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From: David Empson on 17 Apr 2010 21:26
John <jwolf6589(a)NOSPAMgmail.com> wrote:

> Did a chat today with someone and it was very nice, and with full screen
> as well. But my questions are.
>
> 1. Would video be faster and smoother if I had been using wired ethernet
> over wifi? Or perhaps the issue really is both connections.

Internet speed seems more likely. Most people have 802.11g or better
WiFi, and that should be able to sustain 20 Mbps or better for most
people. Internet connections are usually slower than that, and iChat
video chats typically operate at much lower data rates: the maximum data
rate is configurable from 100 kbps to 2 Mbps.

Go into iChat > Preferences > Audio/Video and set your bandwidth limit
as high as you willing to use. Both participants need to do this.

I set mine low because Internet traffic in New Zealand is expensive.

> 2. Is iChat the best video conferencing app? Better than Skype and Yahoo
> Messenger?

The best video chat app is the one which everyone involved is able to
use. If someone else can't run iChat (or doesn't have an AIM identity or
MobileMe account) then you will have to use something else.

If you have a choice of several for talking to a particular person, the
next question is what they normally have running, since you can only
"call" them if the software is running.

Given a choice between two or three options, pick the one you find best
to use.

I have a slight preference for iChat over Skype when talking to Mac
users, because it has a bandwidth limit setting for video. Never used
Yahoo Messenger.

> 3. How can iChat users chat with PC users who do not have iChat?

I gather they need to be running a specific version of the AIM client
software, but I've never investigated the details.

--
David Empson
dempson(a)actrix.gen.nz
From: David Empson on 17 Apr 2010 22:37
John <jwolf6589(a)NOSPAMgmail.com> wrote:

> In article <1jh5bgh.1yo8bkt97ikncN%dempson(a)actrix.gen.nz>,
> dempson(a)actrix.gen.nz (David Empson) wrote:
>
> > John <jwolf6589(a)NOSPAMgmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > Did a chat today with someone and it was very nice, and with full screen
> > > as well. But my questions are.
> > >
> > > 1. Would video be faster and smoother if I had been using wired ethernet
> > > over wifi? Or perhaps the issue really is both connections.
> >
> > Internet speed seems more likely. Most people have 802.11g or better
> > WiFi, and that should be able to sustain 20 Mbps or better for most
> > people. Internet connections are usually slower than that, and iChat
> > video chats typically operate at much lower data rates: the maximum data
> > rate is configurable from 100 kbps to 2 Mbps.
>
> I set mine to 2mbps but the other person is using leopard and is using
> whatever default settings came with Leopard. What is the default in
> Leopard?

It appears the default is No Limit. (My Mac Mini says that, and I've
never used video chat on it because it has no camera connected, so I
won't have adjusted its setting.)

--
David Empson
dempson(a)actrix.gen.nz
From: David Empson on 18 Apr 2010 06:29
John <jwolf6589(a)NOSPAMgmail.com> wrote:

> In article <1jh5f5s.1sjst38301ntN%dempson(a)actrix.gen.nz>,
> dempson(a)actrix.gen.nz (David Empson) wrote:
>
> > John <jwolf6589(a)NOSPAMgmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > In article <1jh5bgh.1yo8bkt97ikncN%dempson(a)actrix.gen.nz>,
> > > dempson(a)actrix.gen.nz (David Empson) wrote:
> > >
> > > > John <jwolf6589(a)NOSPAMgmail.com> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > Did a chat today with someone and it was very nice, and with full
> > > > > screen as well. But my questions are.
> > > > >
> > > > > 1. Would video be faster and smoother if I had been using wired
> > > > > ethernet over wifi? Or perhaps the issue really is both
> > > > > connections.
> > > >
> > > > Internet speed seems more likely. Most people have 802.11g or better
> > > > WiFi, and that should be able to sustain 20 Mbps or better for most
> > > > people. Internet connections are usually slower than that, and iChat
> > > > video chats typically operate at much lower data rates: the maximum
> > > > data rate is configurable from 100 kbps to 2 Mbps.
> > >
> > > I set mine to 2mbps but the other person is using leopard and is using
> > > whatever default settings came with Leopard. What is the default in
> > > Leopard?
> >
> > It appears the default is No Limit. (My Mac Mini says that, and I've
> > never used video chat on it because it has no camera connected, so I
> > won't have adjusted its setting.)
>
> That must be better than 2MP's so perhaps the issue was with me. It was
> fast most of the time, but at times it got slow.

"No Limit" means "as fast as possible" (limited by the Internet
connection and any lower bandwidth limit set by the other person).

No matter what speed you select, Internet connections are in general not
able to deliver consistent speed all of the time, as it depends on
issues like congestion (heavy usage at a particular point, even for a
short moment). This will appear as a brief glitch in the video.

If this is happening often enough to be an irritant, your best solution
may be to select a lower speed limit. This will reduce the video quality
but may allow the data to flow at a consistent rate even in the presence
of a moderate amount of congestion, because you won't need as much
bandwidth through the choke point.


--
David Empson
dempson(a)actrix.gen.nz
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