[brainchild2b]

I'm watching a streaming video conference right now from iChat AV. I'm blown away. The person uploading the video to me is on low-grade broadband (22k/sec) upload max. He streaming Jurassic Park from his TV right now. It's good enough for me to be caught up in watching the movie. VIDEO CONFERENCING is just that unbelievable good!

Apple needs to ad an option that lets me stream my screen. It simply records my screen and streams it as a video conference. Imagine the possibilities! I can finally show somebody how to do something without explaining for an hour, so much cool possibilities.


Somebody either write a hack to do this or Apple step up to it!

Please tell Apple this, feel free to copy and paste this to let them know quicker...

http://www.apple.com/feedback/

[ShotgunEd]

ARD (Apple Remote Desktop) does this to an extent. With the Observe mode you can see whats happenning on other peoples screens.

But I get your idea, streaming like that in iChat would be pretty good, im not sure its a "Killer Feature or anything but its good.

I actually was going to watch Commando streamed but didnt get around to it in the end.

[tooki]

With both Netopia's Timbuktu, and Apple's own Remote Desktop being commercial products, it's unlikely they'd add that. (There is vnc, but again, since Apple makes a commercial competitor to that, I doubt they'd start giving it away.)

tooki

[eno]

Originally posted by brainchild2b:

Apple needs to ad an option that lets me stream my screen. It simply records my screen and streams it as a video conference.

[be nice and play well with other people]

[mism]

what a constructive response, and from an 'elite' member too.

[sideus]

Originally posted by eno:
*snip*

That was uncalled for.

[ShotgunEd]

certainly was uncalled for.

Besides, it may only take ten minutes, the code is already written for ARD, adding a quick interface in iChat that calls the same routines as ARD wouldnt take too long, maybe not ten minutes but I dont exactly think Brainchild was being literal.

[JKT]

DIY - wouldn't it only take a minute to point your web-cam at your screen instead?

[Developer]

Originally posted by JKT:
DIY - wouldn't it only take a minute to point your web-cam at your screen instead?

Oh man, why didn't we think of that before?!
You're a genius.

[Lew]

Originally posted by tooki:
With both Netopia's Timbuktu, and Apple's own Remote Desktop being commercial products, it's unlikely they'd add that. (There is vnc, but again, since Apple makes a commercial competitor to that, I doubt they'd start giving it away.)

tooki

Could be possible in 10.3 as it has the ARD server included in the sharing prefs

[ShotgunEd]

I wasnt sure whether ARD was included because I had ARD before installing Panther.

[JLL]

Originally posted by GFive:
Could be possible in 10.3 as it has the ARD server included in the sharing prefs

No, it has the ARD client.

[Adam Betts]

Originally posted by eno:
*snip*

The last line was a little over-do but other than that I agree with ya.

[mitchell_pgh]

Originally posted by JLL:
No, it has the ARD client.

Seriously? So I can look at someone elses screen or just be watched by a server (I can never remember how that works)

If Windows has it for free, so should we...

[JLL]

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
Seriously? So I can look at someone elses screen or just be watched by a server (I can never remember how that works)

You need the Remote Destop app to connect to the clients.

[tikki]

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
If Windows has it for free, so should we...

Windows has it for free if you buy WindowsXP Professional. Most users get their PCs with the Home edition, because its cheaper.

Heck, the only reason I have WindowsXP Pro installed is because its the version Purdue sells to us through the Campus Agreement.

I don't really think Apple needs to include this with every version of MacOS X. Building in the client is a good idea, however. An ideal solution imo would be to include the Remote Desktop application and include it with your xServe or copy of MacOS X Server.

[midwinter]

The feature Apple needs to make certain is in there is conferencing with multiple people in your buddy list. Until the thing can do multiple audio-chats at once (i.e. conference calling) it's not going to take off for business folks.

[Lew]

Originally posted by JLL:
No, it has the ARD client.

What definition of 'client' are you using, btw? Do you mean the software to connect to other machines or to allow other machines to connect to it (like the MS Remote Desktop client)? If it's the former then what's the checkbox on the sharing prefs for? I thought it was like WinXP's 'Allow users to connect remotely to this computer' checkbox in System Properties.

[JLL]

Originally posted by GFive:
What definition of 'client' are you using, btw? Do you mean the software to connect to other machines or to allow other machines to connect to it (like the MS Remote Desktop client)?

To allow others to connect to the machine.

[dfiler]

Sorry, but my vote goes for ALL developer time being spent on interoperability with other IM networks.

Video conferencing is great, but would you use a phone that can only talk to 1% of the population?

Priorities.

[JLL]

Originally posted by dfiler:
Sorry, but my vote goes for ALL developer time being spent on interoperability with other IM networks.

