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krove · Feb 5, 2004, 01:17 PM

A public beta has been put out for iChat AV for interoperability with a new beta of AIM 5.5 for Windows.

Eat them up:
http://www.apple.com/ichat/
http://www.aim.com/

dwishbone · Feb 5, 2004, 01:20 PM

as i said in the official comments...

HOT DAMN!!!!

typoon · Feb 5, 2004, 01:27 PM

Awesome!!!!!

Or as some might Say Awesome Yo!!!

Kenneth · Feb 5, 2004, 01:28 PM

Installed and reboot!
Frankly speaking, none of my Windows buddies own webcams.

krove · Feb 5, 2004, 01:33 PM

Originally posted by Kenneth:
Installed and reboot!
Frankly speaking, none of my Windows buddies own webcams.

Rest assured...they will in time, once they discover the power of video conferencing made easy. (Hopefully the AIM for Windows beta is relatively simple � la iChat to setup for conferencing.)

typoon · Feb 5, 2004, 01:38 PM

Does Video work as well as audio?

gorickey · Feb 5, 2004, 01:48 PM

Thanks Apple!

mitchell_pgh · Feb 5, 2004, 01:53 PM

VERY cool... can't wait to go home and try it out with my friends...

Ratm · Feb 5, 2004, 02:04 PM

Originally posted by typoon:
Awesome Yo!

Dapp · Feb 5, 2004, 02:10 PM

does not work here

all ports are open, the windows user just can't connect to me

Rumor Addict · Feb 5, 2004, 02:12 PM

Well I just tried it out and here are my results... keep in mind this is beta:

My friend was on a PC using AOL 9.0, not AOL IM 5.5. When we tried to connect the first time AOL had to download a package and install it.

Everything from the mac side looks and feels the same as far as connecting , resizing the window etc. We established connection without any problem whatso ever. Video was not as good as Mac to Mac. I have a 450mhz Cube so I am limited to 15 fps mac to mac but i was only getting 10 fps to the PC. I am not limited in bandwidth because I have a 5 megabit connection. So I had plenty of room left.

The person I was speaking with has a logictech USB camera and the image was bright to the point of being a bit washed out. Audio worked quite well and the video motion was good. However, after 5mins 30 secs the video coming from the PC would freeze. The audio continued and he continued to hear and see me but I could not see him. We would reconnect and it would work for another 5mins 30 secs.

The PC person mentioned they couldnt resize the image window nor could they move the PIP preview of themselves. I dont know if this is not possible or if they just couldnt figure it out.

Also, when we would connect, I would have an AOL "warning"

lable at the bottom of the video feed from my friend for about 5 seconds that would then go away.

All in all it worked well for a beta.

-Q- · Feb 5, 2004, 02:14 PM

It wouldn't install for me b/c 'iChat was not found in /Applications'.

Sigh.

When is Apple going to stop doing that? It's not a big deal, but boy do I find that annoying...

AppleCello · 02:22 PM

same for me, its a no go with a pc-user friend of mine.

no idea...

just cant connect. it makes the connection and says "beginning of videochat" whatever it says, then gets an error saying the pc didnt respond...

EDIT: ok he relaunched that app and that worked. cool.

Patrick

brapper · Feb 5, 2004, 02:28 PM

alright, this might sound like a stupid question, but is audio only chatting supported?
I would assume so, yet i haven't been able to find anything referring to it....
(also, im on a windows computer for the first time in quite awhile 'cause im at the school library...anyway, the forums look like ****.)

Ratm · Feb 5, 2004, 02:49 PM

Originally posted by -Q-:
When is Apple going to stop doing that? It's not a big deal, but boy do I find that annoying...

Thats the power of *niX baby!

Wiskedjak · Feb 5, 2004, 03:03 PM

Originally posted by krove:
Rest assured...they will in time, once they discover the power of video conferencing made easy. (Hopefully the AIM for Windows beta is relatively simple � la iChat to setup for conferencing.)

Except, of course, Windows had video conferencing software LONG before Macs did.

Rumor Addict · Feb 5, 2004, 03:08 PM

WARNING BIG BUG IN THE BETA!!!!

I am text chatting with 3 people right now and I keep getting this message:

The AIM service could not send the message: You have sent too much data too quickly. Please wait a little while before sending more.

That should ONLY happen when you message the same person repeatedly but it is happened based on all my messages combined!!

I have submitted it to the feedback page for iChat

Tweed · Feb 5, 2004, 03:10 PM

Yes. Net Meeting (for one) has been around for some time.
And it's worked pretty well.

But I must say, this is great timing.

I just received my Powerbook and iSight in the mail last week.
My family is on AOL.
And I live several states away from them all...timing is everything.

Now I just need to get them up to speed.

What will PC users need to download in order to get this to work?
(I just downloaded the apple beta for myself)

conny · Feb 5, 2004, 03:27 PM

I have broadband but my parents have not, and some others. Can I video chat with other people on modem? iChat-iChat and iChat-AOL? I know it didn't owrk with iChat 2, but I was hoping for this to work with iChat 2.1. Anybody tested this?

