IChat - General quality

Hi,
I have been using iChat and Skype for the last 2 years. My Girlfriend lives in the states and we both have macs so life has been made much, much easier.
To be honest, I have tended to favour Skype much more than iChat fo rthe simple reason that the sound quality has so so much better. iChat was ...ok. But Skype made you feel like you were in the same room. I assume that it is the same for everyone and not just us, so why has mac not been able (or willing) to have something of the same quality?
Towards the end of last year we both aquired iSights. We couldn't always get them to work on Skype so we started using them with ichat with the audio muted and talking via skype.
Both of us travel a lot due to work so a lot of the time we are in hotels and I know the internet connection can be a bit crappy, but even at home I have to say that I have always been a little bit dissapointed at the iChat video quality, but only because when I first saw it advertised the picture/video looked amazing. And I have never seen it come close. On the up side, I certainly am not complaing. Both services have kept us in touch like we never could have 5 years ago. And for free, too!
On the subject of Skype, the quality over the 2 years I have been using it has deteriorated to an almost un-usable standard. The amount of users has more than doubled in that time and I also read that ISP's are now managing the flow of peer to peer users, slowing it down when they want to.
Unfortunately I am not that knowledgable about these kind of things and so really don't know how it all works.
Am I wrong to wish that apple could make a better way to comunicate?

Wow, that was pretty cool. I had tried looking for something like that this afternoon but didn't have much luck.
[IMG]http://www.speedtest.net/result/95579018.png[/IMG]
I'll have to do some research in order to learn what relevance my score has, but if you haven't clicked on the link, it was;
Download - 949 kb/s
Upload - 239 kb/s
Latency: 103 ms
Server: Dublin (to Manchester)
Distance: 150 miles
I'd already read some of the posts you guys have commented on this matter and I took the advice of setting streaming speeds and bandwidths. But it didn't have any effect.
I apologise for keep mentioning (skype), but when it was good it certainly was good. Audio wise at least. I'm still curious as to why Mac haven't had anything that good yet. If however iChat and Skype are two completely different things then you'll have to excuse me for my ignorance.

Similar Messages

IChat Video Quality Low - Stumped

Hi all,
The basics of my problem is my Ichat video quality is very low.
I have a 10mb connection and im in Tennessee, USA, the person im trying to reach has a 8mb connection and is in California, USA.
When I chat with this person my connection doctor always says im getting a 150 to 300 bit rate. The video quality seems very low to me. Which I would think is super low for such a fast connection between our computers. It never goes above 300.
I've read over many posts here on the forum and we have done the Set Quicktime to 1.5mb & Set my Ichat Video Prefs Limit to "None" and restarted, on both ends. Still limits at 300.
I've also checked the connection speeds on both ends, via pings to various places around the net & across the country and hold down a decent to good 3.5 to 8.5mbs connection.
A little system info:
My Side:
- G5 Dual 2.5GHZ
- Isight (external Camera via Firewire port)
- Airport Wireless Card
- Airport Extreme (with DHCP on to route my multi machines wirelessly on the network)
- Cable Modem - Plugs into Airport - up to 10mbs connection
- iChat 3
- OS X 10.4.8
Other side:
- Intel Imac (brand new)
- Isight (built in)
- Cable Modem direct - up to 8mbs connection
- iChat 3
- OS X 10.4.8
It seems like there is something im overlooking.
Please help as im a bit stumped on this one! :P
- Guru Kismet

I have 3 machines on the Airport network (though none of the others where being used during the testing).
I connected my Cable modem directly to my G5 via Ethernet my speeds jumped! Then I discovered it was being caused by my Airport Extreme. Which loves to knock me off the network from time to time.
In my Airport Extreme "wireless options" I changed the Multicast Rate and then clicked on "Enable interference robustness" my chat speeds jumped from 200k to 800k+. The quality of my video improved dramatically.
After further testing with just one machine and then later restoring all machines back on the Airport Network, I found that there was some sort of interference from other wireless devices around the house, even the ones downstairs.
I would suggest this for anyone having trouble with your Airport Extreme knocking you off the internet or network from time to time or if your Ichat speeds & quality are really low.
Problem solved!
Best wishes to all,
Guru Kismet

TI4400/4600 TV-in/capture specs & general quality?