Video conferencing is great, but would you use a phone that can only talk to 1% of the population?

Priorities.

Apple is hoping that others will use the same standard as they do.

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

Meh, remote desktop, if not use this for other lessons:

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/products/broadcaster/

[nelliott]

Remote desktop applications simply instruct the client what to draw don't they? They certainly don't work at all well for watching movies remotely (if that's what you wanted to do).

[dfiler]

Originally posted by JLL:
Apple is hoping that others will use the same standard as they do.

So do I, it seems to offer the best quality.

Yet the compatability point is still quite valid. Selling an incompatible phone in this day and age is pretty strange at best. The IM industry has gotten away without a standard communication format because the client apps are free.

If apple sold a high fidelity telephone that was only compatible with apple systems... well, you get the idea.

[Lew]

Originally posted by JLL:
To allow others to connect to the machine.

Then we're talking about the same thing

To me, that's a server (albeit a cut-down one like XP's cut-down version of Terminal Services) and the client is the software you use to connect.

[Arkham_c]

Originally posted by dfiler:
Sorry, but my vote goes for ALL developer time being spent on interoperability with other IM networks.

Video conferencing is great, but would you use a phone that can only talk to 1% of the population?

Well, for once Apple is with the majority. AIM + ICQ is definitely the dominant player in the IM market. I tried to find some statistics, but the quotes on the net are all over the map (from suggesting AIM has twice the share as the others to suggesting it only has 30% more than MSN).

At least if Apple isn't going to interoperate, they picked the most popular one.

The real truth is that users should be pushing AOL to interoperate, not Apple.

I don't personally care about video conferencing, but at my company we spend big bucks on audio conference lines. If Apple would add support for multiple-user audio conferences, that might actually be a selling point for Macs.

[JLL]

Originally posted by GFive:
Then we're talking about the same thing

To me, that's a server (albeit a cut-down one like XP's cut-down version of Terminal Services) and the client is the software you use to connect.

There is no ARD server, and the client is called a client because ARD can do much more than control other machines (install software among other things).

[Lew]

I guess I've been using MS Remote Desktop too much

[brainchild2b]

Apple's remote desktop sucks at "watching" compared to ichat. ichat video is super fast. And in theory i could use it to show other windows users.

Besides way more people have iChat and IM clients than ARD.

[OwlBoy]

Well, I dunno, it is quite prossesor intensive to capture the screen in motion, while doing other things no less, and then encodeing that capture also, just look how much CPU time it takes when the video camera is doing the captureing part, and the comp just has to encode and send!

You would need G5's or better to be able to do this. (with the quality you think it would provide)


Though, this is based on what I have seen of Snapz Pro speed, and current video compression, Apple could speed it up, but that would mean another codec for iChat to use etc etc. (more compatability problems).

Though I agree, it would be frickn awsome.

-Owl

[ctbritt]

Someone up there nailed the solution. Take the iSight off the computer and just point it at the screen. Works great. very simple... Apple even includes three stands with the iSight and the one for the iMac/eMac is a freestanding one that sits on a flat surface. Just pop it on that and you don't even have to hold the camera.

Why complicate things? (It'd be neat, yeah, but I can think of much better things for Apple to work on.)

[fireside]

Originally posted by dfiler:
Sorry, but my vote goes for ALL developer time being spent on interoperability with other IM networks.

Video conferencing is great, but would you use a phone that can only talk to 1% of the population?

Priorities.

apple should focus on being able to make it so that mac users can video/audio conference with windows users. if i recall correctly, you can only audio chat with other users of iChat AV. which isnt cool, not at all

[brainchild2b]

What's windows?

[joltguy]

Originally posted by brainchild2b:
What's windows?

From an unknown source:

Windows 95: n. a 32 bit patch to a 16 bit hack to an 8 bit operating system, originally coded for a 4 bit microprocessor, by a 2 bit company that can't stand 1 bit of competition.
Windows 98: n. see Windows 95
Windows ME: n. see Windows 95
Windows 2000: n. an attempt by a 2 bit company to put forth a stable version of a 32 bit patch to a 16 bit hack to an 8 bit operating system, originally coded for a 4 bit microprocessor.
Windows XP: n. an attempt by a 2 bit company to duplicate a competitor's highly intuitive interface while maintaining the same stability of a 32 bit patch to a 16 bit hack to an 8 bit operating system, originally coded for a 4 bit microprocessor.

Yep, that about covers it.

[frownyfrank]

I had the same thought when I first tried it. Sure, there's other apps, but this would be great for business use. And I'm thinking Apple wouldn't mind encouraging *that*. Maybe iChat AV 2 or 3.