Eug · Feb 5, 2004, 03:28 PM

I'd try it but I don't want AOL software anywhere near my PC.

Ratm · Feb 5, 2004, 03:38 PM

Originally posted by Wiskedjak:
Except, of course, Windows had video conferencing software LONG before Macs did.

No one ever said they didn't

but what they don't have is the easy setup and little to no configuration required to vid chat.

(Hopefully the AIM for Windows beta is relatively simple � la iChat to setup for conferencing.)

Cadaver · Feb 5, 2004, 04:02 PM

This is good news for me.
I have a sister who uses a Dell laptop (yech!), and she's been unable to video chat with our parents who live out of state.

I, on the other hand, have no problems since I made sure to set them up with iChatAV and an iSight camera

fulmer · Feb 5, 2004, 04:03 PM

Originally posted by conny:
I have broadband but my parents have not, and some others. Can I video chat with other people on modem? iChat-iChat and iChat-AOL? I know it didn't owrk with iChat 2, but I was hoping for this to work with iChat 2.1. Anybody tested this?

There's no point in getting it to work--dial-up is waaaay to slow for video. By the time your parents downloaded 5 seconds of video for display, you'd be 30 minutes further into the conversation (and even then I have serious doubts about audio on dial-up, too).

badtz · Feb 5, 2004, 04:14 PM

Originally posted by Rumor Addict:
WARNING BIG BUG IN THE BETA!!!!

I am text chatting with 3 people right now and I keep getting this message:

The AIM service could not send the message: You have sent too much data too quickly. Please wait a little while before sending more.

That should ONLY happen when you message the same person repeatedly but it is happened based on all my messages combined!!

I have submitted it to the feedback page for iChat

Same here!

otherwise, great!!

mitchell_pgh · Feb 5, 2004, 04:28 PM

Originally posted by fulmer:
There's no point in getting it to work--dial-up is waaaay to slow for video. By the time your parents downloaded 5 seconds of video for display, you'd be 30 minutes further into the conversation (and even then I have serious doubts about audio on dial-up, too).

Other then voice chat... If you are poor, saving cash or calling internationally, it's the way to go.

mitchell_pgh · Feb 5, 2004, 04:29 PM

Originally posted by Ratm:
No one ever said they didn't but what they don't have is the easy setup and little to no configuration required to vid chat.

1) Step one... plug in iSight (or any firewire digital camera) to computer.

2) Launch iChat

3) There is no step three...

Chris Grande · Feb 5, 2004, 04:40 PM

Still no auto away messages...and still crappy support for profiles. Apple? Hello! Your 93.778% there!

Ratm · Feb 5, 2004, 04:47 PM

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
1) Step one... plug in iSight (or any firewire digital camera) to computer.

2) Launch iChat

3) There is no step three...

Uh....I was referring too the windows config process.

krove · Feb 5, 2004, 04:48 PM

There is no step three!

melman101 · Feb 5, 2004, 05:10 PM

I still have the bug with Animated Icons. Takes my entire CPU process.

Mel

jfischetti · Feb 5, 2004, 05:36 PM

No cross platform audio-only chating -- > Bummer!

What about this?

if a PC AIM 5.5 user has a camera will a camera icon show up in my iChat Buddy List?

Why no Audio only chat???

jhiph · Feb 5, 2004, 06:05 PM

Originally posted by Wiskedjak:
Except, of course, Windows had video conferencing software LONG before Macs did.

Apple released Quicktime Video Conferencing in 1994 - that's right - 1994. Before Windows 95.

badtz · Feb 5, 2004, 06:40 PM

Originally posted by jfischetti:
No cross platform audio-only chating -- > Bummer!

What about this?

if a PC AIM 5.5 user has a camera will a camera icon show up in my iChat Buddy List?

Why no Audio only chat???

is that confirmed that there's no audio-only chat?

conny · Feb 5, 2004, 07:02 PM

Originally posted by fulmer:
There's no point in getting it to work--dial-up is waaaay to slow for video. By the time your parents downloaded 5 seconds of video for display, you'd be 30 minutes further into the conversation (and even then I have serious doubts about audio on dial-up, too).

Well, I do it today with Yahoo. Sure I only get 1 fps. But my parents and my wife's parents are very happy to be able so see their grandson. We live in the states, but they live in Sweden.
I'm well aware of the bandwidth limitations, and that the quality is crappy but they rather see a bad video than nothing at all. So please don't dismiss a feature request when you don't know my needs.

poocat · Feb 5, 2004, 07:47 PM

please someone tell me there's audio only chat!
please.
please.

that's all i could use (no isight/pismo5) and it'd really be rock on for life in foreign countries... no more phone calls!

please.

off to a job interview. test results WELCOME.

poocat.

spiky_dog · Feb 5, 2004, 07:50 PM

Originally posted by jhiph:
Apple released Quicktime Video Conferencing in 1994 - that's right - 1994. Before Windows 95.

and there were 3rd party stream reflector apps before that even. cuseeme for instance.

macintologist · Feb 5, 2004, 08:10 PM

Does this work with audi-only chatting?

Rumor Addict · Feb 5, 2004, 09:04 PM

Originally posted by macintologist:
Does this work with audi-only chatting?

