iChat 2 video with iChat 3 users? Possible?

zozo
Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
I was just wondering about video conferencing with some relatives who will probably not be upgrading to Tiger any time soon who have iChat 2 and iSights. What will happen if I want to video conf with them or them with me? Will iChat 3 still use H.263 with older users? Anyone tried this yet?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    confirmedconfirmed Posts: 74member
    i've successfully video conferenced with a windows user. seems to be using the same codec as was being used in panther. i'm not sure if ichat uses h.263 with windows AIM or another codec, but i'd think if they kept compatibility with windows, they'd do the same for panther/ichat 2.
  • Reply 2 of 7
    whiterabbitwhiterabbit Posts: 208member
    Will the new iChat h264 codec require more bandwidth? I don't use a webcam, but I see my roommate chatting with his crappy logitech cam all the time. Not only is the picture quality very bad, but the framerate is like one frame every two seconds, it's horrible.



    In the demos they were doing on Tiger and iChat, their video seemed to be working flawlessly. I know that the iSight is a better quality camera than other webcams, and that h264 allows for higher compression. But still, is that really a realistic representation of the new iChat they were showing? Will it only be that good when chatting with other iChat users? Will someone chatting to me from Windows/AIM be able to see me perfectly, will I get a shitty picture of them in return?
  • Reply 3 of 7
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    H.264 uses no more bandwidth than the current H.263.



    If it looks good now, it'll look great with Tiger.



    FWIW, my mother and I vidchatted from Chapel Hill, NC to Zhuhai, China, with iChat, and it looked pretty darned good. 20fps or so, and the audio was nearly perfect.



    Also, iChat automatically scales the compression up or down as your bandwidth changes to try and keep the frame rate steady. H.264 will just make a slow pipe look better.
  • Reply 4 of 7
    whiterabbitwhiterabbit Posts: 208member
    Wow, that's awsome. I knew iChat was good, but I didn't realize it was that good. So how about when chatting with people who are not using iChat? I have no idea what codec AIM for Windows uses, or if it would support any of that that scaling stuff.
  • Reply 5 of 7
    gsxrboygsxrboy Posts: 565member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Kickaha

    [B]H.264 uses no more bandwidth than the current H.263.



    If it looks good now, it'll look great with Tiger.



    Further to this I have a question, a mate has Tiger (I am still waiting on mine and heres one more to show my displeasure ) but we both have QT7pro. We did a vid chat yesterday and it did seem an improvement in picture quality from the last time we chatted. So even without me being on iChat 3 yet we have benefitted already, does this sound rite? or were we both just dreaming the quality, (oddly enuf I was reporting 20fps at my end and his reporting 15 notes from my connection doctor thingy), would having QT7pro and all the h264 codecs installed already be used in some way by iChat2?
  • Reply 6 of 7
    heaven or las vegasheaven or las vegas Posts: 138member
    If I have the new Tiger ichat, can I initiate a 3-way video conference with two other participants that only have Panther ichat ?
  • Reply 7 of 7
    confirmedconfirmed Posts: 74member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by heaven or las vegas

    If I have the new Tiger ichat, can I initiate a 3-way video conference with two other participants that only have Panther ichat ?



    no. only tiger users can participate in multi-chats. anyone on tiger will have a cascading audio or video icon next to their name, indicating that they're capable of mult-chats. panther or windows user will only have the old single (non-cascading) icon.
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