Technically speaking, since the iChat video window is 640x480 or something, it'd be cool to have a box you could drag around your screen, at the fixed 4:3 ratio, that you could scale larger or smaller, to fit more or less of your screen into it. Similar to the interface they provide when you add an image of yourself to iChat.

Or, even easier: I'm a designer, and I'd love to at least just drag an image onto the video menu (such as those supported in text-only chats) and be able to do some rudimentary drawing on it (perhaps like those cool transparent red circles that used to popup in OS 9's "show me how" dialogs). Perhaps with a the nice shelf like the one provided when you have multiple pictures/document pages in Preview.

OK, they probably won't do this... But if some iChat AV programmer got bored one night. Real bored. And felt like. Y'know. Working. Um. Nevermind.

And some other clearly MISSING iLife-iChat AV features: Why can't we pick an iTunes song as a soundtrack to our video chat? How about throwing up some karaoke lyrics?

Or how about adding an iMovie timeline so that you could record your response, play it back to yourself and edit it before you send it and make an ass out of yourself? Or at least add some sweet glows around your head or some bullet-time. The Ken Burns Effect™ could add a weight and importance to your words as it pans and zooms over images from the last five minutes of staring monotonously at the screen. Or maybe your dog.

See, Apple just doesn't try do they! C'mon, this would take 10 minutes tops. 15 if Avie's doing it.

Remember how the first flip-open case was supposedly invented by some Apple janitor? What've they been up to lately? Surely they could pull up some XCode and get codin' inbetween mopping and sweeping; "Fix and Continue?" That's nothing new for a janitor!

[msuper69]

Originally posted by midwinter:
The feature Apple needs to make certain is in there is conferencing with multiple people in your buddy list. Until the thing can do multiple audio-chats at once (i.e. conference calling) it's not going to take off for business folks.

That would be iChat AV Pro. Coming soon for $79US.

[moki]

Originally posted by brainchild2b:
Somebody either write a hack to do this or Apple step up to it!

Snapz Pro X can do this right now, but depending on your machine, the speed may not be up to par. The good news, though, is that we've been slaving away on a very major update to it that absolutely blows it away in terms of video capture performance. Have a look:

http://www.ambrosiasw.com/webboard/F...ML/000003.html

[barbarian]

adding streaming of the screen is a great idea. I will send in feeback on this right away. It certainly would be much more convenient than installing remote desktop and it would give much much better resolution than pointing the camera at the screen.

[Michaelm8000]

Originally posted by brainchild2b:
I'm watching a streaming video conference right now from iChat AV. I'm blown away. The person uploading the video to me is on low-grade broadband (22k/sec) upload max. He streaming Jurassic Park from his TV right now. It's good enough for me to be caught up in watching the movie. VIDEO CONFERENCING is just that unbelievable good!

Apple needs to ad an option that lets me stream my screen. It simply records my screen and streams it as a video conference. Imagine the possibilities! I can finally show somebody how to do something without explaining for an hour, so much cool possibilities.


Somebody either write a hack to do this or Apple step up to it!

Please tell Apple this, feel free to copy and paste this to let them know quicker...

http://www.apple.com/feedback/

I was thinking that same thing the other day. Apple really should do this. I keep sending people screenshots wail I am talking to them in a iSight chat. It would be so great if I could just let them see my screen. Great for calibration and tech support.

[michaelb]

Originally posted by joltguy:
From an unknown source:

Windows 95: n. a 32 bit patch to a 16 bit hack to an 8 bit operating system, originally coded for a 4 bit microprocessor, by a 2 bit company that can't stand 1 bit of competition.
Windows 98: n. see Windows 95
Windows ME: n. see Windows 95
Windows 2000: n. an attempt by a 2 bit company to put forth a stable version of a 32 bit patch to a 16 bit hack to an 8 bit operating system, originally coded for a 4 bit microprocessor.
Windows XP: n. an attempt by a 2 bit company to duplicate a competitor's highly intuitive interface while maintaining the same stability of a 32 bit patch to a 16 bit hack to an 8 bit operating system, originally coded for
a 4 bit microprocessor.

Yep, that about covers it.

That's funny!

Needs updating for Longhorn. How about:

Windows Longhorn: n. an attempt by a 2 bit company to catch up to a peerless company by ripping off Quartz Extreme and other features long since implemented in a decent OS.
.
.

About the iSight / iChatAV screen-sharing thing: is the resolution of the iChat viewer window high enough to show a full screen? (I use a 20" Cinema Display.)

Maybe having an option to constrain it to a region, as Snapz Pro allows, would do the trick.

Why doesn't Apple just team up with Moki to implement this feature! Give him an early release G5 for his trouble.