No it does not. The option for audio only chat is greyed out. Only the video option is available.

MistaFreeze · Feb 5, 2004, 09:15 PM

my friend (PC) downloaded the latest AIM. after opening the right ports, he connected to me successfully.

we are able to hear each other, but i can't see him. all i see is a rectangular white window with the mute and fullscreen buttons.

he says he's able to see his own vid feed that he's sending me (i don't ahve a camera) on his end

i also cannot see any audio/video icon next to his name. before i saw a faded audio icon.

CharlesS · Feb 5, 2004, 10:07 PM

Originally posted by fulmer:
There's no point in getting it to work--dial-up is waaaay to slow for video. By the time your parents downloaded 5 seconds of video for display, you'd be 30 minutes further into the conversation (and even then I have serious doubts about audio on dial-up, too).

Audio over dial-up is great with iChat. I've talked to people with 56K modem connections, and I could barely tell the difference.

Audio with AOL's stuff on dial-up, however, was awful last time I tried it (which admittedly was several years ago).

typoon · Feb 5, 2004, 10:15 PM

Originally posted by MistaFreeze:
my friend (PC) downloaded the latest AIM. after opening the right ports, he connected to me successfully.

we are able to hear each other, but i can't see him. all i see is a rectangular white window with the mute and fullscreen buttons.

he says he's able to see his own vid feed that he's sending me (i don't ahve a camera) on his end

i also cannot see any audio/video icon next to his name. before i saw a faded audio icon.

What ports need to be opened?

MistaFreeze · Feb 5, 2004, 10:23 PM

Originally posted by typoon:
What ports need to be opened?

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93208

dwishbone · Feb 5, 2004, 10:44 PM

for the complainers i have two words for ya...
be ta

at least apple and AOL are trying.
i agree it was a bit disappointing not have voice only. that is kinda friggin dumb. ive had the same connection problems with AIM users. no video but audio worked...no audio only connections.
also i get that "too much data sent" or whatever message.
on the plus side the connections for me with ichat work better now. i have direcway and before ichat wouldnt work at all. now it does. kudos apple!
i still havnt successfully connected with video...but audio seems to work ok once its connected.

this is very promising though...and once the bugs are worked out this is gonna be awesome.

typoon · Feb 5, 2004, 11:08 PM

Originally posted by dwishbone:
for the complainers i have two words for ya...
be ta

at least apple and AOL are trying.
i agree it was a bit disappointing not have voice only. that is kinda friggin dumb. ive had the same connection problems with AIM users. no video but audio worked...no audio only connections.
also i get that "too much data sent" or whatever message.
on the plus side the connections for me with ichat work better now. i have direcway and before ichat wouldnt work at all. now it does. kudos apple!
i still havnt successfully connected with video...but audio seems to work ok once its connected.

this is very promising though...and once the bugs are worked out this is gonna be awesome.

I agree. this will be great when it is all worked out

typoon · Feb 5, 2004, 11:58 PM

Not to sound dumb how do I enable the ports to be open? I disabled my firewall software (NetBarrier) and then I tried to enable some of the ports it says. Just not sure how to do this

Moonray · Feb 6, 2004, 01:19 AM

Originally posted by Rumor Addict:
WARNING BIG BUG IN THE BETA!!!!

I am text chatting with 3 people right now and I keep getting this message:

The AIM service could not send the message: You have sent too much data too quickly. Please wait a little while before sending more.

That should ONLY happen when you message the same person repeatedly but it is happened based on all my messages combined!!

I have submitted it to the feedback page for iChat

That is not a big bug but you overloading the system with three simultaneous streams.

-

yoyoman · Feb 6, 2004, 01:58 AM

didnt work with freinds windos machine.

CharlesS · Feb 6, 2004, 04:11 AM

Originally posted by Moonray:
That is not a big bug but you overloading the system with three simultaneous streams.

-

I agree. Something that would qualify as a WARNING BIG BUG!!! would be something that caused file corruption, data loss, erased your hard drive, etc. This is just an annoyance.

ginoledesma · Feb 6, 2004, 04:55 AM

Originally posted by fulmer:
There's no point in getting it to work--dial-up is waaaay to slow for video. By the time your parents downloaded 5 seconds of video for display, you'd be 30 minutes further into the conversation (and even then I have serious doubts about audio on dial-up, too).

You really need broadand to get video conferencing going. But not so for audio (at least broadband-broadband isn't necessary). Last Christmas I had an audio chat with a friend. I was on 43.3Kbps dial-up (using a 56Kbps modem) and my friend was using broadband. The audio chat was crystal clear, and delays were negligible. Then just a few weeks ago I did another audio-chat with a dial-up user (this time I was on Cable -- about 256Kbps). Again, crystal clear, but the volume could've been louder. I have yet to try a 2-way dial-up connection, but there might be hope for that.

ginoledesma · Feb 6, 2004, 04:57 AM

Some people are reporting that AOL->iChat connections are fine but iChat->AOL can be somewhat troublesome. A friend of mine experimented with his connection (both PC and Mac being on the same network).

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P.S. 250th post in ~4 years!!!