yes, both machines are capable of video conferencing and I use both for this task regularly, its just that this is the first time when I needed to video conference between them.

It does seem a little odd that what I am asking for is not easily available, but hopefully this trial technique will work for me.

Vanilla
 
buy another username/email on you .MAC

My wife has a .Mac and she paid $10 to give her mother an email, her mother has her own name@mac.com and we do ichat with them all the time, it cost $10 a year per extra email
 
You can do video chat with an AIM account using iChat. I do it all the time and have the same setup as you. I have a PB and an iSight iMac at home.
 
ChrisFromCanada said:
I always do Video chatting iChat to iChat with both parties using a an AIM account it should be no problem for you, as stated by native00.
Click to expand...
Same here. Have you added the aim screen name to your iChat buddy list. Or are you trying to interoperate b/w iChat and the aim client? iChat works with aim screen names in addition to .mac ones, and they both are capable of full video chats. I vid-chat with my sister all the time, and neither of us have .mac screen names
 
Yeah...

.Mac is not the same as iChat. In fact, neither of them need each other to be able to function. iChat is a PROGRAM that uses either .Mac or AIM protocol to work. As long as both computers are running iChat, with separate .Mac or AIM (or one of each) and both meet the system requirements, you should be fine.
 
appleretailguy said:
.Mac is not the same as iChat. In fact, neither of them need each other to be able to function. iChat is a PROGRAM that uses either .Mac or AIM protocol to work. As long as both computers are running iChat, with separate .Mac or AIM (or one of each) and both meet the system requirements, you should be fine.
Click to expand...

Hi
So firstly thank you and everyone else for the advice its much appreciated.

I setup an AIM account, logged into iChat on my PB using this and verified that I could Instant Message chat with my iMac that was logged in using my .Mac account. So far so good.

I then bought another iSight for the PB and tried to video chat.

The problem I now have is that I am getting two-way video but only one-way audio (from iMac to PB, not vice-versa) !!

iChats on both machines are set to microphone and camera enabled and both are set to using the internal microphone. I'm at a complete loss really.

The only difference I can think of is that when I plugged in the new iSight into my PB it said it had found some new software for the iSight and would I like to download it and I said yes. When I do a software update search on my iMac however I dont pick anything up.

Both machines are running 10.4.4

Any suggestions?

Vanilla
 
Okay, so I've done some further tests:

1. Switched iSight cameras between the PB and iMac, got the same one-way audio, from the iMac to PB but not vice-versa.

2. Setup a Trial .Mac account and logged into iChat on the PB with the new account, so now both machines are logged into iChat using .Mac accounts. Still got the same one-way audio problem.

3. Checked in preferences/Video on the PB and alternated between internal microphone and iSight built-in but still no change (interestingly I do NOT get an option for using the iSight built-in on the iMac)

So I'm stumped. If I was out of town with my PB I'd be able to see my family through iChat, they'd be able to hear me but I couldn't hear them....any ideas??

Vanilla
PS: Final thought is the software update my PB asked to download when I installed the iSight...I just do not know how to tell what version I downloaded to know which one to wind back to...
 
Are you doing this all at home? You might be experiencing router issues - packets might not appropriately be going to the right systems (see link I posted way at the top of this thread).

You might want to try this via an external connection, as that's going to more properly mimic your travel environment.
 
jsw said:
Are you doing this all at home? You might be experiencing router issues - packets might not appropriately be going to the right systems (see link I posted way at the top of this thread).

You might want to try this via an external connection, as that's going to more properly mimic your travel environment.
Click to expand...

Hi
Yeah I am doing this at home via my wireless network. My wife has the PB downstairs and I'm upstairs with the iMac. She can hear me and see me but I can only see her, not hear her, which on occasion is not a bad feature ;-) but for this particular task its a real pain.

It would be pretty sad if we couldnt do this anyway, as sometimes it would be nice to be able to video chat when we are doing stuff at opposite ends of the house/I'm in the garden etc...not that we have a huge house of course but the option to do this would be nice.

vanilla
 
Okay so I found out how to check what firmware revision I'm on for the iSight and both are on 1.0.3 so that scuppers that thought.

So I'm now left with the theory that you cant video conference on the same network.....it just doesnt sound right somehow...

vanilla
 
I have video conferenced with a family member in the same house, and also you can do a video conference in the Apple Store's with other machine in the store, so I can guarantee with 100% certainty that you can video chat with people on your network.

Do you have firewalls turned on? It may be that the video and audio data are sent on different ports and the firewall is letting the video through, but not the voice.
 
So next test I did was I fired up iMovie on the PB an recorded a video clip of me talking from the iSight camera and played it back just confirm that the microphone was actually working. It was/is.

I've actually turned the firewire off on both the PB and the iMac but that hasnt resolved it either.

So to summarise
Both iSights are firmware 1.0.3
I am using iChat on both machines
I am using .Mac accounts on both machines
Both iSights appear individually to be working fine for both audio and video
When I try to video conference between them audio from the PB is not getting across to the iMac, only the iMac audio is getting to the PB.

I dont have much hair but what I have is now all kind of clumpy....

Vanilla
 
stoid said:
I have video conferenced with a family member in the same house, and also you can do a video conference in the Apple Store's with other machine in the store, so I can guarantee with 100% certainty that you can video chat with people on your network.

Do you have firewalls turned on? It may be that the video and audio data are sent on different ports and the firewall is letting the video through, but not the voice.
Click to expand...

Thats what I thought really so cheers for confirming that. Yes I have turned the firewalls off but no joy..sigh

I might just try the old system support technique of rebooting both machines.....
 
I've had my PowerBook for about 2 and a half years now, and rebooting has NEVER solved a problem.

At any rate, one more idea (I don't think you mentioned checking this). I found that sometimes iChat won't default to the iSight's microphone.

Double-check the iChat preferences just to make sure that the microphone that it's using is the iSight's microphone and not the built-in mic on your PowerBook.
 
Okay so you're not going to believe this....
I finally decide to give in and do some other stuff, I fire up iTunes and automatically go to the right-hand creature speaker to crank up the volume and in that split-instant I realise I've been a complete eejit...sigh...

Yep, I wasnt hearing anything out of the iMac because the internal speakers are disabled by the creature speakers and their volume was down really low.

Problem over, cue red face, overwhelming embarrassment and mumbled "I think I've cracked it" to the wife.

So anyway, thanks for all the advice, I'm off to drown my embarrassment down the pub
ciao
Vanilla
 
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