Can someone PLEASE tell me what the specs for the video capture (TV/Video IN) capabilities of these cards are??!
I've read countless tests and reviews, and NONE of them (MSI specs included) mention A SINGLE WORD about technical specs for the capture abilities.
IE:
- what FRAMERATES does it support? (25/29.997/?)
- what RESOLUTIONS ..? (352x288 ? 704x576 ?)
- what output formats? (ie are you forced to use some weirdo MPEG2 format they've decided is nice for you, or can you actually use 3rd party applications to save .avi's
of your own preferred settings .. ie VirtualDUB, Premiere, ..)
Also, I'm a bit curious about the general quality of the captures done by these cards.. Are they any good? Or are they moderate, since the main features seem to be 3D/games galore..?
Ie, if it supports full-size captures (704x576), are you haunted by interlacing (every 2nd line is updated every 2nd frame), or does it actually produce a full-size clear picture?
I'm considering getting a TI4400, partially because it has video/tv-in, but since there's no specs available or the reviews just drown in 3D benchmarks it leaves me with a cry for help :o

Hi,
I can only give you info from a GF3 POV, but there shouldn't be much difference between them (gf4) as they both use the Phillips chip to get the Video in.
All framerates are supported
All resolutions are supported though recommended not in the higher brackets. Tweaking can yeld good results in higher resolutions, but I never go above 640X480 with high audio.
The card comes with a program called wincoder for the capture, and this outputs in mpeg2. But I have no problems using VirtualVCR or VirtualDub for capture and editing, and you can capture using any codec you can try. You will find with most middle of the range capture cards that the programs supplied are OK, but you get better results from thirdparty programs.
Wincoder has sinc issues with high resolution.
I use HUFFYUV codec for capture, then output into Divx4.
The quality is good. For a chip that is middle of the range(next step up being dedicated firewire cards) it has no trouble for everyday use.
Interlace is only there if the medium you use is interlace. ie TV, Video etc. The only thing I can test this with though is cable TV(fine) and DVD with PS2(fine)
VirtualDub can remove interlace from TV dubs.
For a 3dcard that does Video in, is a good thing. Best of both worlds. Just make sure if you do buy the card, that the rest of the computer is upto scratch, ready for a Gf4.
Hope this helps, and if theres any more question just post :D

Ichat Video Quality pixelated and very delayed with friend on a Dell

I am on a Imac and have Airport express, but when I chat with my friend on a Dell, my video is pixelated and delayed. I talk with other friends on PC's and the quality is fine.

Add me to this problem. My powerbook G4 (10.4.10) can initiate with a mini G4 with isight (10.5.2) and be perfect in sync with video and audio. But if the mini initiates the chat a very long delay happens between voice and video. I also have an Ibook with 10.4.11 and when chatting with PB G4 are perfect, this applies to an intel imac with 10.5 only, ichat works fine. I think Ichat got affected with 10.5.1 or 10.5.2. I did noticed that if I open QT pro and make a recording(on mini), the actual caption is delayed but play back is ok. I have been playing with the QT preferences but does not seem to work. I saw there is a new update 10.5.3, and it includes so ichats update. Will keep posting. Pedro PS this is all in my home network. TWCNYC with 9600 kbps download and 488 kbps upload.

Multi-Person iChat Video Quality

Hi,
I am using iChat with 2 other person (so a total of 3 people in the video conferencing). What we noticed is that the audio quality remains great. But as soon as the third person joins the video chat, the video quality decrease dramatically.
Any one experience this problem?
Thanks.

Thanks for the reply.
Have you set the Quicktime setting, goto sys
prefs/quicktime/streaming/streaming speed set what
you get from your ISP go no higher then 1.5mbps(dont
use automatic)
I didn't know that Quicktime has anything to do with iChat. I will check that tonight.
In ichats prefs click on video and change bandwidth
limit to NONE.
Alread set to NONE so this shouldn't be a problem.
Also all of you do a speed test
http://www.speedtest.net/ and tell us the up and
download speeds are.
I have done many similar tests and it is consistently rated as "excellent". I will need to do the test to find out the exact rate tonight when I am home.
So, out of the 3 things, sound like the Quicktime setting is the only one that I have not done.
Thanks.

Poor iChat audio quality

When my friend and I use FaceTime on our Macs the sound quality is pretty good, but when we video chat on iChat the sound quality is pretty poor, muffled. We've tried limiting bandwidth and stuff but that didn't help, any ideas? Also, when just using audio chat, the sound is much better

Hi,
iChat takes the setting from System Preferences > Sound > Input as the volume you send to your Buddy.
Ideally this needs to move the Blue response bar to at least Half Way (preferably 3/4s) but not bang in to the right hand end.
8:58 PM Friday; August 12, 2011
Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb( 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

Is IChat to Ichat better quality than Skype?

