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video/audio chatting for mac & pc?

D

dragonball05

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 19, 2005
62
0
Hi,

I'm trying to find a good way to have audio/video chat with friends. I have
a powerbook with OS X, and my friends have macs and/or pcs (with windows on the pcs). Anybody knows of a good way to do that?

I use skype for the audio part, and it works fine. MSN's mac version doesn't seem to support video(?!!). And on yahoo messanger i don't seem to be able
to have supermode on.... So if you have a solution to the msn or yahoo problem, that would do it. Otherwise, are there any other options?

Thanks,
DB
 
mklos

mklos

macrumors 68000
Dec 4, 2002
1,896
0
My house!
Why not use iChat? You can to voice and video with both platforms through AIM. Heck, in the new version of iChat, you can have more than one video and audio chat going at the same time.
 
D

dragonball05

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 19, 2005
62
0
mklos said:
Why not use iChat? You can to voice and video with both platforms through AIM. Heck, in the new version of iChat, you can have more than one video and audio chat going at the same time.
Click to expand...

i thought for ichat one needs a full .mac membership... is there a free way out? (i don't really need my chat to be secured!!! and i do need it for more than 60 days!!! and it is a matter of principle to me that any kind of chat that is not free is just wrong)
 
mklos

mklos

macrumors 68000
Dec 4, 2002
1,896
0
My house!
Not at all. iChat uses the AIM chatting network. It also support ICQ. All you need to do is either use a .mac name (if you are a .mac member), or go to http://www.aim.com and get an AOL IM screen name. You're friends need to do the same.

iChat doesn't require .mac at all. It will work with .mac members, but its not a requirement.
 
D

dragonball05

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 19, 2005
62
0
mklos said:
Not at all. iChat uses the AIM chatting network. It also support ICQ. All you need to do is either use a .mac name (if you are a .mac member), or go to http://www.aim.com and get an AOL IM screen name. You're friends need to do the same.

iChat doesn't require .mac at all. It will work with .mac members, but its not a requirement.
Click to expand...

oh.. i didn't notice that i could also pick AIM account in the ichat set-up :)
will ichat work fine with a LogitechPro 4000 webcam, instead of isight??
if so, then that would be the solution!!!! (and thanks!!! :) )

DB
 
DarkNetworks

DarkNetworks

macrumors 68000
Apr 12, 2005
1,527
0
dragonball05 said:
oh.. i didn't notice that i could also pick AIM account in the ichat set-up :)
will ichat work fine with a LogitechPro 4000 webcam, instead of isight??
if so, then that would be the solution!!!! (and thanks!!! :) )

DB
Click to expand...

I think it will work though not too sure...let me know if it works...
Anyway, u can also try out Mercury or aMSN for webcam on MSN...
 
Sirus The Virus

Sirus The Virus

macrumors 6502a
May 12, 2005
582
0
Texas
You can use iChat. Just make sure your PC friends have the latest version of AIM and a webcam. I do this all the time with my PC friends that use AIM. Works great.
 
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dragonball05

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 19, 2005
62
0
Sirus The Virus said:
You can use iChat. Just make sure your PC friends have the latest version of AIM and a webcam. I do this all the time with my PC friends that use AIM. Works great.
Click to expand...

it seems that ichat cannot detect my logitech quickcam pro 4000!
any hints?

DB
 
D

dragonball05

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 19, 2005
62
0
yeah.. i totally agree with fayans.. maybe they'll come up with that soon?!! :)

as for isight, i think it is too expensive for my needs.. again, my principle is that any software that is supposed to "bring people together" should be free.
and the gadgets that are needed for that should be vertually free..

it looks like aMSN (the beta j or k versions [google them]) works fine with
my Logitech QuickCam Pro 4000. i'll let you guys know if it keeps working
fine.. i don't think there's audio though.. but there is skype for that :)

besides aMSN as an MSN-like protocol, and most PC people use this or yahoo. yahoo works fine as is. i just don't seem to be able to get supermode to work (even though on apple's site for yahoo im, it says this version supports supermode!). also, whenever i try to open the preferences, yahoo crashes!!!

i'll let you know how aMSN works for me..

DB
 
mklos

mklos

macrumors 68000
Dec 4, 2002
1,896
0
My house!
dragonball05 said:
yeah.. i totally agree with fayans.. maybe they'll come up with that soon?!! :)

as for isight, i think it is too expensive for my needs.. again, my principle is that any software that is supposed to "bring people together" should be free.
and the gadgets that are needed for that should be vertually free..

it looks like aMSN (the beta j or k versions [google them]) works fine with
my Logitech QuickCam Pro 4000. i'll let you guys know if it keeps working
fine.. i don't think there's audio though.. but there is skype for that :)

besides aMSN as an MSN-like protocol, and most PC people use this or yahoo. yahoo works fine as is. i just don't seem to be able to get supermode to work (even though on apple's site for yahoo im, it says this version supports supermode!). also, whenever i try to open the preferences, yahoo crashes!!!

i'll let you know how aMSN works for me..

DB
Click to expand...

Nothing is "free" in this world! Even iChat comes at a price (the price of OS X). iChat only works with FW based cameras. So you can use an iSight, DV Cam, or other FW Cameras. iChat will NOT work work with USB cameras, unless they've changed that recently.
 
D

dragonball05

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 19, 2005
62
0
mklos said:
Nothing is "free" in this world! Even iChat comes at a price (the price of OS X). iChat only works with FW based cameras. So you can use an iSight, DV Cam, or other FW Cameras. iChat will NOT work work with USB cameras, unless they've changed that recently.
Click to expand...

it is now official! aMSN works (if you download beta J or K, and with it the imagemagick plugin). at least it works nicely for me, with my quickcam pro 4000. it is not chuncky like yahoo (where i couldn't get supermode to work!).
it is good enough quality for my purposes. and for audio i just skype.

there you go. Mac still rules.. and will always do....
(it is silly that micro$oft won't make a full msn version for mac.. but hey,
who needs them! heh heh)
 
annk

annk

Administrator
Staff member
Apr 18, 2004
15,210
9,659
Somewhere over the rainbow
mklos said:
Nothing is "free" in this world! Even iChat comes at a price (the price of OS X). iChat only works with FW based cameras. So you can use an iSight, DV Cam, or other FW Cameras. iChat will NOT work work with USB cameras, unless they've changed that recently.
Click to expand...

I agree - nothing is free, someone spent his or her time to make the software I use. And their time is worth something. While I'm always happy to discover free software put out there by someone, my principle is that it's a good thing that people who make great software, get paid for their trouble.
 
istonedu321

istonedu321

macrumors member
Nov 19, 2005
54
0
paoli Pa
for video chatting, believe it or not, i use my sony handy cam. was using ichat one day and had my camera on and hooked up through its firewire, and discovered that i would now use it as a webcam.
 
annk

annk

Administrator
Staff member
Apr 18, 2004
15,210
9,659
Somewhere over the rainbow
istonedu321 said:
for video chatting, believe it or not, i use my sony handy cam. was using ichat one day and had my camera on and hooked up through its firewire, and discovered that i would now use it as a webcam.
Click to expand...


I do that, too - works great :D
 
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