I have a Mac and I use Skype to AV chat to a PC overseas. Would I see better picture quality If they used a Mac overseas and we went Ichat to Ichat?

According to this post ichat is better than skype when chatting mac-mac.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1238443

IChat video quality better with .Mac subscriber than with AIM?

The quality of my video chats with one brother who also has a .Mac account is noticeably better than my chats with another brother, who uses iChat with an AIM account. I'm in the US, they are both in UK. All of us have almost identical iMacs. The one with the AIM account supposedly has a faster Internet connection. My question: is the video quality of iChat better if both users have .Mac accounts than if one has an AIM account?

The Screen names make no difference.
It is about a combination of Proccessor, Video card in iChat 4, internet Connection and settings and the amount of Bandwidth you get out of that connection.
As Defcom (UK) has said start with those basic Settings.
In iChat 3 and 2 the Quicktime setting when on Automatic is read as a 0 (zero) and this effectively Caps iChat.
In iChat 4 the Automatic setting is seen as 384k which is the MINIMUM for a 4 way chat.
As far as an Internet Connection goes this should be at Least 100k in both Up and Downloads.
Due to some data stream management to cut down on Peer-to-Peer file Sharing it pays to limit iChat in the Video Section Bandwidth Limit section to slip under the Radar as it were. There are two main ISP doing this Comcast and Road Runner in the States.
Verizon offer a FioS fibre service that is not that stable in speeds and jumps all over the place which is then too fast for iChat to keep up and that should use the cap in iChat Preferences as well.
8:08 PM Friday; June 20, 2008

IChat Video Quality vs. Bandwidth FAQ?

I have done some searching and have come across some video quality threads.
Most of my Video Conferencing is done between my Macbook or iMac 24 across Time Warner cable to another iMac 20. All running OSX 10.4.9.
It appears that the video quality will vary based on the upstream bandwidth availability. In my case I have 600-700kbps pretty consistently. This is pretty decent for a 1 person video conference. Not quite up to the standard I was hoping for but usable.
What is not even usable is doing a multi-person Video conference. In this case two local machines on the same wireless network and one machine across Time Warner cable (we use the same provider). When I bring the second local machine, the conference splits out properly but the video in each widow (other than my preview) is so blurry that it is completely useless.
I would be very curious as to the experience of others attempting to connect across the same service providers network. In this case we are connecting across Time Warner between Florida and Ohio. The performance should be rocking with at least 1MB upstream (I will have to check but I think I have 5MB up).
The other thing that I was wondering is if there is some way to tweak the iChat Video settings to force it into a specific video quality mode (and possible deal with some dropouts).
Sorry for the long post but I am hoping we can begin to compile information on bandwidth requirements and perfomance experienced with various service providers.
Thanks!
Jim

Thanks, I did both tweaks and the really improved the 3 way conference.
My speedtest is below and is on Bright House in Tampa. Note that the best that I achieve watching Connection doctor is in the 700 territors. I do tend to be able to deliver 20fps pretty consistently. But my bandwidth bounces around a lot. I am not a big fan of cable for quality and consistency.
[IMG]http://www.speedtest.net/result/145047165.png[/IMG]
Verizon FIOS is moving into my area and I believe they will offer much better speed than Bright House and certainly more consistency. RF is simply a nightmare to maintain.

Terrible iChat video quality. What gives?

My brother and I are trying to use iChat video. We both have an iMac, his is newer than mine, but we both have the same OS. On both ends the video quality is very poor and the audio is bad (hearing every other word). We both have high speed internet, I have cable he has DSL. We tried limiting the bandwidth to no avail. Any suggestions?
Thanks!

Also both of you should open the Connection Doctor (iChat Video menu) during a chat and tell us what Speeds (Frame and Bit Rate) you see.
You should get at least 15fps and have a speed in Bit rate of well over 100kbps (up to somewhere over 500kbps depending on your Internet speeds at both ends).
200-300 is common. 500+ is not unusual.
8:24 PM Tuesday; April 28, 2009

Score writing capability of Logic & general quality/reliability

I am looking at getting new Mac, new Logic, all spanking up to date.
Could someone answer these questions:
Is Logic as good as Cubase re recording sound/quality? (I have been used to Cubase but Apple shop trying to persuade me to use Logic - I create CDs for schools, professional use.)
Also, is Logic as good as Cubase for score writing. I self-publish music books, semi-professional.
Many thanks
Fran C, New Milton

Logic is a very good tool, it's sound quality is excellent. (you will want to get a decent interface box) The fact that Apple owns it, is a big plus. They will be more likely to keep it up to date with hardware changes.. I have heard complaints from several Cubase users who switched over..
It's scoring capability is OK. For general use it should suffice. Serious score writers (and music publishers) will prefer Finale or Sibelius. You'll have to decided that for yourself. Learning Logic's scoring is a bit 'obtuse' (not as clearly explained as other sections of the program)

Improving iChat Video Quality

Is there anything one can do to improve the video quality on iChat. The image looks great on Yahoo Messenger and Skype but it's really fuzzy, blurry, distorted, pixelated when using iChat.

Hi
First have you set the Quicktime streaming setting, goto sys prefs/quicktime/streaming/streaming speed, set to 1.5mbps
In ichats prefs click on video and change bandwidth limit to 500.
Restart iChat.

IChat video quality inherantly suffers when over wireless EVDO aircard?

I am just guessing. Is this true? Or just in our case? Our being myself and my girlfriend, who is the one with a cam. I am new to iChat but I am not receiving that 'full screen, perfect quality' image that I thought iChat was supposed to have. You see, my girlfriend has a Macbook with its own built-in camera, so I am sure that camera is up to iChat specifications. But, her internet connection is through Sprint's EVDO USB modem. For the techs here, she is using the pretty new Sierra 595U, and she gets EVDO speed where she is.
Are there any iChat options she could tweak that would give her a higher bandwith output to me? SHe is not too technically inclined to discover this herself. Thanks!

My experience with using Sprint EVDO Revision A is that, while up and down tested speeds may seem more than adequate, the quality of iChat video connections and Slingbox slinging isn't as good as with similar tested connection speeds generated via DSL or cable.
I suspect this is due to greater latency and other factors associated with EVDO, including wild fluctuations in connection speeds. I assume your friend is making EVDO Rev A connections and not EVDO Rev 0 connections, which are inadequate for decent video connections.

Poor one-sided ichat video quality

The video picture that I see when ichatting with my mom is awful (around 50%). It only happens when I ichat with her, and she sees me fine. Our audio is also fine. My connection doctor indicated that: her video quality was 50%,her bitrate was 300 & mine was 600. Her connection doctor indicated that her bitrate was 700 & mine was 600. (I think both frame rates in both of our panels ranged between 11-17.) We both have MacBook Airs. Any thoughts as to what's happening and how to remedy it would be greatly appreciated. She bought the MacBook Air just so that we could ichat.
Thanks.

Hi
On your mum's mac go to ichats prefs click on video and change bandwidth limit to 500, if still happens try 200.
Restart iChat.
Tony

Ichat general error connecting

Hi all,
iChat worked great after Leopard install. I was able to do the screen sharing (weird, in a neat sort of way) and things worked fine.
Then... a few days later, iChat and Mail were extremely sluggish;
and now, ichat refuses to connect at all, saying there's a 'general error'. What does this mean?
I used the macbook pro with an airport, which is connected to our satellite box. I tried to connect the MBP straight to the satellite--it worked for a bit; now it won't even connect using the straight connect to the satellite. Mail is only working about 50% of the time.
Everything works great at school.
Also, as a side, what is a PubSubAgent? Whatever that is, it keeps crashing when I plug directly into the satellite box.
Thanks all!
Lisa

Hi Lisa,
Congratulations. You are only the second person I have seen post who has reported a successful iChat over satellite.
What happens with most modems for satellite is that when sending or getting data they start slowly and speed up to the speed your provider says they will work at.
This means when you do a speed test it is long enough to read the "Full Speed"
However iChat can start sending data faster than the modem can initially cope with and the Chat never makes a full connection.
Hopefully you have the System Preferences > Quicktime > Streaming setting at 1.5Mbps ?
For you iChat > Preferences > Video section > Bandwidth Limit may play a part.
Try 500kbps or even 200kbps
I don't know about PubSubAgent It may pay to ask about that in the Leopard general use folder/forum (Or Installation)
Form your post it does sound like your modem is fast enough and something on the Mac is slowing things.
Have you tried Repair Permissions in Disk Utility ?
Or Starting Up the computer not connected to the Internet ?
1:03 PM Sunday; November 18, 2007

IChat - General quality

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